Stanford GSB Appoints Economist Jonathan Levin as New Dean

Stanford Graduate School of Business (GSB) has announced its new dean, industrial organization expert and economist Jonathan Levin, who will take up the leadership role on September 1, 2016. Levin succeeds Garth Saloner, who recently stepped down after serving as dean of the school for seven years.

Levin, a long-time Stanford GSB faculty member and former chair of its economics department, has a career background that extends beyond academia. “[Levin] has deep understanding of both the academic enterprise and the workings of industry and government,” said John Etchemendy, provost at Stanford. Holding posts as a director at the National Bureau for Economic Research and as a senior fellow at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, Levin has a history of consulting for Fortune 500 companies, the US Treasury as well as the Federal Communications Commission.

Levin paid tribute to Stanford GSB’s faculty in response to the announcement, adding that it will be an honor to “support their mission of applying both academic rigor and real-world relevance to their research.” 

“Jonathan brings not only stellar academic credentials but a fresh perspective and leadership skills that will help the GSB maintain its preeminence for years to come,” added Mary Barth, co-chair of the search committee. Stanford GSB was one of three US schools to sit atop QS's most recent ranking of North American business schools, alongside Harvard and Wharton.

Silicon Valley ties bring more teaching and business innovation to Stanford GSB

Thanks to its location in the heart of Northern California’s Silicon Valley, one of the world’s most thriving economic and business innovation centers, Stanford GSB has close-knit ties to some of the world’s most innovative companies - many of which were started by Stanford University alumni (like Yahoo!, Netflix and Google). This gives the university’s business school access to leading industry minds in business innovation to bring on as guest lecturers, co-teachers and use as case study protagonists.

“Deepening our understanding of management and bringing that knowledge into the classroom couldn’t be more exciting,” says Levin, who himself has won department and school-wide awards for distinguished teaching at Stanford. Among the school’s 124 distinguished tenure-track faculty are 19 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (Levin is one) and three Nobel laureates.