Admiring Our Deans
Meet the Deans of The Tepper School of Business who continue to make an extraordinary impact of this university. Discover their legacies and prestigious accomplishments here.
George Leland Bach 1948 – 1961
George Leland (Lee) Bach is regarded as one of the leading figures in the evolution of U.S. business education, credited with playing a key role in its revolution during the 1960's and 70's.
He was the founding dean of the Tepper School of Business, chairman of the Department of Economics, and Maurice Falk Professor of Economics and Social Science. As dean, he helped establish the Tepper School as one of the nation’s leading business schools.
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Richard M. (Dick) Cyert 1961 – 1973
Dick Cyert was internationally recognized for his work in economics, behavioral science, statistics, and management, including the seminal 1959 work co-authored with James March, “A Behavioral Theory of the Firm,” named Citation Classic by the Institute for Scientific Information.
Cyert served as the second dean of the Tepper School of Business and the sixth president of Carnegie Mellon University.
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Arnold Weber 1973 – 1978
Arnold Weber was recognized among the nation’s leading labor economists before he went on to become dean of the Tepper School of Business and provost for Carnegie Mellon University then later, president of the University of Colorado, and ultimately president of Northwestern University.
Among his honors, Weber was a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He authored eight books as well as numerous articles on economic policy, industrial and labor relations, and higher education, and received honorary degrees from numerous universities.
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Robert S. (Bob) Kaplan 1977 – 1983
Bob Kaplan, dean of the Tepper School of Business from 1977-1983, is recognized as the co-developer of both activity-based costing and the balanced scorecard (BSC), considered key contributions to the field of management theory and practice.
He has written, taught, and consulted widely on linking cost and performance management systems to strategy implementation.
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Elizabeth E. (Betsy) Bailey 1983 – 1991
Betsy Bailey was a trailblazing economist and passionate advocate for women, widely recognized as opening doors for women both in her field and in business, in general. She was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in economics from Princeton University, to be appointed department head at Bell Laboratories, and to become dean at a top graduate business school – the Tepper School of Business.
As the dean of the Tepper School, she highlighted the use of information technology in business, requiring students to use early PC’s and encouraging faculty to adopt internal computer network communication.
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Robert Sullivan 1991 – 1995
Robert Sullivan is recognized as an expert on entrepreneurship, knowledge management, and operations management.
He served as dean of the Tepper School of Business from 1991-1995, helping to dramatically increase school rankings and leading the reengineering of educational programs, including integrating advanced technology into the finance area and creating experiential and international distance-learning opportunities. Sullivan also developed unique degree programs in collaboration with other Carnegie Mellon University departments and universities.
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Douglas Dunn 1995 – 2002
Doug Dunn served as the Tepper School's seventh dean. He led the school into the ‘information age’ and helped the MBA program reach a #2 world ranking by the Wall Street Journal. His career also included conducting groundbreaking research at Bell Laboratories’ Mathematics Research Center and holding subsequent regional, regulatory, and strategic positions at AT&T.
His leadership highlighted faculty recruitment and support, expanding global partnerships, pioneering the country’s first graduate degree program in electronic commerce, and implementing key capital improvements for the larger Tepper School community before he left in 2002 to retire to Las Vegas.
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Kenneth Dunn 2002 – 2011
Ken Dunn, Tepper School Professor of Financial Economics, Emeritus, has led highly successful careers in both the worlds of academia and finance, excelling as an investment management executive and helping to build and enhance the Tepper School during his tenure as its eighth dean.
He is credited with spearheading the historic $55 million naming gift from his former student, David Tepper and wife Marlene, creating more endowed professorships, and launching degree programs at CMU’s Qatar campus.
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Robert Dammon 2011 – 2020
Bob Dammon, Tepper School Dean Emeritus and Richard C. Green Professor of Financial Economics Emeritus, is a highly-respected researcher whose work has been published in the most prestigious finance and economic journals, as well as former dean credited with helping transform the school by strengthening and expanding academic programs, interdisciplinary research opportunities, and learning environments.
He joined the Carnegie Mellon faculty following his graduation, becoming associate dean for education in 2008 and dean in 2011. He returned to the faculty after stepping down in 2020.
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Isabelle Bajeux 2020 – Present
Dr. Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou is the Richard P. Simmons Professor of Finance and the 10th dean of the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University, a top ranked business school, a post that she assumed in October 2020.
Before arriving at the Tepper School, Bajeux-Besnainou helmed the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University in Montreal, where she led the establishment of the Bensadoun School of Retail Management.