After college, Don Callahan read history at Oxford. He went on to a stellar international finance career, culminating in a decade as Citibank’s Global Head of Operations technology — but Callahan, who recently joined TC’s Board, has drawn on history to shape his visionary approach to technology. “I look backwards to see forward,” he says. “Take Churchill’s embrace of technology. He shaped the modern air force, which changed the role of national borders — much as the internet has today.”
Don Callahan (Photo courtesy of Don Callahan)
Callahan, too, has eliminated boundaries. At Citibank, working with the Borough of Manhattan Community College and the nonprofit Year Up, he imported student interns from diverse backgrounds, many of whom have built finance careers.
“When I was at IBM, Thomas Watson, Jr., said that education knows no saturation point,” he says. “In today’s world, we must all learn continuously. I’m a big believer in moving more education online, but synchronously, so that not only teaching is real time, but also discussion with fellow students. Because so much learning happens after class, in the debate out on the lawn.”
In today’s world, we must all learn continuously. I’m a big believer in moving more education online, but synchronously, so that not only teaching is real time, but also discussion with fellow students.
—Don Callahan
Ultimately, Callahan believes artificial intelligence (AI) will free teachers and students to focus on higher-order skills — a revolution he sees TC leading: “The scarcity of supply will be in cognition and thought. Aristotle and Socrates were all about considering topics from multiple angles. AI can help with that framing, but for deep thinking, we need humans.”