Two Months After Reappointment, UCLA Anderson Dean Tony Bernardo To Step Down

The new UCLA Anderson Dean is long-time finance professor Antonio Bernardo.

Just two months after being reappointed to a second five-year term, UCLA Anderson School of Management Dean Tony Bernardo will step down from his role at the end of the 2024-2025 academic year.

The surprise statement on his departure was made by Michael S. Levine, interim executive vice chancellor and provost, in an email to the UCLA community on Sept. 6. “I am writing to share that UCLA Anderson School of Management Dean Antonio Bernardo has informed me of his decision to step down from his role at the end of the 2024–25 academic year,” wrote Levine. “At that time, he will have served as Anderson’s dean for six years, and will return to his research and teaching as a 30-year veteran of the school’s finance faculty.”

It’s not immediately clear why Bernardo chose to leave the job early, though he has faced some criticism on social media over the school’s MBA ranking in U.S. News and World Report. In three of the past four U.S. News rankings, the Marshall School of Business at the University of Southern California has ranked ahead of UCLA. This year, Anderson placed 20th, down from 16th when Bernardo became dean in 2019, while USC Marshall was 18th.

A FRUSTRATING RANKING SLUMP FOR ANDERSON

In a Reddit post entitled “Should UCLA Anderson fire its dean Antonio Bernardo?” a poster claimed that Anderson students cite Bernardo as one of the primary reasons for the fall in recent years. “He started in 2019 when UCLA was #16, and the ranking has fallen 4 places in just 5 years under his watch. He’s an economist and an academic but he’s not really a ‘business’ guy,” wrote the poster under the name hugeKennyGfan.

“This means he doesn’t really have big business connections, industry experience, or fundraising experience, which go a long way at business schools,” asserted the poster. “He fields a lackluster admissions program and doesn’t focus on things that matter, such as on-campus recruiting. And keep in mind, this isn’t about ‘ranking’ per se; it’s about what led to those rankings, like a relatively and objectively bad employment report for a top school after COVID. If Tony were a CEO, he’d be fired by now for poor performance. But somehow, he gets to keep his job. And Anderson just lets mediocrity happen.”

Ironically, Anderson did much better in this week’s Bloomberg Businessweek ranking, climbing four places to rank 18th, well ahead of cross-town rival USC Marshall which plunged 17 places to rank 30th. Even so, Anderson was ranked 12th by Businessweek in 2019 when Bernardo became dean.

MBA employment numbers, though below the year when Bernardo became dean in 2019, were not down by all that much. Last year, 73.4% of the MBA Class of 2023 accepted jobs by graduation, down from 75.5% in 2019, while 85.6% had jobs three months after commencement, also slightly down from 87.3% in 2019, though equal to USC Marshall’s career outcomes for MBA graduates.

Anderson also lost a key administrator last year, Rob Weiler, who had been associate dean of Anderson’s full-time MBA program for a decade. He left to join UVA’s Darden School of Business as president of the Darden School Foundation. Weiler was a take-charge, no-nonsense administrator who had been highly successful in achieving strong employment outcomes for Anderson students.

BERNARDO CHOSEN OVER THE FORMER GLOBAL CEO OF DELOITTE CONSULTING

It was five years ago when Bernardo, a beloved and soft-spoken professor of finance at Anderson, was one of two final candidates for the deanship. The other was Jim Moffatt, who retired in 2018 as Vice Chair and Global CEO of Deloitte Consulting. A 1987 MBA alum of Anderson, Moffatt had been honored by the school with its distinguished alumni award in 2016. But Bernardo won it, succeeding former Dean Judy Olian who left to become president of Quinnipiac University.

“They both articulated their platforms with the students, faculty, and staff of the school,” wrote another Reddit poster. “The full-time MBA students held an informal vote on which candidate they preferred. Jim won by 3:1. The (some of the) students had spoken. Unsurprisingly, the Board nominated Professor Bernardo to UCLA anyway. Why? Because never in the history of business schools had a Dean ever not been a professor, and Anderson wasn’t ready to break with traditions.”

Bernardo’s reappointment had been made in July by Darnell Hunt, then executive vice chancellor and provost, who became interim chancellor in August.

THE DEAN WON MUCH PRAISE FROM UNIVERSITY ADMINISTRATORS

Hunt was effusive in his praise of Bernardo’s first five-year term. “Under Dean Bernardo’s leadership,” Hunt said, “UCLA Anderson initiated a comprehensive, data-driven strategic planning process to enhance and update all curricular and extra-curricular offerings. Key initiatives undertaken in the past several years include hiring faculty in strategic priority areas; building cross-campus and strategic industry and community partnerships; deepening employer relationships to create high-impact career opportunities; improving diversity among faculty, stud,ents and the school’s Board of Advisors; developing lifelong learning initiatives for alumni; and establishing staff development and leadership programs. Notably, the school received STEM certification for its MBA programs in 2020.

“Throughout his tenure, Dean Bernardo has worked closely with the school’s faculty chairs to support UCLA Anderson’s world-class ladder faculty, recruiting 24 new hires, half of whom are women. Recent initiatives to advance the school’s top-ranked research productivity include providing matching funds for pre-doctoral research assistants and graduate student researchers, strengthening financial packages for incoming Ph.D. stude,nts and expanding the post-doctoral program.”

In announcing Bernardo’s decision to leave, Levine also praised the finance professor for leading the school. “Under Dean Bernardo’s principled and skilled leadership, UCLA Anderson initiated a comprehensive, data-driven strategic plan to enhance and update all of its curricular and extra-curricular offerings,” wrote Levine. “With the activation of that plan well underway, Dean Bernardo believes the time will be right at year-end to inject new energy and ideas into the school’s leadershiOver of the coming year, he will continue to advance the school’s strategic priorities, including curriculum innovation, faculty research to address critical business and social issues, and new programs that create more opportunities for underrepresented groups to pursue graduate education. We will share more information about the leadership transition at Anderson at a later date.

“Since his appointment in 2019,” Levine added, “Dean Bernardo has worked closely with the school’s Board of Advisors, faculty, administrators, students and alumni to position Anderson for long-term success. In partnership with the school’s faculty chairs, he has strengthened UCLA Anderson’s world-class ladder faculty, recruiting 25 new hires, half of whom are women. Working across campus, he has deepened cross-disciplinary partnerships through the launch and expansion of innovative programs, including the new UCLA Sports Leadership and Management Program and multiple programs to strengthen the school’s growing focus on healthcare and cleantech. Dean Bernardo has shepherded ongoing updates to the school’s M.B.A. curriculum that place a greater emphasis on technology including AI, analytics, the global economy, and collaborative and inclusive leadership. He also has led schoolwide efforts to enhance high-impact career opportunities for students and to develop lifelong learning opportunities for alumni.

“Throughout his tenure, Dean Bernardo has helped the school maintain a strong financial position, allowing it to enhance student financial aid, hire new faculty, maintain staffing lev,els and invest in strategic priorities. He has also served on several key campus-wide committees, including chairing UCLA’s search for a new vice chancellor and chief financial officer.”

DON’T MISS: UCLA ANDERSON’S DEAN TONY BERNARDO ON THE INCREASING VALUE OF THE MBA