Management guru Bala Balachandran, 84, passes away after brief illness

The Chairman and Dean (Emeritus) of Great Lakes Institute was also a J L Kellogg distinguished professor; in 1960s he helped recruit the first set of faculty members to IIM Bangalore

Bala V Balachandran, 84, founder, chairman and dean (emeritus) of Great Lakes Institute of Management passed away at Chicago after a brief illness.

He was also a J L Kellogg distinguished professor of accounting and information management (emeritus in service), Northwestern University. Born in Pudukottai, Bala, also known as ‘Uncle Bala’ completed his collegiate education at the Annamalai University, Chidambaram. He served in the Indian Army briefly before departing to the US to pursue his Doctoral studies.

He helped recruit the first set of faculty members to IIM Bangalore in the late 1960s and also set up the management department at the MDI at Gurgaon through a joint collaboration with UNDP, Wharton and Kellogg. Working closely with N Chandrababu Naidu, his vision for a one-year-fast-track MBA program for working professionals was realized with the ISB in 2000 where he was on the Dean-search, faculty and curriculum committees.

In 2004, he trained his sights on his native Tamil Nadu to set up Great Lakes Institute of Management which today has another campus at Gurgaon and is considered as one of the top B-schools in the country. He received Padma Shri in 2001 for his contribution to education.

He is survived by his wife, Vasantha Balachandran and sons Sudhakar Balachandran (University of Illinois at Chicago) and Diwakar Balachandran (Anderson Cancer Center at Houston).