A University committee has been appointed to begin a national search for the next dean of the Simon Business School. The committee, appointed by Rob Clark, provost and senior vice president for research, is charged with identifying a successor to Andrew Ainslie, who has led Simon since 2014.
The search committee will be chaired by Jim Brickley, the Gleason Professor of Business Administration at Simon. Members include:
- Rick Cardot, the faculty director of the Barry Florescue Undergraduate Business Program;
- Rajiv Dewan, the Xerox Professor of Business and a professor of computers and information systems;
- Paul Ellickson, the Michael and Diane Jones Professor and a professor of economics and marketing;
- Wallace Gundy, an MBA student and the president of the Graduate Business Council;
- Donald Hall, the Robert L. and Mary L. Sproull Dean of Faculty of Arts, Sciences & Engineering;
- Ron Kaniel, the Jay S. and Jeanne P. Benet Professor of Finance;
- Dennis Kessler, the Edward and Agnes Ackley Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship;
- Rebekah Lewin, the assistant dean of admissions and financial aid at Simon;
- Jeanine Miklos-Thal, an associate professor at Simon;
- Ricky Roet Green, an assistant professor at Simon;
- Vera Tilson, an associate professor of operations management;
- Joanna Wu, the Susanna and Evans Y. Lam Professor of Business Administration.
The nationally recognized nonprofit leadership search firm Isaacson, Miller will work with the University committee during the process of identifying potential candidates. The committee will be staffed by Tony Green, deputy to the provost.
Clark said the goal of the search is to have a new dean appointed and in office by the start of the academic year in fall 2020.
“During his five years of leadership, Andrew Ainslie has set a very high bar for Simon, introducing innovative ideas about business education, recruitment, and engagement that have resulted in a new era of achievement for one of the University’s most highly regarded academic units,” Clark said. “I’m confident that the search committee will identify an equally impressive academic leader, one who can add yet another chapter of success to story of the Simon community and for the University of Rochester.”
Since its formal establishment as a graduate school in 1958, Simon has grown to an enrollment of more than 1,200 students, across nearly a dozen degree programs. Traditionally considered one of the leading business schools in the country, under Ainslie’s leadership, Simon became the first graduate business program in the nation to earn STEM designation for all of the school’s full-time programs.
In 2018, the influential business publication Poets & Quants named Simon its MBA Program of the Year.
In addition to its academic legacy, the school has earned a reputation as one of the most diverse programs in the country, ranking No. 13 in the United States and No. 21 in the world as a top MBA program for women, according to the 2018 rankings of the Financial Times. Simon also has the largest percentage of students in the United States among those who participate in a national program dedicated to enrolling African American students in business education programs.
Under Ainslie’s leadership, the school has also redesigned its curriculum; converted its academic calendar to semesters from quarters; introduced successful new master’s degrees; reduced tuition; and hired several new faculty members.
Ainslie announced this fall that he planned to step down as dean at the end of the 2019–20 year. He plans to remain on the Simon faculty.
As the committee puts in place a process for the search, the group plans to update the University community on its work.
