Ashish Nanda set to visit IIM-A on Monday, as new director buzz gets louder

An alumnus of IIM-A from the 1983 batch, Nanda is a Robert Braucher Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School

The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, (IIM-A) will soon get a new director, sources said. Reports centre on Harvard professor Ashish Nanda as the new director and senior faculty members say he is likely to visit the campus on Monday.

“It has been heard that Nanda is likely to visit in order to take over the post. The chairman of the board of governors (BoG) might also join him. Officially, we have not heard of Nanda’s appointment from the institute office," said a senior faculty member.

When asked, A M Naik, chairman of the BoG, refused to provide any details. “We will get to know next week. That's all I can say."

An alumnus of IIM-A from the 1983 batch, Nanda is Robert Braucher Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School.

After twice extending the term of outgoing director Samir Barua, the BoG had recommended the candidature of Nanda and two other senior faculty members, G Raghuram and Rakesh Basant, to the ministry of human resource development (MHRD) in March. Ever since, the institute has been awaiting a nod from the Appointments Committee of the Cabinet (ACC), chaired by the Prime Minister, for appointment of the director.

An electrical engineer from IIT Delhi, Nanda went on to pursue his masters and PhD in economics from Harvard after acquiring a post graduate diploma in management from IIM-A.  Before joining Harvard Law School in 2007, Nanda was a Harvard Business School faculty member for 13 years. In all, Nanda has 25 years of academic experience.

Barua’s term had ended on November 7, 2012. Due to disagreements within the search committee set up by the BoG, the board could finalise three candidatures only in March.

The institute had stated its desire to get someone with international experience as its next director. This led to further delays in background check and approval for a director of an international stature. The delay had also led to slowing of certain academic and administrative work due to lack of a director.

Currently, Ajay Pandey, the dean-faculty, is the acting director.

“The acting director has been doing exceptional work. However, the lack of a full-time director was being felt within the campus. If the delay in getting a full-time director would have gone on till November-December, IIM-A could have seen a situation like IIT Kharagpur. Hopefully, now it won't," said another senior faculty member.

A delay in getting a full-time director had earlier seen protests by faculty members, students and alumni at IIT Kharagpur.

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* Ashish Nanda is a Robert Braucher Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School

* An electrical engineer from IIT Delhi, Nanda went on to pursue his masters and PhD in economics from Harvard after acquiring a post graduate diploma in management from IIM-A

* Before joining Harvard Law School in 2007, Nanda was a Harvard Business School faculty member for 13 years