Women are a relatively rare sight in the top ranks of business school administration; they comprised just over 18 percent of U.S. business school deans in 2011. But that is changing as schools are aggressively working to bring female faces to the table.
The 
Wall Street Journal asked executive search firms and current deans to name the industry’s current shining and rising female stars — those who either have made it or are well on their way.
Associate Dean of Academic Programs and Management Professor Annette Ranft in the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Business Administration is a Wall Street Journal shining star.
Joining UT in 2011 from Florida State University, Ranft earned the college’s prestigious title of Reagan Professor of Business. She received her PhD in business administration from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, her master’s in management from Georgia Tech, and a bachelor’s degree in mathematics from Appalachian State University.
Ranft is an active member of the Strategic Management Society, the Academy of Management, and the Southern Management Association. She currently serves as an associate editor of the Journal of Management and is on the editorial review boards of the Academy of Management Review and the Strategic Management Journal.
Ranft’s research interests are primarily in the areas of knowledge management, strategic leadership, and innovation, particularly in the context of corporate acquisitions. Her research has been published in top journals, including the Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, the Journal of International Business Studies, and the Journal of Management.
Ranft has served as department head of management at Florida State University and on the faculties at Wake Forest University and West Virginia University. Prior to joining academia, she worked as a systems consultant at AT&T and an account manager at EDS.
Joining Ranft as a Wall Street Journal star are (in alphabetical order):
1. Susan J. Ashford, management and organizations professor at University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and academic director of the school’s executive MBA program
2. Sally Blount, dean of Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management
3. Alison Davis-Blake, dean of University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business
4. Janice C. Eberly, assistant secretary for economic policy, U.S. Department of the Treasury
5. Joan T.A. Gabel, dean of the University of Missouri’s Robert J. Trulaske, Sr. College of Business
6. Sarah Gardial, dean of the University of Iowa’s Henry B. Tippie College of Business. Gardial joined Tippie after spending more than 25 years at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, College of Business Administration.
7. Judy D. Olian, dean of the University of California, Los Angeles’s Anderson School of Management
8. Christine A. Poon, dean of Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business
9. Karen Hopper Wruck, finance professor and associate dean for graduate programs at Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business
10. Sri Zaheer, dean of University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management
“It’s an honor to be in the company of this incredible group of business school leaders and a privilege to be working at UT,” says Ranft. “I believe in the value of higher education and its ability to impact a society one individual at a time.”
The complete Wall Street Journal article is available at http://blogs.wsj.com/atwork/2012/08/02/b-schools-send-women-up-the-ranks/.
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