Changing of the Guards at UCLA Anderson, Simon School

Two new deanships have been announced in the last week, and both are connected to UCLA Anderson School of Management.  Professor and corporate finance scholar Mark Garmaise has been named dean of the full-time MBA program at UCLA Anderson, and his predecessor Andrew Ainslie will become dean at University of Rochester Simon Business School. Both will assume their new responsibilities in July.

Garmaise’s academic research has centered on using empirical data to investigate the effects of asymmetric information and incomplete contracting as they relate to real estate markets and entrepreneurial firms.

A Harvard University graduate with a Ph.D. in finance from Stanford Graduate School of Business, Garmaise joined UCLA Anderson as a visiting assistant professor in the finance area in 2001. He was promoted to associate professor with tenure in 2008 and to full professor this year.

“In Mark, we have a combination of remarkable talents – an outstanding teacher who is dedicated to his MBA students, and a trailblazing scholar who infuses his teaching with relevant and emerging research findings,” says Judy Olian, dean of UCLA Anderson.

“Mark is an award-winning instructor and highly respected authority on finance, venture capital and private equity. That combination, and his dedication to UCLA Anderson’s MBA program, will assure strong continuing leadership for the Anderson MBA program.”

In announcing Ainslie’s appointment as the seventh dean of the Simon School, University of Rochester President Joel Seligman spoke of Ainslie’s stellar impact at UCLA Anderson, where it was noted that during his tenure, the school increased its admissions by more than 60%, increased placements by more than 20%, and revised its curriculum.

“He will be an outstanding dean. He is a creative and dynamic leader in business education,” Seligman says.

Ainslie has been associate professor of marketing at UCLA Anderson since 2005; he was assistant professor of marketing there from 2000 to 2005. From 1997 through 2000 he was assistant professor of marketing at Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management. He joined Anderson in 2000 and has led the full-time MBA program since 2010. He succeeds Mark Zupan, dean of the Simon School since 2004.

“Andrew Ainslie impressed us with his leadership experience, his commitment to the research mission, and his farsighted approach to the challenges facing all MBA programs,” says Janice Willett, chair of the Trustees and Friends Advisory Committee for the search.

Dean Olian adds, “We are proud of Andrew’s ascent to the Rochester deanship and so appreciative of his many accomplishments at Anderson.His unrestrained passion for MBA education and his clear analytic focus to drive strategic actions will no doubt advance the Simon School just as it benefitted Anderson.”