Jay O. Light Named Ninth Dean of Harvard Business School

Dear Members of the HBS Community,

I am pleased to let you know that Jay Light, who has done an excellent job as Acting Dean since August, has been named Dean of Harvard Business School, effective immediately.

A member of the HBS faculty since 1970, Light will assume his new duties immediately. He has been the School's Acting Dean since August 1, 2005, and previously served in a range of senior leadership roles at HBS. He was chair of the School's Finance unit from 1986 to 1988 and played an active role in the recent restructuring of the required first-year MBA course in finance. From 1988 to 1992, he was Senior Associate Dean, Director of Faculty Planning, and from 1998 to 2005 he was Senior Associate Dean, Director of Planning and Development, responsible for the School's strategic planning and new initiatives.

Jay is well known to many of you, having been a member of the HBS faculty since 1970. In the best traditions of the School, he is an admired teacher, outstanding case writer, and influential scholar with strong connections to business practice. He has served with distinction in a range of senior leadership positions at HBS – including chair of the Finance area (1986-1988), Senior Associate Dean and Director of Faculty Planning (1988-1992), and Senior Associate Dean and Director of Planning and Development (1998-2005) – until his appointment as Acting Dean last summer. Over the past academic year, he has emerged as a thoughtful and influential voice in discussions among the deans on a range of issues facing the University. I am confident that HBS and Harvard as a whole will benefit from his incisiveness, sound judgment, and collaborative outlook in the time ahead.

I want to thank the many members of the community who offered their counsel during the course of the search, on both the choice of a new dean and the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for HBS. Your advice has contributed a great deal to an outcome that will carry forward the School’s proud tradition of strong leadership and educational excellence. From the many conversations and other communications I have had with members of the HBS community since last fall, and indeed during my five years as president, it is clear Dean Light will have the benefit of an exceptionally able and dedicated community of faculty, students, staff, and alumni as he works with all of you to shape the School’s future. Harvard Business School has long had a powerfully distinctive mission, propelled by a willingness to affirm its distinctive traditions and to embrace innovation, and I have every confidence the School will continue to flourish under Dean Light’s leadership.

For today, I hope you will join me in congratulating Jay on his appointment as Dean and in lending him your advice and support as he takes on his vitally important role.

If you are interested in reading the press release announcing the appointment of Jay Light as Dean of the Harvard Business School, please visit http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/daily/2006/04/24-light.html.

Light earned a bachelor's degree in engineering physics with highest honors from Cornell University in 1963 and a DBA from Harvard University’s joint program in decision and control theory in 1970. Before joining the HBS faculty, he worked in satellite guidance and systems planning at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. He was later affiliated with a management consulting firm specializing in corporate strategy and planning. From 1977 to 1979, he took a leave of absence from HBS to serve as director of investment and financial policies for the Ford Foundation in New York, where, as Director of Investment and Financial Policies, he was responsible for formulating and implementing the policies used in managing the Foundation’s multibillion-dollar investment portfolio. He returned to HBS in 1979 as a full professor with tenure.

Sincerely,

Larry Summers