From Rochester To George Washington: A Dean Relocates To A New Business School

After a five-year stint as dean of the University of Rochester’s Simon Business School, Sevin Yeltekin is moving further south to become the dean of the School of Business at George Washington University.

Appointed to a second five-year term as Simon dean only four months ago, Yeltekin was selected following a national search led by a committee of GW business faculty, trustees, staff, students and alumni and assisted by the executive search firm of Heidrick & Struggles. She will succeed Anuj Mehrotra, who left the job to become dean of Georgia Tech’s Scheller College of Business, in January of 2024. Vanessa G. Perry, a professor of marketing and strategic management, will continue to serve as interim dean until Yeltekin’s official start date of August 1 after her daughter graduates from high school in June.

With this new role, Yeltekin will be among the few deans to lead two different business schools, along with Erika James, dean of Wharton and the former dean of Emory’s Goizueta School of Business, Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou, who now leads Carnegie Mellon Tepper after having been dean of the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University, and Annette Ranft, dean of Wake Forest University’s school of business after heading up North Carolina State University’s Poole College of Management.

‘WE HAVE TO RETHINK EVERYTHING FROM OUR BUSINESS MODEL TO THE TYPE OF TRAINING FOR STUDENTS’

In an interview with Poets&Quants, Yeltekin says her departure from Simon is bittersweet. “I have an incredible fondness for Simon, and I am leaving quite a few good friends and colleagues,” she says. “On the other hand, I am really excited about this new opportunity.The similarities are obvious. Both are mid-sized private schools in the northeast corridor. They share a lot of the same challenges and opportunities. In a private institution, you can be a bit more agile and nimble compared to large, land-grant public institutions. But you have to survive in a very competitive market, with limited resources and relatively limited reach. So you have to be scrappy.”

“What got us here is not necessarily what is going to get us over there,” adds Yeltelkin. “We have to rethink everything from our business model and skill sets to the type of training we are giving our graduates and undergrads. We have to rethink how we partner with industry and each other. Higher education in general is at an inflection point, though business schools have had these series of shocks earlier so we have some experience to bring to these changes.”

Yeltekin’s new assignment will put her in a more dynamic economy, with nearly 20 leading companies headquartered in the DC metro region. But the new administration in Washington is causing major upheaval in the region, and GW, faces a formidable set of competitors in business education that includes the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business, Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, American University’s Kogod School of Business, the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business, and Johns Hopkins University’s Carey Business School, which has a new university campus in D.C.

WILL LEAD A SCHOOL WITH 3,000 STUDENTS

GW’s business school boasts some 3,000 students across undergraduate and graduate degree and certificates.. The school offers one of
the few doctoral programs in business available in the region. And it is one of only a handful of the Top 100 business schools in the U.S. that has yet to be named so Yeltekin has the opportunity and the challenge to land a big naming gift.

As dean of the Simon Business School, Yeltekin arrived in July of 2020, four months after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. She smartly navigated Simon through the inevitable disruption along with several tragedies, including the sudden death of Simon’s previous dean, Andrew Ainsley. “It was a lot more painful for everyone involved,” she recalls. “But at the same time, even in the throes of COVID, we had to think about the next chapter. With the specialized master’s space becoming very competitive and crowded and the MBA no longer a growth opportunity, we had to think through all of those transitions.”

Undaunted, Yeltekin oversaw the creation of several new programs, including master of science degrees in business analytics and applied AI and AI in business. She also led a comprehensive generative AI initiative to embed AI education into the curriculum. With the University of Rochester Medical Center, Yeltekin partnered to launch a certificate program in healthcare leadership, and she engaged in other interdisciplinary partnerships with the university’s Hajim School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and School of Arts & Sciences. She redesigned several existing programs and led the development of Simon’s 2025 strategic plan, which prioritizes investing in intellectual capital and research for the benefit of faculty, students and alumni engagement, entrepreneurship and innovation, opportunity and access and creative partnerships.

‘YEARS OF BREAKNECK INNOVATION’

“It has been years of breakneck innovation,” she says. “I would like to take that innovative spirit and agility and carry it over to GW. Someone told me I don’t like to have grass grow under my feet.”

Yeltekin expects to better capitalize on the school’s location and the university’s inherent strengths through interdisciplinary programs. “The schools the university has in international relations and public policy represent great assets that we can leverage together to be a voice and a big player in that intersection of business and policy.”

She sees the current upheaval in Washington as both “an opportunity and a challenge. When the dust settles, we will see where we are. You have an enormous amount of Fortune 500 companies in the region and the Virginia tech corridor is booming. That will provide teaching and research opportunities and career outcomes for both undergraduate and graduate students. We are able to engage with government and industry leaders more easily in the region.”

“With that comes all of the competition it entrails. It is a geographically crowded space. You have to think about what are our distinguishing advantages. Maryland has info systems and tech. Johns Hopkins is focused on the business of health. Georgetown has its own kind of flavor. GW continues to have a policy-meets-business perspective and is an international convenor of ideas and talent. We will build on that.”

EARNED HER EARLY LEADERSHIP CHOPS AT CARNEGIE MELLON’S TEPPER SCHOOL

Before joining Simon as dean, Yeltekin spent nearly 15 years at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business as a professor of economics and senior associate dean of education. There, she advanced undergraduate and graduate education, including leading the school’s five-year reaccreditation process, finalizing STEM designations for MBA and PhD programs, and launching an interdisciplinary economics and politics major. Prior to her roles at Carnegie Mellon, Yeltekin was on the faculty of the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University for nearly six years from 1999 to 2005.

Yeltekin joined Kellogg after earning her Phd in 1999. and her MA in economics in 1995 from Stanford University. She also has a BA in economics and mathematics from Wellesley College in 1993.

A scholar who has published broadly in fiscal policy design, social insurance design, computational economics and asset pricing implications of macro policy, Yeltekin is a review editor for the Frontiers in Blockchain journal, an advisory board member of the Carnegie-NYU-Rochester Conference Series on Public Policy, and an executive board member and vice president of the Society of Economic Measurement. She is a member of the American Economic Association and the Macro Finance Society and received her Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University.

‘SHE BRINGS A BOLD VISION FOR THE FUTURE OF BUSINESS EDUCATION AND RESEARCH’

“With impressive academic and administrative expertise and a keen understanding of the academic and business landscapes, Dr. Yeltekin is poised to help shape a promising and impactful future for our School of Business,” said Senay Agca, professor of finance and decision sciences and chair of the search committee, in a statement. “Her commitment to fostering a collaborative and innovative environment will strengthen our community, elevate our business school to new levels of excellence and lasting achievement, and contribute to shaping responsible, forward-thinking and resilient business leaders.”

GW President Ellen M. Granberg singled out her Simon and Tepper experience in a statement. “Considering her distinguished career as a leader and scholar as well as her experience in strategic planning, she brings a bold vision for the future of business education and research—one that embraces innovation, fosters collaboration and prepares students to lead in an ever-changing global economy. I look forward to working with Dr. Yeltekin to advance GWSB’s legacy of excellence and impact,” says Granberg.

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