London & Iowa Deans Vie For Top Job at Carlson School of Management

Randall Peterson of London Business School

A deputy dean at the London Business School and a senior associate dean at the University of Iowa’s Tippie College of Business are among four finalists for the deanship of the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota.

Randall Peterson, a professor of organizational behavior and deputy dean of the London Business School, made a public presentation on Monday, Jan. 30, in support of his candidacy for the dean’s job at Carlson. Charles Whiteman, senior associate dean at the Tippie College, is expected to give his public presentation on Feb. 2.

Along with two other as yet unnamed candidates, they are vying for the position left open by the departure of Alison Davis-Blake, who resigned last summer to take over as dean of the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

The remaining finalists will appear on campus for their presentations on Feb. 6 and Feb. 13. Their names will be revealed 48 hours before the start of their public appearances on campus, according to the school. The topic that each of the candidates is required to tackle is “Forces Shaping Business Schools in the Future, and How the Carlson School Can Lead.”

Tippie’s Charles Whiteman

Peterson, who has been at London for the past 11 years, began his academic career at Northwestern University and also did a stint at Cornell’s Johnson School before going to London. He’s currently the deputy dean for faculty at the London School of Business.

Whiteman has been the senior associate dean at Tippie since 2006 and is also in the running to become dean at his own school where he delivered a public presentation on behalf of his candidacy on Jan. 23. He earned a Ph.D. in economics from the University of Minnesota in 1981 and has spent much of his career as a researcher and professor of economics at the University of Iowa.

The school hired Korn/Ferry International, which is also managing the Tippie assignment, to lead the search for the new dean in August of last year. An 18-member search committee was convened a month later in September and is chaired by Mary Nichols, dean of the College of Continuing Education and a Carlson strategy professor.

Sri Zaheer, associate dean of faculty and research at Carlson, has been serving as interim dean since June of last year until a successor is named.

According to the job description for the deanship, the Carlson School’s current enrollment is approximately 2,200 undergraduates, and 2,400 graduate students, including 1,850 MBA students enrolled in full-time, part-time and executive MBA programs. The school boasts 135 full-time faculty members, including 37 endowed chairs and professorships, and approximately 225 full-time professional/support staff in 7 academic departments, 8 research centers, Executive Education and administrative service units.