HBS Prof New Georgetown Dean

Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business has a new dean, the university announced today (May 23). He’s David Thomas, a professor and former associate dean at Harvard University.

Thomas, who will start Aug. 1, is the third Harvard Business School professor in the past eight months to leave the school for a deanship. In December, the University of Oxford named HBS finance prof and social entrepreneur Peter Tufano dean of its Said Business School. In November, HBS marketing prof John Quelch was tapped to become dean of China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), the highest ranking B-school in China.

Thomas, who currently directs Harvard Business School’s organizational behavior group, will succeed George Daly, who retired at the end of the academic year after six years at the helm of the school. The McDonough School is ranked 23rd in the U.S. by PoetsandQuants. Prior to joining Harvard in 1990, Thomas was a professor at the Wharton School.

“A recognized thought leader in the area of strategic human resource management, David brings important academic and organizational leadership to his new role at Georgetown,” Georgetown President John DeGioia said in a statement.

Thomas’ research focuses on issues related to executive development, cultural diversity in organizations, leadership and organizational change. Thomas also served as senior associate dean and director of faculty recruitment at Harvard from 2005 to 2008.

“I am honored and humbled to be entrusted with the leadership of the McDonough School of Business at Georgetown University,” said Thomas, who will also hold the William R. Berkley Chair at the McDonough School of Business. “I hope to work with the faculty and other members of the community to continue the tradition of groundbreaking research and teaching excellence that is bringing it to preeminence among the world’s leading business schools.”

The Academy of Management presented him with the George R. Terry Award for the most outstanding contribution to the advancement of management knowledge for Breaking Through: The Making of Minority Executives in Corporate America (Harvard Business Press, June 1999).

Thomas received his bachelor of arts in administrative sciences and master and doctor of philosophy degrees in organizational behavior from Yale University. He also holds a master of arts in organizational psychology from Columbia University.

DON’T MISS: HBS LOSES ANOTHER PROF TO A DEANSHIP or HARVARD PROF BECOMES DEAN OF CEIBS