Indian-origin Harvard dean to step down in June 2020
New York: Harvard Business School’s
Dean Nitin Nohria will step down from his post in June 2020, ten years after he became the first Indian-origin academician to helm the Business School in the prestigious institution’s 102-year-old history.
In a letter to the business school community on Wednesday, Nohria said he will step down from the position of dean of the Harvard Business School (HBS) on June 30, 2020, after a decade in the role.
“I will take a sabbatical when I step down to reflect on what I may do next. I look forward to supporting our next dean, as my predecessors supported me. I will always remain devoted to this most extraordinary institution that I have been so lucky to call not just my place of work, but my family’s home,” Nohria said.
In his message to faculty, staff, students and alumni, Nohria said that the time is right for the HBS to transition to new leadership. “Ten years gave us a good run to make progress on our ‘Five I’ priorities,” he said, referring to the school’s focus on innovation, intellectual ambition, internationalisation, inclusion and integration. He said serving as dean has been a “privilege for which I am immensely grateful”.
Nohria, who had joined the Business School’s faculty in 1988 after receiving his PhD, said the HBS changed the “arc” of his life. Appointed the school’s 10th Dean, Nohria said a decade for HBS’s 10th dean seems an “appropriate duration” for this chapter in the School’s history.