Indian American to head the Chicago's Business School

Chicago: An Indian American management guru, Sunil Kumar, has been named the new Head of the University of Chicago's prestigious Booth School of Business.

Kumar, who was born in India, received a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and has taught at Stanford since 1996, currently working as the Senior Associate Dean of academic affairs at Stanford University's Graduate School of Business. He will begin a five-year term as dean on January 1.

Kumar "brings the right blend of vision, entrepreneurial energy and academic leadership that will build on the contributions of Chicago Booth at a time of tremendous momentum and achievement," University of Chicago President Robert Zimmer and Provost Thomas Rosenbaum said in a statement.

Kumar is the first dean in many years who does not have a background or degree in economics or finance.
His non-traditional background lends itself well to promoting Chicago's lesser known attributes, such as its entrepreneurship and marketing programmes.

"This is an institution that is already in terrific shape. My basic mission is to strengthen and enhance what is already great." said Kumar.