The University of Oxford has appointed Indian-American academic Soumitra Dutta as the new dean of its Saïd Business School.

Dutta is currently professor of Management at the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business at Cornell University in New York, where he was also the founding dean. He will take up his new role as the dean of Oxford Saïd on June 1 this year.

His highly distinguished three-decade academic career includes being the current chair of the Global Business School Network and 13 years in leadership roles at INSEAD in France.

Professor Dutta also serves on the boards of listed international corporations, has founded several successful start-ups, co-chaired the World Economic Forum’s Global Future Council on Innovation Ecosystems and created major global technology and innovation indices. He has also acted as a senior advisor to governments on technology and innovation policies.  

Professor Dutta is an alumnus of IIT Delhi, where he earned his Bachelor in Technology in Computer Science during 1981-85, followed by a PhD from the University of California, Berkeley in 1989.

“I am delighted that professor Dutta has accepted our offer to become the next dean of Saïd Business School. He brings a global perspective, wide-ranging experience and deep knowledge of technology and of business education. I look forward to working with him,” said professor Louise Richardson, vice-chancellor of the University of Oxford, who led on the appointment of professor Dutta.

Commenting on his appointment, professor Dutta said he was delighted to be joining Saïd Business School at Oxford University. “My daughter Sara graduated from Oxford and both my wife Lourdes and I spent a fruitful half-year sabbatical at Oxford. We are both looking forward to being part of this diverse, exciting and innovative community,” he said.

“It is an honour to be appointed as dean of the school, it is a unique institution placed within one of the world’s greatest universities. I very much look forward to collaborating with colleagues, students and alumni within Oxford Saïd and across Oxford, to move the school forward to higher levels of excellence and impact,” he added.

Professor Dutta replaces professor Peter Tufano, who stepped down in June last year after a decade as dean. Since then, professor Sue Dopson has been leading the school as interim dean, working closely with joint deputy deans professor Richard Barker, associate professor Jonathan Reynolds and chief operating officer Sara Beck.

“We are excited to be welcoming professor Dutta to lead our school community. He brings with him an incredible breadth of global leadership experience, from world leading business schools, through to major corporations and down to small start-ups. With professor Dutta at the helm, we will continue to flourish as we focus on tackling complex, world-scale challenges through education,” professor Dopson said.

Several Indian-American academics have in recent years led top business schools in various countries. The list includes Nitin Nohria who was the dean of Harvard Business school for a decade until 2020, Dipak Jain at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management (2001-2009), and Raghu Sundaram, who currently serves as the dean of New York University’s Stern School of Business.