Ashish Nanda, the Robert Braucher Professor of Practice, faculty director of executive education, and research director at the Program on the Legal Profession at Harvard Law School, has been appointed director of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIMA), in India.
Nanda’s appointment w1as announced by IIMA’s board of governors following approval by the Indian Prime Minister’s Office and various ministries in the government of India. Upon assuming his new responsibilities on Sept. 2, 2013, he will take a leave of absence from the Harvard Law School faculty, but will continue to be involved with HLS and HBS Executive Education programs.
Said Harvard Law School Dean Martha Minow: “This important appointment recognizes the vital leadership of Ashish Nanda in the study and teaching of management and business dimensions of professional services sectors in a global economy. Our students and colleagues have benefitted from his rich knowledge of organizational behavior, culture and processes and the increasingly global reach of law and business organizations. How wonderful that Ashish now has the opportunity to give back to the school where he trained—and how terrific that he will continue his involvement in Harvard Law School’s Executive Education program and strengthen its cutting edge role in research and teaching about this transformative time for law firms and global law practice.”
Said Nanda: “The opportunity to contribute to Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad carries a special meaning for me. Having graduated from the institute 30 years ago, I owe a great deal to my learning and experiences there. It feels like a life coming full circle. I have been at Harvard for 25 years—first as a doctoral student, then at the business school and over the past seven years at HLS. I have enjoyed every moment of my time here, learning and contributing. HLS has given me tremendous opportunity and support in building executive education and case development initiatives at the school. I feel particularly fortunate to have experienced the quality of work, intensity of engagement and collegiality at HLS. The IIMA board and Harvard have both been generous in encouraging me to maintain my Harvard links by continuing to teach in select Executive Education programs.”
Professor of Law John C. Coates, chair of the faculty board of the Executive Education Program at HLS, said: “I am delighted that Ashish will be able to pursue this exciting new opportunity and am equally delighted that he will continue to teach in our Executive Education programs. He is a remarkable teacher, and his continued presence in the HLS classroom will mean a great deal to our participants and to us.”
IIMA has been ranked consistently as the number one management school in India in the last several years. It has been ranked among the top business schools by The Economist, The Financial Times and Eduniversal. In 2008, IIMA also became the first business school in India to be awarded EQUIS accreditation.
In the J.D. program at Harvard, Nanda has taught courses on Leadership in Law Firms; Professional Services; and Professional Services: Advanced Topics. And he teaches courses in the Executive Education programs at both Harvard Law and at Harvard Business Schools. Before joining the HLS faculty, he was a Harvard Business School faculty member for 13 years, where he taught Professional Services; Leadership Values and Decision Making; and General Management in the MBA program.
Before coming to Harvard for his Ph.D., Nanda worked for five years with the Tata group of companies as Tata administrative services officer. A recipient of the Henry B. Arthur Fellowship, the Harvard University Center for Ethics in the Professions Fellowship, President of India Gold Medal (twice), and the IIM Director’s Gold Medal, he has published several case studies and Harvard Business Review articles and is a coauthor (with Tom DeLong) of “Professional Services: Cases & Text.” His research, in the form of conceptual articles, case studies, surveys, and empirical analyses, focuses on professional services. It encompasses three streams—professionalism, professionals’ labor market, and management of professional service organizations.
Nanda has advised law firms and inside counsel in companies as well as other professional service organizations including accounting, advertising, asset management, engineering consulting, executive search, human resource consulting, investment banking, IT consulting, management consulting, public relations, and real estate firms. His work with these organizations has spanned strategic planning, including designing and executing strategic planning process and reviewing alliance strategies and options; developing organizational strategy, including organizational structure design and review of communication processes; reviewing governance systems, including independent analysis of executive and oversight bodies and succession planning; analyzing people practices, including compensation systems, recruitment and retention practices at partner and associate level; and designing and delivering leadership programs.
In related news, HLS announced that Scott Westfahl ’88 will be the new director of Executive Education at Harvard Law School