UVA Darden School of Business Names Senior Associate Dean and Chief Strategy Officer

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business announces the appointment of Michael Lenox, Tayloe Murphy Professor of Business Administration, as senior associate dean and chief strategy officer. The new position will start 1 January 2016.

Lenox will be the first to serve in this new role, joining the School’s operating and strategy teams, and will report directly to Dean Scott Beardsley. As senior associate dean and chief strategy officer, Lenox’s duties will include:

• Build an advanced, enterprise-wide analytical and competitive database system that can serve as a common fact-base for the Darden enterprise.
• Assist in the proposal of enterprise-wide priorities and in the development of vision and strategy, creating alignment, and helping conceptualize key pillars for forthcoming advancement campaigns.
• Lead the preparation of Darden’s annual strategy planning offsite and follow-up activities for School leadership.
• Serve as key point person for the Dean and the operating team in assessing and framing whether strategic initiatives are in line with Darden’s standards and objectives.
• Drive implementation on specific strategic initiatives to ensure impact.

“Mike Lenox is ideal for this position, as he brings considerable experience in the field of strategy and strategic management,” said Dean Beardsley. “Mike challenges everyone around him to be creative and innovative and to push their thinking. This is evident by the mark he has made at Darden in the relatively short time he has been at the School. His infectious energy and passion drive him and others.”

Lenox joined Darden in 2008 as the Samuel L. Slover Research Chair in the Strategy, Ethics and Entrepreneurship Area. He earned a Ph.D. from MIT and a B.S. and M.S. from UVA.

As academic director of Darden’s Batten Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Lenox has taken the institute to new levels, extending Darden’s commitment to entrepreneurship to all students, schools and colleges at UVA and to the entire Charlottesville community.  He will remain active on the Batten Advisory Board.