Soumitra Dutta Brings a Global Perspective to Cornell's Johnson Graduate School of Management as the First Major U.S. Business School Dean Appointed from an International Academic Institution

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ITHACA, N.Y., Jan. 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --  Soumitra Dutta, a professor of business and technology and founder and faculty director of a new media and technology innovation lab at INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France, will become the eleventh dean of the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management at Cornell University effective July 1, 2012, Cornell President David J. Skorton announced today. In appointing Dutta, Johnson becomes the first major business school in the U.S. to hire a dean from a business school outside the country.

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INSEAD is among the top-ranked graduate business schools worldwide. Dutta himself has served visiting professorships in Haas School at UC Berkeley, Oxford Internet Institute at University of Oxford, and Judge School at University of Cambridge in England, as well as advising several governments with their national information and innovation policies and has consulted with leading international organizations.  He has lived and worked in the U.S., Europe, and Asia, including stints as an engineer with GE in the U.S. and Schlumberger in Japan.

"Professor Dutta's appointment is a natural fit with Johnson's increasingly global outlook," said Skorton. "He has expertise in new and emerging media, he has studied the conditions that promote innovation and he has extensive experience on the international stage. Among other qualities, these prepare him well to oversee the education of our next-generation business leaders and entrepreneurs. Johnson students, Cornellians who take courses at Johnson and, in the very near future, aspiring entrepreneurs at our new tech campus in New York City will benefit from this appointment."

"I am delighted to welcome Dr. Dutta to the position of dean. His global focus and his outstanding research in the areas of innovation and technology position him well to lead the school today and in the future," said H. Fisk Johnson '79, MBA '84, PhD 86, CEO and chairman of S. C. Johnson.

Dutta is the Roland Berger Chaired Professor in Business and Technology at INSEAD. He is the co-editor and author respectively of two influential reports in technology and innovation, the Global Information Technology Report (co-published with the World Economic Forum) and the Global Innovation Index (to be co-published with the World Intellectual Property Organization). Both reports have been widely used by governments around the world in assessing and planning their technology and innovation policies.

Dutta is a member of the Davos Circle, an association of long-time participants in the Annual Davos meeting of the World Economic Forum and has engaged in a number of multi-stakeholder initiatives to shape global, regional and industry agendas. In addition to teaching and research, he has published twenty books and monographs.  He has held several deputy dean-level management responsibilities at INSEAD, including handling global executive education with total annual revenues of $110 million.  He is on the advisory boards of several international business schools. He has co-founded two firms and is on the board of several start-ups. 

He will succeed Joseph Thomas, who is stepping down after a five-year term as dean. During his tenure, Thomas launched the school's long-term strategic plan and led the creation of the Emerging Markets Institute, as well as the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute. Thomas will return to teaching and research.

"This appointment is an exciting opportunity for me, in part because of Johnson's commitment to global perspectives, entrepreneurship and innovation, and business sustainability, but also because as an early adopter of approaches such as performance learning, the school itself exemplifies innovative thinking in business," said Dutta. "I am excited about the close connections the school has to the broader university and especially the opportunities available through collaboration on the tech campus. I am eager to take up the leadership position building on the strong foundations laid by Dean Thomas."

"Having excelled in a premier management school in academia and in administration after being a top technology researcher, Professor Soumitra Dutta brings a rare combination of vision, aspiration, networking, management, engineering rigor and excellence to Johnson," said N.R. Narayana Murthy, Chairman Emeritus of Infosys Limited, and an Emeritus Member of the Cornell University Board of Trustees.

"Professor Dutta is highly respected in the academic and business communities globally, and will transfer a wealth of knowledge and expertise to Johnson. Booz & Company is proud to have built a working relationship spanning two decades with Professor Dutta through a number of joint initiatives pertaining to strategy, innovation, and dissemination of technology centric models," said Joe Saddi, MBA '83 and Chairman of Booz & Company.

"I am delighted that Professor Dutta will be joining us," said Thomas. "His extensive research on global business and the conditions that encourage innovation make him the right leader to carry forward our strategic plan, and I look forward to working with him as he assumes his new role as dean of Johnson."

"I'd like to extend a sincere thanks to Dean Joe Thomas for his leadership and dedication to the Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management," said H. Fisk Johnson. "In addition to his many accomplishments as an academic professional, he's been a friend to my family and we're incredibly grateful for all that he's done."

Dutta received a B.Tech. in electrical engineering and computer science from the Indian Institute of Technology and an M.S. in business administration, an M.S. in computer science and a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of California at Berkeley. He is married to Lourdes Casanova, a native of Spain. She currently is a lecturer in INSEAD'S strategy department, where she specializes in international business, with a focus on Latin America and multinationals from emerging markets. The couple has a daughter, currently studying at Oxford University.

About Johnson at Cornell University

Founded in 1946, Johnson at Cornell University offers both a two-year and accelerated Masters of Business Administration program, as well as two executive MBA programs designed for mid-career professionals. There are 320 students from 32 countries in the regular- and accelerated MBA Class of 2012, and 366 students in the executive programs. Johnson also offers dual degree and certificate programs with law, industrial and labor relations, engineering, medicine, health administration and real estate. With 52 full-time tenured and tenure track faculty, 20 regular non-tenure track complimented by adjunct, Emeritus or visiting academics—many of whom come to Cornell from successful careers in the business world—the school offers superb instruction using a collaborative, immersive approach in which students apply what they learn to business challenges at real companies.

SOURCE The Johnson School at Cornell University