New Dean at NYU Stern School of Business

The NYU Stern School of Business has announced that Rangarajan “Raghu” Sundaram will become dean of the school as of January 1, 2018. Professor Sundaram joined Stern’s faculty a little more than two decades ago and has been Vice Dean of MBA Programs since 2016. He succeeds Peter Henry, who held the deanship since January 2010.

Sundaram was selected by Dean Henry to join Stern’s leadership team as Vice Dean for MBA Programs, overseeing the school’s full-time MBA program; the Langone part-time MBA program; multiple dual degrees, including seven offered in partnership with the University; the Executive MBA program; the MS in Accounting program; and Advanced Professional Certificate programs.

Among his accomplishments as Vice Dean were the establishment of the Creative Destruction Lab; the launch of new, specialized one-year MBA programs; his outreach to industry, securing the support of key business leaders to join the School’s newly created Tech MBA Advisory Board; the extension of the New York City-based Executive MBA program to downtown Washington, D.C., where it is now the highest ranked EMBA in that market; and Stern’s entry into online education, including launching the first in a series of online certificate programs, among others.

Professor Sundaram’s scholarly interests include agency problems, executive compensation, corporate finance, derivatives pricing, credit risk, and credit derivatives. He has received research grants from the National Science Foundation and other organizations.  He has won the Jensen Prize, was a finalist for the Brattle Prize, and received the Stern School’s inaugural Distinguished Teaching Award.

Sundaram received his BA in economics from the University of Madras in 1982, and received his MBA from Indian Institute of Management, Ahemedabad in 1984.  He received his MA in economics from Cornell University in 1987, and his PhD in economics from Cornell in 1988.

When announcing the appointment, NYU President Andrew Hamilton said, “Stern’s reputation is such that it had an outstanding group of candidates for the dean’s post.  But in the end, the Search Committee found the best candidate here in our own midst.  And rightly so.  Raghu Sundaram has a strong, highly regarded record of leadership and innovation, scholarship and teaching, and collegiality and service to both Stern and the University.  In a field of distinguished candidates for Stern’s deanship, Raghu stood out.”