IIM Lucknow professor Bharat Bhasker appointed director of IIM Ahmedabad

NEW DELHI: Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) on Monday announced the appointment of professor Bharat Bhasker as the director of IIMA for a period of five years with effect from March 1, 2023.

Bharat Bhasker currently holds the position of professor of Information Technology and Systems at Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow. In the interim, the Board of Governors has appointed Arindam Banerjee as the director-in-charge for the period February 1 to 28, 2023.

Making the announcement, IIMA Board of Governors chairperson Pankaj R Patel said: “I would like to congratulate and welcome Professor Bharat Bhasker as the new Director of IIMA. As a successful leader and a Professor of technology with experience of working in India and across the globe, I am confident that he will carry forward the legacy and lead the institute to newer horizons in today’s digital, globalised world.”

The IIMA Board of Governors set a committee for the selection of IIM Ahmedabad director. The committee had shortlisted 13 candidates for the position. All the IIMA faculty members who had applied for the position were interviewed, along with the external applicants.

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"The selection committee had a detailed consultation with IIMA faculty members and other relevant stakeholders and conducted the final round of interviews. Based on the search and selection committee’s recommendations, the Board of Governors announced the appointment of Bharat Bhasker as the next Director for the institute, during a meeting held today at the IIMA campus,” the official statement read.

Bhasker has almost three decades of experience in industry, research, teaching, and consulting in India and globally. He had served a five-year term as the IIM Raipur director from March 2017 to March 2022. Before joining IIM Raipur, he was associated with IIM Lucknow for over two decades and has served in various capacities including being the acting director of IIM Lucknow for a period of five months during July and November 2015. He has also served as the Dean Planning & Development at IIM Sirmaur from 2003 to 2005, the IIMA statement said.

He has been a visiting professor at ESSEC Business School, Paris, France and University of Texas, Dallas, USA. “He was a Distinguished Professor at Chung- Ang University, Seoul, Korea, was a Research Professor at University of California, Riverside, USA and Adjunct Faculty at Information Systems, Univ. of Maryland, College Park,” it added.