Rajendra Srivastava next ISB dean

Srivastava currently provost and deputy president (academic affairs) and professor of marketing at Singapore Management University

The Indian School of Business (ISB) has announced Rajendra Srivastava as its new dean, to replace Ajit Rangnekar, who has been serving in this position since 2009.

Srivastava would assume the role from January 2016.

He is currently provost and deputy president (academic affairs) and professor of marketing at Singapore Management University (SMU).

The announcement was made on Friday by Adi Godrej, chairman, Godrej Group, who is also chairman of the ISB board of directors.

ISB is the third Indian B-school to have recently hired its dean from an institute abroad, after the Indian Institutes of Management at Ahmedabad and Bengaluru.

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 India  Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He has over 30 years experience as an academic and administrator. Prior to SMU, he  held distinguished research chairs and senior management positions at the University of Texas at Austin and Emory University in Atlanta.

The new dean 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, stated an ISM release. According to Pramath Sinha, chair of the search committee, the selection mandate was to identify and recruit an academician capable of integrating research, education and practice, with proven ability to manage high-profile academic and industry relationships.

“(The) appointment marks a significant step towards ISB’s mission of consolidating and strengthening its position as a world-class business school,” Adi Godrej said.

“It has been a great personal and professional privilege to have been associated with this wonderful institution. I am delighted that ISB will be led by a renowned academician and an able administrator like Raj Srivastava,” Rangnekar said.