March 9, 2016
CSU Ahuja Dean Search
R. William Funk & Associates
RE: Dean of the Monte Ahuja College of Business (CSU)
To: Dean Search Committee
I am writing to express my interest in the position of Dean of the Monte Ahuja College of
Business at Cleveland State University. A copy of my CV is enclosed and an overview of my
qualifications and experience is provided below.
In addition to my academic administrative experience, I believe that my broad organizational
experience of 25 years with various types of organizations (e.g. corporate, consulting, governmental,
academic) will be a very valuable resource in performing the duties of this position. This experience
involved extensive interactions with top management and gave me opportunities to plan and implement
large projects that had significant impacts for these organizations (see below). It has also allowed me to
develop strong leadership, entrepreneurial, and strategic skills needed to prioritize, recognize the larger
picture, identify new opportunities, and work effectively and collegially with different stakeholders.
I see myself as someone who can provide leadership to the College to further build and leverage
their unique capabilities while managing a flexible portfolio of innovative forward-looking programs. I
will continue to nurture and enhance relationships with important external stakeholders (e.g. business
community, donors, government agencies), promote research excellence, develop value-adding
partnerships, and work strategically to strengthen the College’s academic standing and raise its visibility
among its peers nationally and internationally.
Overview – Academic Leadership Experience
I am presently serving as Professor and Senior Associate Dean at the Odette School of Business.
I joined this position four years ago in 2012 after an open search conducted by the University of
Windsor.1 The Odette School of Business (OBS) serves approximately 1,630 undergraduate and 450
graduate students and has a faculty complement of 65 full-time members. The School is nondepartmentalized. My role and responsibilities include managing and providing leadership to School
processes, activities and initiatives in all core areas:
• PTR & Faculty Development
Responsible for administering the School’s promotion, tenure, and renewal processes; Chair of
Promotion Tenure & Review (PTR) Committee. Implemented a new faculty evaluation framework
and, in conducting faculty performance reviews, I pursue a coaching and mentoring approach based
on a “market perspective” to empower faculty to reach their potential. Initiated and implemented new
academic policies to raise research productivity & quality.
• AACSB Accreditation
Managing the School’s AACSB accreditation processes. Developed the School’s Self-Evaluation
Report for initial AACSB accreditation; prepared faculty and staff for the accreditation visit; and
hosted the 3-day visit of the peer-review team. OBS achieved initial accreditation on May 11, 2015.
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The University of Windsor is located in the city of Windsor which is situated across the river from Detroit (Michigan). It is
known as Canada’s ‘automotive capital’ and is an important trade gateway accounting for over a third of the Canada-US trade.
The university has approximately 17,092 students of whom 2,004 are graduate students and employs 524 faculty members. It
offers 190 undergraduate programs, 65 graduate research-based programs, and 6 professional masters programs.
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New Program Initiatives
Led the development of new research-based programs (M.Sc., Ph.D. in Business Administration) that
are financially viable while incorporating a number of distinctive value-enhancing features. Also,
served as School liaison in developing the joint Master of Engineering Management program and
represented the School during External Program Review. Overseeing the School’s new Outstanding
Scholar Program (OSP) which attracts the brightest university students to engage in funded research
internships with School faculty.
Budgetary Planning & Financial Approval
Responsible for financial approval of School expenditures and expenses & engaged in budgetary
planning processes. Developed budgets for new research-based programs (M.Sc. and Ph.D.).
Performing strategic management analysis of School budget as per se AACSB Standard 3 to show
strategic alignment and develop transparent financials for each program including contingency
planning. Oversaw course scheduling and assignments; identified efficiencies.
School Representation & Development
Represented the School and Dean, when necessary, to university administration, students, alumni and
the business community. Actively engaged in School’s development activities and initiatives and
strategy discussions with the School’s Development Officer. Facilitated funding of research grants for
Odette faculty (over $400,000) from the Cross- Border Institute (CBI). Visited Schools in China,
Hong Kong and Singapore to initiate exchange agreements and partnerships.
Prior to joining OBS, I served as Graduate Coordinator at UBC’s Faculty of Management from
2009-12. I served as the Faculty’s liaison with the School of Graduate Studies and this role involved
administrative duties related to admissions, program development, graduate committee formation,
funding allocation, monitoring student progress, and dissertation completion. I also served as Chair of
Faculty Recruitment committees (e.g. Finance, Accounting, and Management positions) and the
Curriculum Committee. I was also elected to the University Senate from 2008-2012 and served on its
budget, nominating and curriculum committees.
Professional Experience
In addition to academic experience, I also have over ten years of significant professional and
consulting experience with organizations and companies including Deloitte, Arthur Andersen,
FinancialCad Corporation, Precision Economics, IMF, World Bank, Treasury Board Secretariat, Statistics
Canada and Sunlife Insurance Company. I worked closely with management and led and/or had
significant responsibility as part of the management team on projects with substantial outcomes and
impacts for these organizations. These projects required significant planning and had large
monetary/budgetary impacts. Some examples include:
• Served as chief consultant to the Study Head at Treasury Board Secretariat on the Canadian
Government’s Equal Pay for Equal Work Study to develop the study’s methodology and used study
data to estimate equal-pay adjustments totaling over $1.5 billion dollars in monies.
• At Sunlife Insurance Company, I led a project to evaluate the impact on company profitability and risk
of increasing the company’s face value of insurance (highest value of insurance offered). The results
were presented to VPs and Senior Officers and my recommendations were subsequently adopted.
• Led the Re-Design of the Local Government Finance Survey at Statistics Canada which estimates the
sources and uses of local government spending in Canada.
