UVA Darden Announces Leadership Changes, Faculty Promotions

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business has announced a number of key leadership changes at the School. Additionally, 12 faculty members have recently received tenure or have been awarded an endowed faculty chair.

Effective 1 July, leadership changes at the Darden School include:

• Professor Tom Steenburgh will serve as senior associate dean for the full-time MBA program and chair of the School’s Programs Strategy Committee through June 2023. Steenburgh, who currently serves as senior associate dean for faculty development and associate dean of the full-time MBA program, will work to ensure that the education experience in the full-time MBA program remains unparalleled, while his role leading the Program Strategy Committee will seek to ensure close coordination across programs. Steenburgh succeeds Professor Jeanne Liedtka as chair of the programs committee following the conclusion of Liedtka’s successful one-year term.
• Professor Yael Grushka-Cockayne will serve as senior associate dean for executive and professional degree programs through June 2023. Grushka-Cockayne will be responsible for the Executive MBA formats, including the Global Executive MBA; the Master of Science in business analytics (MSBA), which Darden offers in partnership with the UVA McIntire School of Commerce; and innovation in programs such as Darden’s doctoral programs and collaboration with the UVA School of Data Science.
• Professor Ron Wilcox will serve as associate dean of executive degree programs during the 2020–­21 academic year and work closely with Grushka-Cockayne on new MBA formats. Wilcox will replace Darden Professor Jim Detert, who will return to the Darden faculty.
• Darden Professor Casey Lichtendahl, will return to leadership as academic director of the MSBA program, a role he previously held when designing and launching the degree, following his stint as a visiting researcher with Google. He will replace Wilcox in the role.
• Darden Professor Mary Margaret Frank will serve as senior associate dean for faculty development through June 2023. Frank will invest in the ongoing development and growth of Darden faculty members to ensure the faculty remains the world’s best.
• Marc Johnson (EMBA ’13) will serve as senior assistant dean for student engagement and strategic and global initiatives in the Dean’s Office. In the new role, Johnson will be responsible for ensuring exceptional student journeys with the Darden student services departments, and continue in his leadership of global affairs and strategic enterprise initiatives.

Several other Darden faculty members have renewed their leadership roles. Professor Martin Davidson will serve another term as senior associate dean and global chief diversity officer through June 2023; Professor Greg Fairchild will continue to serve in his capacity as associate dean for Washington, D.C., Area Initiatives; Professor Mike Lenox will serve another term as senior associate dean and chief strategy officer through June 2023; and Professor Sankaran “Venkat” Venkataraman will serve an additional term as senior associate dean for faculty and research through June 2024.

The faculty continue to teach and research in addition to their leadership roles.

Several other key administrative leaders also continue in their roles. A complete overview of Darden enterprise and leadership team can be found here.

Faculty Members Receive Promotions, Chairs

Following the approval of the UVA Board of Visitors, the following professors were granted tenure or received new faculty chair appointments. Several of the faculty chairs were awarded for the first time after being endowed through generous donations made in support of Darden’s Powered by Purpose campaign, a part of the UVA Honor the Future capital campaign.

• Professor Manel Baucells, who teaches in the Quantitative Analysis area, was promoted to associate professor of business administration without term.
• Professor Peter Debaere, who teaches in the Global Economies and Markets area, was named to the E. Thayer Bigelow Research Chair in Business Administration.
• Detert, who teaches in the Leadership and Organizational Behavior area, was named the John L. Colley Professor of Business Administration.
• Professor Shane Dikolli, who teaches in the Accounting area, was named to the Bank of America Research Chair in Business Administration.
• Professor Richard Evans, who teaches in the Finance area, was named to the Donald McLean Wilkinson Research Chair in Business Administration.
• Frank, who teaches in the Accounting area, was promoted to full professor of business Administration and named the John Tyler Professor of Business Administration.
• Grushka-Cockayne, who teaches in the Quantitative Analysis area, was promoted to full professor of business administration and named to the Altec Styslinger Foundation Bicentennial Chair in Business Administration.
• Professor Mark Haskins, who teaches in the Accounting area, was named the Landmark Communications Professor of Business Administration.
• Professor Elena Loutskina, who teaches in the Finance area, was promoted to full professor of business administration and named to the Peter M. Grant II Bicentennial Foundation Chair in Business Administration.
• Professor Daniel Murphy, who teaches in the Global Economies and Markets area, was promoted to associate professor of business administration without term.
• Professor Doug Thomas, who teaches in the Technology and Operations Management area, was named the Henry E. McWane Professor of Business Administration.
• Professor Kimberly Whitler, who teaches in the Marketing area, was promoted to associate professor of business administration without term.