Anandalingam to Lead University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business

College Park, Md. – May 22, 2008 – The University of Maryland today announced G. “Anand” Anandalingam, senior associate dean and Ralph J. Tyser Professor of Management Science at the Robert H. Smith School of Business, has been appointed dean of the school. Anandalingam will succeed Howard Frank on July 1.

Today’s announcement was made by Nariman Farvardin, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost, concluding a national search.

“Dean Anandalingam takes over the Smith School at a time when strong leadership and vision are needed to implement the university’s bold new strategic plan, which charts a course for Maryland to be one of the world’s best universities within 10 years,” Farvardin said. “His expertise in the vital area of electronic markets, his experience forming global partnerships, and his teaching excellence will help lead the Smith School to further success in producing graduates who contribute to the state and the nation and who are globally competitive.”

Anandalingam joined the Smith School in 2001 and is well-positioned to lead and build on its accomplishments. The school is consistently recognized among the top internationally for its world-class faculty conducting cutting-edge research, its leadership in entrepreneurship and technology, and its global focus and presence.

“I am very honored to be appointed to this role and look forward to working with everyone in the school and across the campus,” said Anandalingam. “I’ve had the pleasure of taking part in the Smith School’s rise for the past seven years and I am excited to continue the progress. As we go forward, I could not be more committed to utilizing our resources, location and remarkable thought leadership to develop strong global business leaders for sustainable innovation.”

Anandalingam will work to provide a unified vision for the future, strengthen external relations and spearhead development efforts to help fund student scholarships, endowed chairs and research centers.

Dean Anandalingam will build on the Smith School’s unprecedented increases in stature, resources and reputation realized under the leadership of Dean Howard Frank. In his decade as dean, Frank introduced a host of initiatives which improved the school’s ability to offer a world-class, meaningful education to students. These initiatives include creating innovative, forward-thinking programs such as the undergraduate fellows program and $12 million Smith PhD initiative; attracting significant gifts and endowments to build scholarship funds and attract and retain the best faculty; increasing the physical size of the school to provide a better learning environment for students; building the school’s worldwide reputation as a research institution; and leading global expansion into key markets such as China.

“I am thrilled that the Smith School will be led by Anand, a visionary and dynamic leader with a strong foundation in academia,” said Howard Frank, current dean of the Robert H. Smith School of Business. “I’ve worked with Anand for many years, when he was a faculty member and very closely in his current role as senior associate dean, and I have complete confidence in his abilities to continue the school’s upward momentum.”

Before taking over as senior associate dean, Anandalingam was the chair of Smith’s decision, operations and information technologies department, and he holds the title Ralph J. Tyser Professor of Management Science. He earned his Ph.D. (1981) and S.M. (1977) in operations research with a minor in economics from Harvard University, and he holds a B.A./M.A. in electrical sciences from Cambridge University, England. Prior to joining the Smith School, he held academic and leadership positions at the University of Pennsylvania and its Wharton School of Business for nearly 15 years. He also served on the faculty at the University of Virginia.

His research in the area of pricing, economics, design, and strategic issues in electronic markets and telecommunications networks has resulted in more than 75 papers in refereed journals. He has two edited volumes on telecommunications systems design and management and has co-written a business strategy book with Professor Hank Lucas entitled “Beware the Winner’s Curse.” He is a member of INFORMS and a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers. He is associate editor of Operations Research and serves on the editorial boards of two other journals.

Anandalingam founded the Center on Electronic Markets and Enterprises (CEME) at the Smith School of Business, and was the co-director from 2001 to 2004. He also helped found the Center on Health Information and Decision Systems (CHIDS). He founded the Ackoff Center on Advanced Systems Approaches at the University of Pennsylvania in 2000. He has helped generate significant revenues by successfully developing and running programs at Penn and Maryland. He was also responsible for helping to develop Smith’s global executive programs and led the school’s effort to revamp and innovate the MBA curriculum.