Michael Naughton is the holder of the Alan W. Moss Endowed Chair in Catholic Social Thought at the University of St. Thomas (Minnesota) where he is a full professor with a joint appointment in the departments of Catholic Studies (College of Arts and Sciences) and Ethics and Law (Opus College of Business). He is the director of the John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought, at the Center for Catholic Studies, which examines Catholic social thought in relationship to business theory and practice. As director he has organized international conferences on the theme of Catholic social thought and management as well as various faculty and administrative seminars on the mission and identity of Catholic universities.
He is the co-author and co-editor of nine books and over 30 articles. His most recent books include Leading Wisely in Difficult Times (Paulist, 2011), Bringing Your Business to Life (Regal, 2008—translated into Hungarian), Rediscovering Abundance: Interdisciplinary Essays on Wealth, Income and Their Distribution in the Catholic Social Tradition (edited, University of Notre Dame, 2006), Rethinking the Purpose of Business: Interdisciplinary Essays from the Catholic Social Tradition (edited, University of Notre Dame, 2002) and Managing as if Faith Mattered (University of Notre Dame, 2001—translated into Spanish, Chinese and Hungarian).
Naughton serves as board chair for Reell Precision Manufacturing, a global producer of innovative torque solutions for transportation, consumer electronics, medical and office automation products. He has also served on the board of several non-profit organizations including Seeing Things Whole. He received his Ph.D. in theology from Marquette University (1991) and an MBA from the University of St. Thomas (1995).