• Models I developed at the International Monetary Fund for estimating country-level Direction of
Trade (DOT) flows were presented to the IMF Directors and Senior Economists and were
subsequently implemented.
• Similarly, my consulting with companies like Andersen, Deloitte, Precision Economics, FinancialCad
and others involved innovative work related to executive pay, risk management, valuation and
securities litigation.
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My experience with academic, corporate and governmental institutions demonstrates that I can
work effectively with diverse stakeholders and lead, plan and implement complex tasks. Not only did I
contribute value-adding and innovative ideas, but was able to persuade top management to support and
adopt them. I believe this experience will help me build and enhance existing relationships with the
business community and other external and internal constituencies.
Academic Experience
After completing my doctoral studies at Cornell University in 1999, I have been engaged in
business education in the United States, Canada and Asia and have held tenured positions at three
institutions. I was with the Kellstadt School of Business at DePaul University (Chicago) from 1999-2007
and the University of British Columbia’s Faculty of Management (2007-2012) prior to joining the Odette
School of Business. I have also held visiting positions at the University of Hong Kong (HKU) and the
University of Hong Kong Science & Technology (HKUST) and have taught at UBC’ Sauder School of
Business. Courses taught in undergraduate, MBA, Masters of Finance and Ph.D. programs include Risk
Management, Derivatives, Investments, Advanced Interest Rate Models, Fixed Income Securities, Asset
Pricing and Corporate Finance.
In the classroom, I have striven to create an atmosphere of openness and mutual respect and my
teaching stresses a strong heuristic understanding of the core principles and fluidity in applying them to
practical settings. I make extensive use of current market and financial data in class exercises and group
projects, as well as, cases and journal articles. I always endeavor to link the content and topics covered in
class with current economic/business events of import and the larger global business environment.
Furthermore, my professional/consulting experience enables me to enrich the classroom experience by
bringing institutional and ‘real-world’ insights.
My interdisciplinary finance-based research includes a blend of theoretical, modeling and
empirical contributions. This work has been published in highly regarded journals including Academy of
Management Learning and Education; Econometric Theory; Journal of Banking & Finance; Journal of
Derivatives; Journal of Economic Theory; International Statistical Review; Real Estate Economics; and
Strategic Management Journal (2). My previous work has included extending employee stock-option
pricing models to allow for multiple severance risks; studying the risk and return characteristics of the
U.S. real estate market using zip-code level housing data; extending the HJM framework for interest-rate
securities; developing econometric models for option pricing and monetary targeting by central banks;
estimating diffusion processes from option prices; and using active scholar surveys to rank academic
journals.
Recent and current areas of research include: venture finance contracting and boundaries of
angel/VC markets; CEO pay and agency alignment with firm characteristics; strategic risks to innovation
in organizations; collaboration in multibusiness firms and managerial incentives; and banking risk
management. A unifying theme in this work is how contracting mechanisms – whether for CEOs,
divisional managers, venture financiers (e.g. angels, VCs) or innovative employees – can overcome
agency frictions to improve organizational outcomes.
My diverse research profile gives me an appreciation of the value and synergy of the research
conducted in different disciplines. I also find that my research background allows me to engage with
corporate leaders in substantive ways as many topics deal with issues relevant to industry (e.g.
entrepreneurial finance, executive pay, innovation in organizations, banking risk management).
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Consultative & Goal-Oriented Leadership Style
I believe that successful initiatives in organizations arise from cooperation and teamwork, as well
as goal-oriented leadership. My preference is to work with faculty using an open, collegial, and
consultative style grounded in mutual respect, recognition of common objectives, and acknowledgement
of contribution. At some point in the development process, after consideration of different views and
relevant options with all stakeholders, decisions and actions need to be taken to move forward. This also
requires defining a clear set of objectives and concrete steps and actions to realize them. My engagement
with faculty and staff will be based on these consultative and goal-oriented precepts. These have served
me well in my current and past in various roles of responsibility.
The process I pursued in developing new programs (M.Sc., Ph.D., Master of Engineering
Management) at Odette is a good example of the above approach. This involved first initiating
discussions with the Dean, Provost, Dean of Graduate Studies and Area Chairs at Odette; leading a
taskforce to develop a blueprint document on program design; bringing the proposal for discussion to
relevant School committees including the Graduate Programs Committee, Executive Committee, Faculty
Council; and holding TownHall meetings with faculty. After extensive consultation and input, I next held
Area-level meetings to further develop the disciplinary aspects of the program. I also met with Deans of
other faculties and the Provost to ensure that we would have access to supporting graduate courses. I
pursued a similar consultative but directed process in developing the School’s Self-Evaluation Report
(SER) for initial AACSB accreditation and implementing new academic policies for faculty development
and raising research productivity.
Lastly, fundraising and the business contacts generated by development processes are an
important part of the mission of any business school. As part of the management team at the Odette
School of Business, I am involved in our development activities and initiatives and strategy discussions
with our Development Officer. I regularly meet senior executives at various organizations (e.g. banks,
accounting firms, private equity firms) to cultivate new relationships, further our development goals, and
discuss school achievements and future direction. Here, I find that my experience in industry and close
work with top management at various types of organizations is very helpful to me in these engagements.
I believe that a review of my application will show that I will complement your School by
bringing a unique set of capabilities derived from seven years of innovative leadership and administrative
experience in academia; ten years of impactful professional/consulting experience with high profile
organizations; extensive international teaching experience (US, Canada, Asia); and high quality
interdisciplinary finance-based research.
In closing, please consider my application in confidence at this stage. Contact information for my
references is attached and I request that you inform me prior to contacting them. Please let me know if
you need any further information. I would be happy to further discuss my interest and background at
your convenience. Thank you.
Sincerely,
G.S. Pandher
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