Episodes

This episode of Deans Counsel is the second of three featuring special guest host, Alex Triantis, Dean of the Carey Business School at Johns Hopkins University, and a previous guest (on Episode 16) of the podcast. Alex and co-host Jim Ellis speak with Francisco Veloso, Dean of INSEAD, The Business School for the World. Professor Veloso joined INSEAD from Imperial College Business School, where he served as Dean from 2017 to 2023. Previously, he was the Dean at Católica Lisbon School of Business...

This episode of Deans Counsel is the first of three featuring special guest host, Alex Triantis, Dean of the Carey Business School at Johns Hopkins University, and a previous guest (on Episode 16) of the podcast. Alex and co-host Ken Kring speak with Lee Newman, Dean of Instituto de Impresa (IE) Business School and a professor of Behavioral Science and Leadership at IE University in Madrid, Spain. After years of experience as a consultant and technology entrepreneur, following his MBA and Maste...

On this episode of Deans Counsel, hosts Ken Kring and Jim Ellis speak with Oliver Yao, Dean of the University of Delaware's Lerner College of Business and Economics, a role he took on in August 2023. Oliver Yao’s research interests are in the inter-disciplinary fields of information systems and supply chain management, including business value of IT-enabled supply chains, economics of electronic and mobile commerce, bullwhip effect and VMI, CPFR and CRM. His publications have appeared in Manage...

On this episode of Deans Counsel, hosts Ken Kring and Dave Ikenberry speak with Todd Milbourn, the newly-installed 10th Dean of the Edwin L. Cox School of Business at Southern Methodist University. He holds the Tolleson Chair in Business Leadership and the Andrew W. Chen Endowed Chair in Financial Investments. An experienced and visionary academic leader, Todd is dedicated to advancing teaching and research, supporting top academic talent, and engaging the business community to help prepare the ...

On this episode of Deans Counsel, Jim Ellis and Dave Ikenberry speak with Avijit Ghosh, Dean Emeritus at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign's Gies College of Business. He also served as vice president/chief financial officer and comptroller for the University of Illinois System since 2018. Dr. Ghosh's Research and teaching interests are in the area of retail and marketing strategy and sales forecasting. His reas of specialization include locational analysis, technology commercialization...

On this episode of Deans Counsel, Jim Ellis and Dave Ikenberry speak with Bernard "Bernie" Banks, Director of Rice University’s Doerr Institute for New Leaders (and a Clinical Professor of Management within the University’s Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Business). The mission of the Doerr Institute “…is to elevate the leadership capacity of Rice students and to improve the practice of leader development in higher education.” Most recently, Bernie served on the faculty and senior leadership ...

On this episode of Deans Counsel, Jim Ellis, Dave Ikenberry and Ken Kring speak with John Evans, Dean of the VinUniversity College of Business and Management in Hanoi, Vietnam. Prior to joining VinUni, Professor Evans was the Pro Vice Chancellor and President of Curtin University Dubai campus. John has held numerous senior leadership roles in Higher Education and has extensive senior academic international experience. He is also an active researcher and publishes and teaches mainly in the field...

On this episode of Deans Counsel, Jim Ellis and Ken Kring speak with Blair Sheppard, Special Advisor to Duke Kunshan University, and previously Dean of Duke's Fuqua School of Business. Blair is responsible for directing all of Duke Kunshan's fundraising, corporate development, non-degree program development and regional development for the newly formed campus in China. From 2012-2024, Blair served as Global Leader for Strategy and Leadership at PwC, where he focused on building resilient strate...

On this episode of Deans Counsel, Jim Ellis and Ken Kring speak with Gerry Sanders, Dean of UNLV's Lee Business School. In perhaps our most riveting discussion to date, Gerry walks us through his experience during an active shooter incident targeting Lee, and the confusing aftermath. In addition to feeling firsthand the myriad emotions that arise during and in the wake of this all-too-common, uniquely American occurrence, Gerry received a crash course in university-level crisis communications -...

On this episode of Deans Counsel, we've got all three of our moderators -- Jim Ellis, Dave Ikenberry, and Ken Kring -- onboard to speak with Umaimah Mendhro, Founder and President of One League, an organization empowering highly promising, underserved changemakers to realize global impact. Partnering with Stanford, Harvard and MIT as well as global industry leaders, One League is focused on bringing world class education to a highly engaged and academically accomplished set of students who, beca...

On this episode of Deans Counsel, moderators Jim Ellis and Ken Kring speak with Adam Goodman, Director of the Center for Leadership at Northwestern University, where he's also a Clinical Professor in the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. With a career journey that began as a special assistant to the president of the University of Colorado, Adam has accumulated an incredible amount of knowledge about what it means to lead at the highest academic levels. In this edifying episo...

On this episode of Deans Counsel, moderators Jim Ellis and Ken Kring welcome Paul Pavlou, Dean of the University of Miami's Herbert Business School and Leonard M. Miller University Chair Professor. Recognized as one of the "World's Most Influential Scientific Minds," Paul earned a Ph.D. in Information Systems and a master’s in electrical engineering from the University of Southern California, and a bachelor’s in electrical engineering and managerial studies, magna cum laude, from Rice University...

