Pioneering Indian American AI and digital transformation scholar Ravi Bapna has been named the next dean of the Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business. He will assume his role on Sept 1.
Bapna comes to Santa Clara from the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota, where he served as the Curtis L. Carlson Chair in Business Analytics and Information Systems, associate dean for executive education, and academic director of both the Carlson Analytics Lab and the Analytics for Good Institute.
As dean, Bapna will serve as the Leavey School’s chief academic and executive officer, overseeing its undergraduate, graduate, and executive education programs, as well as its faculty and research institutes, according to a university release.
He will lead the school’s strategic direction, building upon Leavey’s strong national rankings, including top-ranked professional MBA programs, while expanding its visibility, philanthropic engagement, and strategic ties across Silicon Valley and global markets.
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He will also serve as the Mario L. Belotti Professor of Business and a member of the Leavey faculty, continuing his commitment to student learning and scholarship across all business disciplines.
Santa Clara University Provost and Executive Vice President James M. Glaser described Bapna “as a dynamic academic leader who brings a rare combination of visionary leadership, deep expertise in emerging technology, and a commitment to human-centered, ethical innovation.”
Bapna is a pioneer in tech-driven education and executive leadership. At the University of Minnesota, he co-founded the top-ranked Master of Science in Business Analytics & Artificial Intelligence (MSBAi) program and established the Analytics for Good Institute, which leverages data science to address societal challenges, including housing equity.
A collaborator across the business and academic sectors, he has designed custom analytics and digital transformation academies for Fortune 500 enterprises and served on executive education faculties globally, including at NYU Stern and the Indian School of Business.
Bapna’s honors include the INFORMS ISS Distinguished Fellow Award and Inaugural Practical Impacts Award, Haim Mendelson Teaching Innovation Award, Association of Information Systems Fellow, and Distinguished Fellow of India’s National Council for Applied Economic Research.
His research on social media, AI economics, and digital transformation has appeared in leading academic journals and in outlets such as the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times. His co-authored 2024 book, “Thrive: Maximizing Well-Being in the Age of AI,” won the Axiom Best Business Book Gold Award for Emerging Technology and AI.
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“Business education is at an inflection point, and there is no better place to shape its future than right here in Silicon Valley, at one of the world’s leading Jesuit universities,” said Bapna.
Bapna received his doctoral degree in business administration (operations and information management) from the University of Connecticut, a bachelor’s in commerce from St. Xavier’s College, Calcutta, and a bachelor’s in computer engineering from the Manipal Institute of Technology.
Before joining the Carlson School, he held tenured faculty and leadership positions at the Indian School of Business and the University of Connecticut.
Bapna comes to Santa Clara alongside his wife, Sofia Bapna, an award-winning scholar who will also join the Leavey School of Business faculty. Her research, funded by the National Science Foundation and the Kauffman Foundation, examines gender gaps in technology, digital platforms, and equity crowdfunding, with recent work exploring AI applications in education.