BITS School of Management appoints Saravanan Kesavan as new Dean

financialexpress.com:

BITS School of Management, Mumbai (BITSoM) has appointed Saravanan Kesavan as its new Dean. Earlier he contributed as an Associate Dean of the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School for 16 years at the University of North Carolina (UNC) at Chapel Hill, according to an official announcement.

He has a doctorate in technology and operations management from Harvard Business School, advanced degrees from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and a B-Tech from IIT Madras. Kesavan takes over from BITSoM’s Founding Dean, Ranjan Banerjee, who has decided to explore opportunities outside the business school environment, as informed by the release. 

“As a key member of the founding team, Banerjee played a pivotal role in establishing a firm foundation for BITSoM, fostering strong ties with both students and corporates. He was instrumental in developing initiatives such as the tailored personal development programme, mentorship programme, the management ideas festival—Beacon, and in building a robust career services team. Over the last two years, BITSoM has emerged as a truly new-age business school,” Kumar Mangalam Birla, Chancellor BITS Pilani, said. 

Kesavan has been honoured with the MBA All Star Teaching Award on 14 occasions and received the Weatherspoon Award for Excellence in MBA Teaching. Additionally, he was recognised as the Best Teacher for Core Teaching by the Indian School of Business. His contributions have appeared in journals like Management Science, Manufacturing and Service Operations Management (MSOM) and Production and Operations Management, as detailed in the release. 

“This foundation will be fortified further by Dr Kesavan, whose vision aligns with our aspiration to be amongst the top business schools