Judy D. Olian, Ph.D.

Dean and John E. Anderson Chair in Management,
UCLA Anderson School of Management

Judy D. Olian, Ph.D., is the eighth dean of UCLA Anderson School of Management and is John E. Anderson Chair in Management. She began her appointment in January, 2006 after serving five and a half years as dean and professor of management at the Smeal College of Business Administration at Pennsylvania State University. Under her leadership, UCLA Anderson is executing a comprehensive strategic plan to expand the school’s global initiatives and is engaged in an aggressive growth campaign, which will result in hiring a record number of faculty from the world’s best research institutions. During her first two years at UCLA Anderson, the School celebrated the launch of the Center for Finance and Investments, the newest of the School’s research centers, enjoyed record applications, and introduced several leadership innovations into its curriculum. Dean Olian is expanding the School’s Board of Visitors, attracting executives who bring diverse functional and global perspectives. The school is also in a significant campaign to assure its financial footing as a public school of management listed routinely among the leading schools of management in the world. Olian serves as the chairman of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International), the premier business accrediting and management thought leadership organization in the world with over 1100 global member institutions in 70 countries. She also has chaired two industry‐wide AACSB commissions addressing the future of management education, and the looming crisis of shortages in business Ph.D. graduates. Olian has been widely published in journals on human resource management, top management teams, and strategic alignment of management systems, wrote a weekly syndicated newspaper column and hosted a monthly television show on leadership and current topics in business. She is a sought‐after speaker and has consulted for major corporations including Marriott Corporation, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Bell Atlantic, Manor Care, World Bank, Defense Mapping Agency, Public Broadcasting Service, and International Finance Corporation (IFC). She has presented to senior executives all over the world on leadership and human resource management systems. Olian's honors include the American Council on Education Fellowship and the Maryland Association for Higher Education Award for Innovation. As dean of UCLA Anderson, Judy Olian leads a school that annually provides management education to more than 1,700 students enrolled in MBA, Executive MBA, Fully‐Employed MBA and doctoral programs, and to more than 2,000 professional managers through executive education programs. The school has several widely recognized research centers and more than 36,000 alumni worldwide. Prior to her tenure at Smeal, she served as acting dean, senior associate dean and professor of management and organization at the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland. Born and raised in Australia, she holds a B.S. degree in Psychology from the Hebrew University, Jerusalem, and M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Industrial Relations from the University of Wisconsin, Madison.