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Rajendra Srivastava of Singapore Management University Named New Dean of The Indian School of Business
0Rajendra Srivastava has been named as the new Dean of the Indian School of Business (ISB), effective January 1, 2016. Currently, the Provost and Deputy President (Academic Affairs) and Professor of Marketing at the Singapore Management University, he will succeed Ajit Rangnekar, the outgoing Dean, who has held this position since January 2009. The announcement was made today by Adi Godrej, Chairman of the ISB Board.
Srivastava comes with an experience of over 30 years as an academic and administrator. He has held several tenured faculty and administrative positions during his career. Prior to SMU he held distinguished research chairs and senior management positions at the University of Texas at Austin and Emory University in Atlanta. Professor Srivastava is an MBA and PhD (Business Administration) from the University of Pittsburgh, an MS in Industrial Engineering from the University of Rhode Island, and a BTech (Mechanical Engineering) from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India.
Srivastava was one of the first visiting faculty members at the school and taught the technology and marketing course to the first batch of 2001-2. He has been a visiting faculty at the business school through the years.
As per an ISB press note, Srivastava’s research interests are in the area of Marketing and Brand Strategy and he is well-known globally for his work examining the impact of marketing investments on business performance, business model innovation and marketing metrics.
ISB says this appointment comes after an extensive global search across three continents for a dean with leadership and personal commitment to research and thought leadership and to excellence in education. According to Pramath Sinha, Chair of the Search Committee, the mandate was to identify and recruit an innovative academician capable of integrating research, education and practice with proven ability to manage high profile academic and industry relationships.
“Professor Rajendra Srivastava’s appointment as the new Dean of ISB marks a significant step towards ISB’s mission of consolidating and strengthening its position as a world-class business school. I wish him success with the confidence that ISB will achieve new heights of success in the years to come,” Adi Godrej said making the announcement.
ISB says this appointment comes after an extensive global search across three continents for a dean with leadership and personal commitment to research and thought leadership and to excellence in education. According to Pramath Sinha, Chair of the Search Committee, the mandate was to identify and recruit an innovative academician capable of integrating research, education and practice with proven ability to manage high profile academic and industry relationships.“Professor Rajendra Srivastava’s appointment as the new Dean of ISB marks a significant step towards ISB’s mission of consolidating and strengthening its position as a world-class business school. I wish him success with the confidence that ISB will achieve new heights of success in the years to come,” Adi Godrej said making the announcement.
Commenting on his appointment Srivastava said his goal was to work with corporate and academic partners in developing ISB into a premier institution known globally for insights related to emerging markets, especially India and rest of Asia. In order to enhance ISB’s impact he would focus on “balanced excellence” or the integration or Research, Education and Practice as well as a balance between thought leadership from the East and West. This will require close collaboration with industry – indeed presence of practitioners in the classroom through mechanisms such as “live cases” and project-oriented learning in multi-disciplinary processes such as management of innovations and supply-chains in key domains such as healthcare, financial and digital markets.
Srivastava said the biggest challenge at any business school is faculty. Getting topnotch teachers and retaining them will be one of his main priorities. “We need people with their feet on the ground,” he said. More active engagement with the industry is also on the agenda. “Fortunately, at ISB, industry relations are strong. We will get the business community more involved,” he said. Another focus area is bringing more students to India from abroad and sending ISB students for overseas engagements said Srivastava.
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“I also take this opportunity to thank Ajit Rangnekar for his contributions to ISB over the last decade, first as the Deputy Dean and then as the Dean. Under his guidance the School made great progress to become one of the most sought after global business schools,” Adi Godrej added.
In response Ajit Rangnekar said, “It has been a great personal and professional privilege to have been associated with this wonderful institution. We have been ranked consistently among the top global B Schools, we are the first in India to be globally top ranked for research, first to get the AACSB accreditation in South Asia, and the first to innovate with industry specific institutes to address issues of national importance. I am delighted that ISB will be led by a renowned academician and an able administrator like Raj Srivastava. I am sure he will take ISB to even greater heights.”
In response Ajit Rangnekar said, “It has been a great personal and professional privilege to have been associated with this wonderful institution. We have been ranked consistently among the top global B Schools, we are the first in India to be globally top ranked for research, first to get the AACSB accreditation in South Asia, and the first to innovate with industry specific institutes to address issues of national importance. I am delighted that ISB will be led by a renowned academician and an able administrator like Raj Srivastava. I am sure he will take ISB to even greater heights.”
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The change comes in the wake of a spate of senior exits at ISB – the deputy dean of the Hyderabad campus Deepak Chandra, and deputy dean of the Mohali campus, Savita Mahajan are two recent exits. VK Menon who was the Director of Career Advancement Services at ISB also recently moved to IIM Bangalore as Chief Marketing Officer.