New director to take charge at IIM-B from July 1

US citizen Sushil Vachani has served in various positions at Boston University for the past 28 years

After months of waiting, IIM Bangalore, will finally have the new director taking charge on Tuesday. Sushil Vachani, a US citizen, will take over as the director of the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore (IIM-B) on July 1, 2014.

Selection of candidates from abroad was made possible more than a year ago after the HRD minister had initiated a move to allow each IIM to shortlist its own candidates for director, chairman.

The Union human resource development ministry had approved the appointment of Sushil Vachani, professor of strategy and policy at Boston University School of Management, as the new director of Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Bangalore during November last.

"He has many good publications to his credit. He is well respected, not just in India, but globally," a senior academician at IIM-B told Business Standard.

During his 28-year career at Boston University, where he was a tenured Professor of Strategy and Innovation, Vachani served in a range of leadership positions. He has been Faculty Director of the International Management Program in Japan, Chairman of the Strategy and Policy Department, Chairman of the Doctoral Program and Special Assistant to the University's President for its India Initiative.

He designed, taught and coordinated programmes for students, executives and policy makers in the US, Japan, China and India. Vachani also serves on the board of trustees of the Deshpande Foundation which promotes economic and social development in the US and India through entrepreneurship.

Vachani received his doctorate in International Business from the Harvard Business School, a Post Graduate Diploma in Management from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and a Bachelor of Technology from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He has extensive managerial and consulting experience in both the US and India. He worked at the Boston Consulting Group developing strategies for the US, Japanese and European multinationals. He has also worked, in India, with Philips, the Tata Administrative Service and Tata Motors.

Vachani's research interests include the global institutional environment of business, multinational-government relations, corporate social responsibility, climate change, strategy and innovation at the base of the pyramid and the impact of NGOs on international business. His research has been published in top journals including California Management Review, Harvard Business Review and Journal of International Business Studies.

He has published four books. He is co-editor of Adaptation to Climate Change in Asia and Multinational Corporations and Global Poverty Reduction, editor of 'Transformations in Global Governance: Implications for Multinationals and other Stakeholders' and author of 'Multinationals in India: Strategic Product Choices'.