Anandalingam named new Dean of Imperial College Business School

Imperial College London has appointed a leading US Dean to head its Business School.

Professor G. ‘Anand’ Anandalingam, an expert in electronic markets and telecommunications networks, has been appointed Dean of Imperial College Business School and Professor of Management Science following an international search. He succeeds Professor Dorothy Griffiths OBE, who has served as Dean of the School since February 2012 following Professor David Begg’s retirement.

Currently Dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland, USA, Professor Anandalingam, 59, will take up his role at Imperial on 1 August 2013.

As Dean of the Smith School, consistently ranked in the top 25 globally for the quality of its programs, Professor Anandalingam has introduced a range of specialised Masters courses, sought to expand the School’s global reach with degrees and executive education programs and by providing global experience for its students, and has raised over $40 million from philanthropic donors and corporate supporters.

Professor Anandalingam was the founder of the Smith School’s Center for Electronic Markets and Enterprises, and its director from 2001-2004. He has published more than 75 research papers, served as editor of a number of academic journals, and is also the co-author of the book ‘Beware the Winner's Curse’, which critically evaluates the technology and dot.com boom of the 1990s.

Born in Cambridge, England, Professor Anandalingam was raised in Sri Lanka and subsequently took his undergraduate degree at Cambridge and his PhD at Harvard. He worked at Brookhaven National Laboratory from 1981 to 1984 before beginning his academic career at the University of Virginia in 1984. He joined the University of Pennsylvania in 1987 and had a dual appointment both as a professor of systems engineering and professor of management science at the Wharton School of Business in 1987, before joining the Smith School in 2001 and becoming its Dean in 2008.

Global perspective

Sir Keith O'Nions, President and Rector of Imperial said:

“Anand’s passion to see Business students taught really well and for them to do great things in the world, his commitment to research excellence, and his vision for engaging strongly outside the School and the College made him the outstanding choice to lead Imperial College Business School.

“He brings a global perspective, a talent for developing strong relationships with donors and industrial partners, and has the experience of working across disciplines that will support the Business School’s focus on academic excellence and help it to flourish within Imperial’s science, technology and medicine-focussed  environment.

“At the same time as welcoming Anand, I would like to thank Professor Dot Griffiths for serving as Dean of the Business School for the last year, which comes on top of outstanding service to the School over many years.”

Professor Anandalingam said:

“I’m looking forward intensely to working at Imperial College Business School, an environment where the academics conduct fantastic research, the students are devoted to academic excellence and the university’s reputation is second-to-none.

“As the newest Faculty of this great institution and thanks to my excellent predecessors, the Business School has done incredibly well in a short space of time. I’m now very excited by the chance to apply my connectivity and experience towards making Imperial even more proud of its Business School.

“We have one of the best managed, most nimble and entrepreneurial institutions in the world. It is simply a matter of time before Imperial is considered to be the best global university.”

Baroness Manningham-Buller, Chair of Imperial’s Court and Council, said:

“I am delighted that Anand Anandalingam is to become the Dean of the Imperial College Business School. He is a distinguished leader of business education and I know that he will build on the success of the School’s previous leaders, David Begg and Dot Griffiths.”

See the press release of this article