Mr. David Matta

Executive Director of Executive Education and Career Management Services

david.matta@lau.edu.lb  
Ext. 1611
Orme Gray 503 
LAU Beirut

View CV

Biography

David Matta is the Executive Director of Executive Education and Career Management Services at the Adnan Kassar School of Business (AKSOB) at the Lebanese American University (LAU). A seasoned corporate leader and strategist, he brings more than two decades of international executive experience across corporate strategy, governance and organizational development, with senior leadership roles spanning Lebanon, the Gulf, Germany and Turkey.

Matta has an established record in higher education, executive education and career management. He has founded and led university career offices, strengthened academia–industry collaboration and designed professional and executive programs that enhance employability, institutional visibility and lifelong learning. His leadership integrates practical corporate insight with academic innovation to advance career-readiness frameworks across the MENA region.

Matta holds an MSc in Strategy and Leadership from London Business School, a Master in Psychology (Mindfulness-Based Approaches) with distinction from Bangor University, an Executive MBA with distinction from the American University of Beirut and a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering from the American University of Beirut.

Areas of Expertise

Strategic leadership and operational excellence
Executive education and program development
Career management and employability strategy
Human–AI collaboration and the future of work
Mindfulness and leadership development

Research Interests

Executive education and adult learning in the age of artificial intelligence
Human–AI collaboration, hybrid cognition and the ontology of work
Mindfulness, meta-awareness and consciousness in leadership
Innovation, creativity and organizational development
Career meaning and adaptive career intelligence

Signature Frameworks and Models

Strategic Value Ecology Model and Framework (SVEMF™)
Hybrid Cognitive Systems
Strategic Theory of Mind (SToM)
Awareness-First Mindfulness (AFM)
Mindfulness to the Power of Five (M⁵)
Value-Centered Ontology of Work (VCOWR)

Selected Publications
 

Earlier Publications and Thesis

• Matta, D. (2022). Mindful Leadership: The Five Essential Skills. Coaching course for executives (under publication).
• Matta, D. (2020). Awareness-First Mindfulness. MA Thesis with Distinction, Bangor University, UK.
• Matta, D. (2020). Mindfulness Education for Young Adults. Journal of the Lebanese Association of Cognitive & Behavioral Therapy, No. 8.
• Matta, D. (2019). Contemporary Mindfulness: An Introduction. Assabil: Revue scientifique.
• Baddoura, C. & Matta, D. (2019). Brain and Mind. Journal of the Lebanese Association of Cognitive & Behavioral Therapy, No. 6.

Peer-Reviewed Journal

• Matta, D. (2026). Artificial intelligence and theory of mind. Journal of Psychology and AI, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/29974100.2026.2628373

Mindfulness, Awareness and Well-Being

• Matta, D. (2025). Mindfulness to the Power of Five (M⁵): A Phenomenological–Integrative Model of Mindfulness, Experience, and Awareness. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17986296
• Matta, D. (2025). Mental Health as Experiential Flow within the M⁵ Framework. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18027660
• Matta, D. (2026). Well-Being as Meta-Aware Integration of Experience in Conscious Systems. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18654797
• Matta, D. (2026). The Hawthorne Effect Through the Mindfulness Lens. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19276435

Executive Education, Leadership and Organizations

• Matta, D. (2026). Relational Competence as Structural Achievement: Rethinking the Behavioral Paradigm in Executive Education. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19625343
• Matta, D. (2025). Regenerative Governance Through Meta-Awareness: The Strategic Value Ecology Model and Framework. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17331057
• Matta, D. (2025). The Strategic Value Ecology Model and Framework. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17314903
• Matta, D. (2026). The Two-Gap Problem in Executive Learning. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18803506
• Matta, D. (2026). Political and Corporate Leadership: A Comparative Ethics. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19630281
• Matta, D. (2026). Strategic Theory of Mind (SToM): Extending Game Theory Through Cognitive Modeling. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19294329

AI, Hybrid Cognition and the Future of Work

• Matta, D. (2025). Hybrid Cognitive Systems: A Phenomenological Analysis of Human–AI Collaboration. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17385026
• Matta, D. (2025). Hybrid Perception, Thought, Action, and Feedback: The Rise of Hybrid Intelligence. SSRN/Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.5574693
• Matta, D. (2026). A Job Is Not Only a Task: Toward a Value-Centered Ontology of Work Dimensions. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19283781
• Matta, D. (2026). The Uneven Disruption of Jobs by Artificial Intelligence. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19285951
• Matta, D. (2026). The AI Zeitgeist Framework. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19059341

Career, Meaning and Adaptive Intelligence

• Matta, D. (2026). The Aware Career: Mindfulness-Based Meta-Awareness as the Foundation of Adaptive Career Intelligence in the Age of AI. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18821862
• Matta, D. (2026). Not by Bread Alone: Career Meaning Beyond Economic Necessity in the Age of AI. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18821617
• Matta, D. (2026). Panic versus Reality: Careers in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18599930

• EFMD Career Services Conference 2025 — Prato, Italy. Contributor.
• Emotion-Focused Mindfulness for Professionals 2025 — Prato, Italy. Leveraging Mindfulness System for Emotional Regulation (Nov 2025).
• 43rd International System Dynamics Conference — Boston, USA. Leveraging Mindfulness: A System Dynamics Approach to Psychological Resilience and Transformation (Jul–Aug 2025).
• International Conference on Mindfulness — Asia Pacific (ICMAP) — Chinese University of Hong Kong. Mindfulness and the Ethics of Sustainability: A Developmental Ethical Framework (Jun 2025).
• 2024 International Mindfulness Conference — UK / Online. Adaptive Mindfulness Systems for Global Wellbeing(Aug 2024).
• ALTCC Colloquium, Psychiatric Hospital of the Cross — Lebanon. Evolving Systems of Mindfulness Practice(Jun 2024).