On this episode of Deans Counsel, moderators Jim Ellis and Dave Ikenberry welcome Marianne Lewis, Dean of the Carl H. Lindner College of Business and Professor of Management at the University of Cincinnati. She knows the College extremely well, having started there as an assistant professor in management in 1997. From there, Marianne steadily rose through the ranks, becoming associate dean for undergraduate programs in 2009, a job she held for five years. After one year on a Fulbright in the UK,...

On this episode of Deans Counsel, moderators Jim Ellis and Ken Kring speak with Jason Wingard, Executive Chairman of The Education Board, Inc. and Distinguished Visiting Professor at Harvard. Dr. Wingard is a globally renowned executive, with deep experience in both the corporate and non-profit sectors, specializing in the future of learning and work. He recently served as the 12th President of Temple University and Professor of Management and Policy, Organizational, and Leadership Studies. Dr....

On this episode of Deans Counsel, moderators Jim Ellis and Dave Ikenberry speak with Tim Westerbeck, President of Eduvantis, a leading agency offering strategic advisor to higher education institutions around the world. Tim's work focuses on helping institutions grow amidst significant disruption, by defining strategies and new business models aligned with the future. He has served as a colum­nist for Busi­nessweek and is a fre­quent com­men­ta­tor in The Wall Street Jour­nal, The New York Times...

On this episode of Deans Counsel, moderators Ken Kring and Dave Ikenberry speak with Bruce Weber, Willem Kooyker Dean of the Zicklin School of Business and a professor in the Paul H. Chook Department of Information Systems & Statistics at New York's Baruch College. Previously, he was the dean of the Alfred Lerner College of Business & Economics at the University of Delaware. He has an AB in applied mathematics from Harvard University and an MS and PhD in decision sciences from the Wharton School...

On this special episode of Deans Counsel, we flip the script a bit by putting two of our hosts -- former business school deans Jim Ellis (USC) and Dave Ikenberry (Colorado), along with returning guest Allison Davis-Blake (Minnesota) -- in the guest chair to speak specifically to an important area of deanship: transitions. In this detailed and wide-ranging discussion, these three Deans Emeriti speak with Deans Counsel host Ken Kring -- Co-Managing Director of Global Education Practice and Senior...

On this episode of Deans Counsel, moderators Ken Kring and Dave Ikenberry speak with Mary Ann Scully, Dean of the Sellinger School of Business and Management at Loyola University of Maryland. Mary Ann enjoyed a successful career in banking, including co-founding Howard Bank, for which she served as CEO and Board chairperson until Howard's merger with FNB in 2022, before setting her sights on the academy. At Loyola of Maryland, she is tasked with leveraging the historical strength of both the un...

On this episode of Deans Counsel, moderators Ken Kring and Dave Ikenberry speak with Ajay Menon, President and CEO of CSU STRATA, and former Dean of CSU's Agricultural Sciences and Business Schools. In this captivating discussion, Ajay walks us through his path from Marketing Faculty Member to Dean to his current role as Innovation Leader at STRATA, a non-profit supporting and serving the campuses and affiliates of the Colorado State University System through intellectual property management an...

On this episode of Deans Counsel, moderators Jim Ellis and Dave Ikenberry speak with Sherif Kamel, professor of management and dean of the School of Business at The American University in Cairo. Sherif is also the current Board Chair of AACSB International. The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business is a global, nonprofit membership organization of educational institutions, businesses, and other entities devoted to the advancement of management education. It's with regard to that...

On this episode of Deans Counsel (originally published on 29 March 2024), moderators Jim Ellis and Dave Ikenberry speak with Sanjay Gupta, currently a Professor of Accounting and Information Systems. Most recently, he served as the Eli and Edythe L. Broad Dean, the 11th Dean of the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State University from 2015 to 2022. During his tenure as dean, Professor Gupta led the Broad College to redefine itself through two comprehensive strategic plans, aligning wi...

On this episode of Deans Counsel (originally published on 6 January 2023), moderators Ken Kring and Dave Ikenberry speak with Francois Ortalo-Magne, the ninth Dean of the London Business School, a position he has held since 2017. They discuss the unique challenges and financial responsibility of being Dean and CEO of a stand-along business school; working with a fiduciary Board; discovering connections between new constituencies and leveraging alumni expertise; and Francois' approach to philant...

On this episode of Deans Counsel, moderators Ken Kring and Dave Ikenberry speak with Anuj Mehrotra, Dean and Stephen P. Zelnak Jr. Chair, and Professor of Operations Management, at Georgia Tech University. Prior to his time at the Scheller College of Business, Mehrotra served as the dean of the George Washington University School of Business (GWSB) since 2018. Before GWSB, Anuj was senior vice dean and vice dean of Faculty Development and Research at the University of Miami School of Business A...

On this episode of Deans Counsel, moderators Ken Kring and Dave Ikenberry speak with Bob Bruner, University Emeritus Professor, Distinguished Emeritus Professor of Business Administration and Dean Emeritus of the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia. Bob is a giant in the field of deaning, and we're honored to have him on the show. As the former longtime Dean of one of the top business schools in the country, Bob has the experience to speak with authority about the temperamen...