Despite a lengthy global search, in the end Cambridge University decided to go inside to choose the next dean of its business school. It’s the first time in 30 years the Judge Business School has gotten a new leader from within its own ranks.
Not coincidentally, that new leader has about 30 years’ experience teaching at the school, which was founded in 1990.
Gishan Dissanaike has spent three decades as a lecturer, fellow, and professor at Cambridge, including the last 16 months as interim dean following the departure in June 2023 of predecessor Mauro Guillen. He officially begins his deanship December 1, 2024.
JUDGE SCHOOL IS ‘AT THE TOP OF ITS GAME’
“It will be a privilege to serve as the first home-grown dean of Cambridge Judge Business School, and to serve the institution that has been such an inspiration, as well as my academic home for several decades,” Dissanaike says in a news release. “I look forward to nurturing the relationships, ambitions and conversations that keep the Business School — and indeed Cambridge — at the top of its game, in terms of impact, research, global economic benefit and philanthropic endeavor.
“Cambridge Judge Business School will focus on responsible business, innovation, and leadership in a turbulent world, and continue to solve real-world problems that have a lasting impact on society.”
Dissanaike, currently the Adam Smith Professorship of Corporate Governance at the Judge School, gained his BA from the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, before coming up to Cambridge to the Faculty of Economics and Trinity College, where he completed an MPhil and a Ph.D. in Economics in 1994. He became a university lecturer in finance in October that year.
Dissanaike has also held a visiting faculty appointment at Cornell University. Among his other appointments, he has served on the Finance Committee of the University of Cambridge and was Acting Chair of Cambridge Judge’s Faculty Board. He became the interim dean of Cambridge Judge in July 2023.
As a faculty member at Cambridge Judge for 30 years, “he has a deep understanding of the school’s culture, values, and operations,” the school says in a news release. “Gishanhas taught generations of students on the MBA, Master of Finance and MPhil in Finance programs and has developed strong connections with the alumni community of both the Business School and the wider University. He was awarded the Pilkington Prize by the University, in 2002, and was named by Poets & Quants as one of the favorite MBA professors of the Class of 2023, worldwide.”
CALL FOR GREATER INCLUSION & DIVERSITY
Cambridge Judge ranks No. 7 in Poets&Quants‘ most recent ranking of international MBA programs; The Financial Times ranks Judge 29th globally.
In a story for Poets&Quants to mark the New Year 2024, Dissanaike called for business educators to ensure greater “inclusion and diversity in all its forms, including gender, ethnicity and other backgrounds, as a diverse faculty and diverse student body enriches everyone involved in business education and other stakeholders served by business schools.
“Yet such inclusion also encompasses a determination to ensure that diverse viewpoints are welcomed, voiced and heard, as such robust debate helps ensure that new ideas are surfaced and discussed. Encouraging multiple and diverse voices is an essential part of our role as business educators to help our students and all our stakeholders get the information they need to make intelligent choices for the good of society, so we once again resolve to help those vibrant and varied voices emerge.”
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