Best 40-Under-40 Professor Bidhan (Bobby) Parmar

Bidhan (Bobby) Parmar

Assistant Professor of Business Administration

Age: 33

Institution: University of Virginia, The Darden School of Business Administration

Since: 2009

Before current institution: Darden PhD Program

Hometown: Born in Chicago, grew up in Charlottesville

Marital status: Married

Children: Two daughters

Education:

Darden Business School, University of Virginia – MBA & PhD in Business Administration, focus on Business Ethics

Courses currently teaching: First Year Business Ethics, Second Year Elective on Collaboration

Fun fact: I spent 17 years training in and teaching martial arts.

Professor you most admire: I admire faculty who model an “attitude of wisdom,” or the mindset of being humble about what you know and curious about what others know. When I was in class with faculty members who had an attitude of wisdom, it was as if they were learning along with you – which just made you more excited to join the process. I was fortunate to have several great examples of this at Darden.

Most memorable moment as a professor: When a student of mine came up to me after class one day and told me that my class changed the way she thought about business and her role in it. She decided to switch her career track and felt more confident in her ability to make a difference as a principled leader.

“If I weren’t a B-school professor…” I’d be an entrepreneur using information technology to improve how people learn, collaborate, and make decisions effectively.

From collaboration to ambiguity to the impact of authority on moral business decisions, Bidhan (Bobby) Parmar is the expert on all things business ethics. In 2005, he combined expertise and pedagogy to develop Turning Gears, Inc., a web-based business ethics simulation in which MBAs take on the role of product managers and make real-time business decisions with ethical implications. Turning Gears has been used by more than 3,000 students worldwide, and it earned Professor Parmar a Wachovia Award for Excellence in Teaching Materials. Further contributing to the advancement of business ethics, Professor Parmar is a fellow at the Business Roundtable Institute for Corporate Ethics and the Olssen Center for Applied Ethics, both housed at the University of Virginia.

Bidhan (Bobby) Parmar is among “The World’s 40 Best B-School Profs Under the Age of 40“