Indian School of Business appoints Madan Pillutla as next Dean

Naveen S Garewal
Tribune News Service
Hyderabad, December 30

The Indian School of Business (ISB) on Wednesday announced the appointment of Professor Madan Pillutla as its 6th Dean. 

Prof Pillutla is a globally renowned management academic and leader in the field of organizational behaviour, currently at London Business School (LBS). 

He will succeed the Dean Rajendra Srivastava and will formally take over on July 1, 2021.

A visiting faculty member at ISB since its founding, Prof Pillutla currently serves as a Professor of Organizational Behavior, a department he chaired in the past, at LBS. Having served as the Deputy Dean of Faculty, Ex-Officio Member of the Executive Committee, and the Faculty Representative on the Governing Body of LBS, he brings extensive administrative experience.

“Madan’s appointment comes at a transformative phase for ISB. In the nearly 20 years of our existence, successive generations of very capable Deans have built the school to its current pre-eminence, and we are excited about the important role ISB will continue to play in business education in India and internationally. In Madan, we are fortunate to find the combination of academic excellence, deep administrative expertise and, importantly, someone who is familiar with the unique culture of ISB. At LBS, he has a proven track record of delivering important outcomes which include improved research productivity and increased gender diversity that are equally important to ISB’s future progress. He holds a distinctive vision for the institution, and we are certain that he will take ISB to new heights”, said Chairperson, ISB Executive Board, Harish Manwani.

Dean Rajendra Srivastava added: “I am excited to handover the baton to Madan and believe that the school will see tremendous progress with him as Dean. We have worked closely together over the last 20 years and I look forward to continuing working with him as I transition into a faculty role as the Novartis Professor of Marketing Strategy and Innovation over the next few months.”

With research interests in Behavioural Decision-Making, Negotiation and Influence, Fairness and Trust, and Norm Violations, Prof Pillutla has many publications in the best academic journals in his field and has also served as an associate editor in top journals such as the Academy of Management Annals and the Organizational Behaviour & Human Decision Processes. He has also been on the editorial boards of other top journals such as the Academy of Management Journal, the Academy of Management Review, and the Administrative Science Quarterly. 

Prior to LBS, Prof Pillutla taught at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, a highly acclaimed institution of higher education in Asia. He holds a doctorate in Organizational Behavior from the University of British Columbia, a master’s in Business Analytics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champagne, and a post-graduate diploma in Management from the Xavier Labor Relations Institute (XLRI), Jamshedpur which conferred upon him a distinguished alumnus award in 2019. 

Commenting on his appointment, Prof Pillutla adds: “It is a privilege to be selected as the Dean of ISB. It is particularly special to lead an institution that I have been associated with since its inception. ISB has gained a position of pre-eminence on the strength of its excellent faculty and students. As business education transforms globally and in India, I am excited about the opportunities for ISB to set new benchmarks for others to follow.” 

“I have the utmost admiration and respect for Madan. He has great integrity. He greatly values research and has excellent intuition in evaluating faculty. He has a very clear and logical intellect, sees the big picture but has command of the details. I learnt a lot from him, and always tremendously enjoyed talking to him and discussing the business of business schools", said Dean Francesca Cornelli of the Kellogg School of Management who has worked extensively with Prof Pillutla during her days at LBS.

Founded in 2001, ISB has quickly risen to become one of the top business schools in the world. 

Under the leadership of Dean Srivastava over the last five years, ISB has seen transformational changes that have significantly strengthened its foundations. 

Acknowledging Dean Srivastava’s impact on the ISB, Chairperson Harish Manwani added: “During Raj’s tenure ISB achieved an integrated ranking of #16 worldwide by Poets & Quants in December 2019, became the youngest B-school in the world with the “triple crown” accreditation by AACSB, EQUIS and AMBA, enhanced its programme portfolio with our PGP-Pro and Executive Fellow Programme in Management, and significantly increased faculty strength and activity across research centres and institutes, while building a substantial corpus for the future. Raj has served ISB with distinction, and we are glad that he will continue to be part of our faculty.”

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