Rotman School dean led period of dramatic growth

The dean of University of Toronto's Rotman School of Management will end his third term as dean on June 30, 2013, one year earlier than the formal conclusion of his third term.

Roger Martin, who joined the Rotman School as dean in May 1998, will remain at the School's Martin Prosperity Institute (MPI) in a leadership position, focusing his work on the future of democratic capitalism.

"There are two reasons I am taking this step. First, the School is in fabulous shape," said Martin, citing the recent opening of a new building, the expansion of programs including the full-time MBA program, and the development of a world-class faculty and administrative team among other achievements.

"Secondly, I believe the School is well-positioned to make a meaningful global contribution to democratic capitalism, whose future is being questioned," Martin said. "The School has many assets that can be brought to bear in addressing these questions, including our research centres such as the Martin Prosperity Institute, and the research of many of our faculty."

Under Martin's leadership the School has seen a dramatic growth in the size of its programs, faculty, facilities and international reputation. The School also built a differentiated curriculum around integrative thinking and a successful initiative on business design. Other highlights of the school's progress include:

• This September, the school admitted its largest full-time MBA class in its history of 313 students in five sections, up from two sections and 130 students in 1998.

• Celebrating its fifth anniversary this month, the morning MBA program, with classes starting at 7:00 am, gives students who study part-time an innovative alternative to the traditional evening MBA format.

• A new master of finance program gives working professionals in the field the best theoretical and applied finance training available.

• The Rotman PhD program has been expanded and in January 2012, the Financial Times placed it among the top fifteen programs in the world.

• A second executive MBA program was added. The Omnium Global MBA program is an 18-month international learning experience which immerses working professionals in core business disciplines from a global perspective.

• The school has also seen growth in its executive education programs offering a wide range of custom and open enrolment programs in Toronto and around the world, that rank among the top programs in the world, according to the Financial Times.

• In September a new building expansion was officially opened which more than doubles the amount of teaching, research, study, presentation and special event space available to the Rotman School community. The nine-storey project is seamlessly integrated with the Rotman School’s existing five-storey home, which opened in 1995. It contains seven new 70-seat classrooms, a state-of-the-art event hall which can seat up to 500 people for a lecture, faculty and staff offices, a ground floor café with seating for 130, four outdoor spaces including terraces and green roofs, as well as over 60 new study rooms.

Martin, who holds the Premier's Research Chair in Productivity & Competitiveness, has written 15 Harvard Business Review articles and published seven books. His next book, Playing to Win - How Strategy Really Works, co-written with A.G. Lafley, the former CEO of Procter & Gamble, will be published by Harvard Business Review Press in February 2013.

In 2011, Roger placed sixth on the Thinkers50 list, a biannual ranking of the most influential global business thinkers, sharing the top ten with Clay Christensen, Michael Porter and Malcolm Gladwell, among others. In 2010, he was named one of the 27 most influential designers in the world by BusinessWeek. In 2007 he was named a BusinessWeek 'B-School All-Star' for being one of the 10 most influential business professors in the world. BusinessWeek also named him one of seven 'Innovation Gurus' in 2005.

He serves on the Boards of Thomson Reuters Corporation, Research in Motion, The Skoll Foundation, and the Canadian Credit Management Foundation. He is the chair of Tennis Canada and chair of the Ontario Task Force on Competitiveness, Productivity and Economic Progress.

"There is a lot of work that I would like to do and it is time for my next phase. I am excited about going to the MPI and working with the people there to make it a leading institution working on shaping the future of democratic capitalism," says Martin. "That particular agenda needs a lot more work, and I look forward to getting on with it. I also look forward to working with the interim dean, when appointed, on making the transition."