A senior official in the University of Miami’s business school will become GW’s next business school dean, the University announced Thursday.
Anuj Mehrotra, the senior vice dean for faculty development and research at the Miami Business School, will start at GW July 1, according to a release. Mehrotra is the third administrator from the University of Miami to be appointed to a leadership role at GW this academic year.
Mehrotra served as the interim dean of Miami’s business school for about a year from 2016 until 2017, where he was a prolific fundraiser, helping to increase the amount of cash the school reeled in and the number of new donation pledges. He served as vice dean for graduate business programs and executive education between 2013 and 2016, helping to launch 10 new programs including an online master’s degree program in business administration, according to the release.
“I look forward to working with the school’s world-class faculty, professional staff, alumni, board members and other supporters as we continue to strengthen the school’s programs by anticipating and adapting to the shifting needs of students and the business community,” he said in the release.
Mehrotra has been teaching at Miami since 1993 and is still a professor of management science, according to his LinkedIn profile. He has written extensively about management science throughout this time at Miami.
“His experience and vision will be key to building on the business school’s strengths and in helping the school innovate to enhance the University’s research and educational missions,” Provost Forrest Maltzman said in the release.
The announcement comes about a year after former Business School Dean Linda Livingstone was named president of Baylor University. Vivek Choudhury, the school’s vice dean, has been serving as the business school’s interim leader over the last year.
Officials formed a search committee in the fall semester to conduct a nationwide search for the school’s new leader focusing in part on diversity and building connections with the D.C. business community.
Vanessa Perry, a professor of professor of marketing, strategic management and public policy and who led the search committee, said Mehrotra is an accomplished administrator and fundraiser.
“He is coming from an environment and a program where he helped increase the prestige in a short amount of time,” she said in the release. “The faculty and staff at Miami have nothing but praise for him as a colleague, leader and ‘rainmaker.’”
Mehrotra received his doctorate degree in operations research from the Georgia Institute of Technology and previously studied at Virginia Polytechnic University and Birla Institute of Technology and Science in India, according to the release.
Mehrotra will be the fourth leader of the business school since 2010 and is the first dean selected under University President Thomas LeBlanc.
Two other top officials were hired earlier this year from positions at the University of Miami including Donna Arbide, the vice president of development and alumni affairs and Mark Diaz, who will become executive vice president and chief financial officer this summer. LeBlanc served as Miami’s executive vice president and provost before coming to GW.
