McKinsey Partner New Johns Hopkins Dean

Bernard T. Ferrari

A former surgeon who once headed  McKinsey & Co.’s health care practice was today (May 29) named the next dean of The Johns Hopkins University’s Carey Business School.

The appointment of Bernard T. Ferrari, which is effective July 1, reflects the school’s recent decision to better leverage the university’s brand in the health care field. The new focus at Carey includes an increase in cooperative research and teaching efforts with other divisions of Johns Hopkins, particularly its schools of medicine, public health, nursing, and engineering.

To date, about 10 professors from those schools have been jointly appointed to the Carey faculty. In addition, Carey faculty members have begun working with professors from the other Johns Hopkins divisions to explore joint research efforts, which could include the involvement of Carey students. Carey and the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine plan to launch a dual MBA/MD degree program in fall 2012.

And now the school has named a dean who has spent a good portion of his professional life in the health care field.  Ferrari is only the second dean to lead the Carey Business School since it was established in 2007. He succeeds Interim Dean Phillip Phan who has run the school since the abrupt resignation last June of Carey’s first dean, Yash P. Gupta before the school graduated its first crop of full-time MBAs. Gupta left amidst disclosures that he had been actively searching for several other university jobs he failed to win.

For many in Carey’s inaugural class, the announcement of Gupta’s resignation brought a sense of relief. Many of them felt as if they were on a “rudderless ship.” “Most students seem pretty relieved that he’s left,” says one MBA student who declined to be identified by name. “He has been shopping offers publicly since the beginning of the school year. Many students felt that his focus was not on the current program. In the long run, we are better off with someone who is solely focused on us.”

Ferrari, it is hoped, will bring the school some stable leadership moving forward. Ferrari, 63, is a former director at the global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, where he spent nearly two decades as a partner and senior healthcare consultant. In addition to his leadership of McKinsey’s health care practice, he also did a stint as the leader of its North American corporate strategy practice. After retiring from McKinsey in 2008, Ferrari founded the Ferrari Consultancy, where he currently serves as chairman. The consultancy serves clients in the financial services, transportation, energy, medical products, aviation and heavy equipment manufacturing sectors, and consults with clients on their business strategies.

Ferrari began his career as a surgeon. Prior to joining McKinsey, he was chief operating officer and assistant medical director of the Ochsner Clinic in New Orleans. He previously served as vice chairman of the Department of Colon and Rectal Surgery.

“Dr. Ferrari is a proven leader, visionary strategist, and expert communicator, who values deeply the importance of building partnerships,” said Ronald J. Daniels, president of Johns Hopkins, in a statement. “He has a keen understanding of the challenges and opportunities in business education. He appreciates the critical importance of investing in the best and brightest faculty devoted to discovery, to excellence in teaching, and to being engaged university citizens. Throughout my conversations with Dr. Ferrari, I have been impressed by his intellect, energy, and passion. I know he will be a wonderful colleague.”

Lloyd B. Minor, provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, chaired the search committee that identified Ferrari. “We found Dr. Ferrari to be uniquely qualified for this important leadership position. He is poised to build on the Carey School’s many successes and to enhance its partnerships with other Johns Hopkins schools, particularly in the areas of healthcare and the life sciences,” Minor said in a statement. “Dr. Ferrari shares Johns Hopkins’ commitment to excellence, and he appreciates the integral role the Carey Business School plays in that pursuit.”

Ferrari is a member of the Board of Trustees of the University of Rochester where he has been actively engaged with the Simon Graduate School of Business. He is also a trustee of the Juilliard School and a member of the Council on Foreign Relations.

His papers have been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, McKinsey Quarterly and The New England Journal of Medicine. His book, Power Listening: Mastering the Most Critical Business Skill of All, was published earlier this year.

Ferrari is a cum laude graduate of the University of Rochester from which he also received his M.D. He earned a J.D. magna cum laude from Loyola University School of Law and an M.B.A. from Tulane University School of Business. He is married to Linda Ferrari, a former commercial banker and active docent at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

DON’T MISS: THE B-SCHOOL DEAN WHO DIDN’T WANT TO BE DEAN or  JOHNS HOPKINS B-SCHOOL TO FOCUS ON HEALTH CARE