Warwick Business School Dean Professor Mark Taylor to become Dean of John M Olin Business School at Washington University in St Louis, US

Warwick Business School Dean to take over deanship at top US school
Mark Taylor will become Dean of John M Olin Business School in December
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COVENTRY, UK, 20-May-2016 — /EuropaWire/ — Professor Mark Taylor will become Dean of John M Olin Business School at Washington University in St Louis in the US.

The current Professor of International Finance and Dean of Warwick Business School will also hold an endowed Chair in International Finance at Washington University when he takes up the post on December 1.

Professor Taylor will take up the deanship at Olin after six years at the WBS helm, having previously been a Managing Director at BlackRock, where he led the European arm of a $10bn investment fund.

As Dean of WBS he oversaw the opening of a new London base at The Shard, a £30 million main campus building extension, a dramatic rise in the WBS rankings that sees the school’s full-time MBA ranked number one in the UK and 18th in the world by The Economist and its Distance Learning MBA ranked second in the world by the Financial Times, and a strengthening of WBS research performance, ranked third in the UK (ahead of Oxford and Cambridge) for research output per capita in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework (the periodic government research audit of UK universities).

Washington University is one of the leading US research universities, ranked 32nd in the world by the Academic Ranking of World Universities, and has been home to 25 Nobel Laureates in disciplines ranging from Medicine to Economics.

Founded in 1917, Olin is one of the top research-led business schools in the US. Its Executive MBA is ranked sixth in the world by the Financial Times, while its undergraduate business programmes are regularly rated among the best in the US by US News & World Report.

“It has been a tremendous privilege to be Dean of WBS,” said Professor Taylor. “We made it our mission to make WBS the best university-based business school in Europe by 2020 and I believe on many measures we have already achieved that, putting the school on a solid foundation for the future. I would like to thank the world-class faculty and staff that have helped us achieve this and made my time at WBS something I will look back on with great fondness and pride.

“Washington University in St Louis is one of the world’s great universities with a rich tradition of innovation and creativity. It is a great honour to be invited to lead Olin Business School. A strong foundation has been created by my predecessor and his team and I intend to build on that to bring further success to the Business School as we enter Olin’s second century.”

Related article: Boris Johnson officially opens WBS London at The Shard

Professor Taylor holds a BA and an MA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from Oxford University, as well MSc and PhD degrees in Economics and Finance from Birkbeck College, University of London, an MBA in Higher Education Management from University College London, and an MA in English Literature from Liverpool University. His research has been published in leading international journals and he is one of the most highly cited economists in the world. In 2012 he was awarded a higher doctorate (DSc) by the University of Warwick for his lifetime contributions to Finance.

Through his knowledge of international accreditation standards, he has ensured WBS’s triple accreditation status during his deanship, serving on senior committees of the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) and on a number of Peer Review Teams for both AACSB and EQUIS (the European counterpart to AACSB).

In 2014 the School opened a new London base within London’s tallest and most iconic building, The Shard, from where it delivers Executive MBA and MSc Finance programs and Executive Education. Dean Taylor also recently won a major contract for WBS to provide training in Banking and Finance at The Shard to all of the Bank of England’s graduate trainees.

Professor Taylor also built on the school’s reputation as a leader in digital learning by making WBS one of the first UK higher education institutions to produce Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs).

During his deanship, international partnerships were built with leading schools such as the Guanghua School of Management at Peking University, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia, and the University of Cape Town Graduate School of Business.

“In Mark Taylor we have found a strong leader with the vision, wisdom and experience to take Olin Business School to new heights,” said Professor Mark Wrighton, Chancellor of Washington University. “He is well qualified not only as a scholar, but also as a practitioner in global business and finance. I have no doubt he will strengthen Olin’s presence and reputation in the domestic and international arenas.”

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+44 (0)773 301 3264
Ashley.Potter@wbs.ac.uk

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