IIM-A director Ashish Nanda steps down citing personal reasons
The Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad’s (IIM-A), first international faculty director Ashish Nanda has stepped down with effect from September 1, 2017 — a year before his term ends.
Nanda cited personal reasons in his resignation letter to Kumar Mangalam Birla, chairman of the institute’s board of governors and Aditya Birla Group.
An alumnus of IIM-A from the 1983 batch, Nanda was a Robert Braucher Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School and later a Harvard Business School faculty, before he took charge as director of IIM-A on September 2, 2013.
“Professionally, I have enjoyed the experience immensely and I have learned a lot. However, personally, living a long distance from my wife and son has been a challenge. When I joined, I had committed to serving at most one term. On September 1, it will be four years, to the day, since I took charge. It is a good time to step aside and to hand over the responsibility and honour of leading the institute to the next, fortunate person. I will hand over responsibilities of director at the end of that day,” Nanda stated in a letter addressed to the IIM-A community.
“I have enjoyed the experience immensely and I have learned a lot. However, personally, living a long distance from my wife and son has been a challenge. When I joined, I had committed to serving at most one term. On September 1, it will be four years It is a good time to step aside and to hand over the responsibility to the next, fortunate person.” ASHISH NANDA IIM Ahmedabad international faculty director
Accepting Nanda’s resignation “albeit with regret”, Birla stated, “I have received your resignation dated April 26, 2017. We have had a conversation about this for the past couple of weeks, and I fully understand your need to be with your family and the inconvenience that the separation is causing you.”
Nanda maintained that he was fortunate to have worked for the past three and half years for IIM-A, and to have led the institute at a crucial time in its trajectory.
According to Nanda, IIM-A was at a point when there was an alignment among various constituencies of the institute as to the direction it ought to follow as well as had gained a considerable momentum.
“We have a committed and enthusiastic chairman providing vision and guidance, a wise and engaged board, faculty that is productive and energised, staff that is loyal and devoted, brilliant and hardworking students, a diaspora of alumni committed to the institute’s long-term success, governmental support to operate autonomously, and an industry that respects and values the institute. This is as good a time as any for leadership transition at the institute. Thus, I have requested the IIMA chairman that I step aside from the position of director, and he has graciously acceded to my request,” Nanda further stated.
Under Nanda’s directorship, IIM-A has taken several steps of growth, in terms of revised curriculum for programs, increased student diversity, enhanced research and case studies as well as campus building restoration and expansion. Nanda’s decision to step down comes at a time the IIM Bill 2017 has been tabled in Parliament, which when passed would allow IIMs powers to grant degrees and increased autonomy.
An electrical engineer from IIT Delhi, Nanda went on to pursue masters and PhD in economics from Harvard after acquiring a post-graduate diploma in management from IIM-A. Before joining Harvard Law School in 2007, Nanda was a Harvard Business School faculty member for 13 years.