IIM-A Gets a New Dean from Harvard

Image: Alok Brahmbhatt for Forbes India

As a sign of change, Harvard professor Ashish Nanda will take over as director of IIM Ahmedabad. He is the first academician from an overseas institute to head any of the 13 IIMs.

Nanda, an IIM-A alumnus himself, is the Robert Braucher Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School. Rakesh Basant and G Raghuram, both part of the IIM-A faculty, were shortlisted too.

Nanda has been teaching at Harvard for 13 years. An electrical engineer from IIT Delhi, he earned a postgraduate diploma in management at IIM-A in 1983, followed by a Masters degree and a PhD in economics from Harvard. He started his academic career with Harvard in 2000 as an assistant professor. Another potential change is in the salary: An IIM director currently gets around Rs 20 lakh a year, while top jobs in Ivy League colleges pay between Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 3 crore.