Board of Academic Excellence
Ravi Bapna is the Curtis L. Carlson Chair in Business Analytics and Information Systems at the Carlson School of Management where he also serves as the Academic Director of the Analytics for Good Institute and the Carlson Analytics Lab (CAL). He is an award-winning scholar with expertise in analytics, AI and ML, digital transformation, social media and economics of information systems. He has been awarded the INFORMS ISS Distinguished Fellow award, the INFORMS ISS Inaugural Practical Impacts Award, the INFORMS ISS Haim Mendelson Teaching Innovation Award, and multiple best paper awards in journals such as Management Science and Information Systems Research. As a co-founder of the Carlson School’s top-ranked MS-Business Analytics (MSBA) program Bapna runs the Carlson Analytics Lab (CAL) which facilitates industry-academia connections in cutting-edge AI and ML applications. CAL’s holistic experiential learning model has been widely recognized and its work has been featured in prestigious outlets such as Sloan Management Review, the Star Tribune, and by clients’ communications. Bapna also served as Chief Data Scientist at Mississippi River Capital LLC, a Minneapolis-based hedge fund, and is on the executive education faculty for NYU Stern’s open and MSBA programs, as well as the area leader for Information Systems at the Indian School of Business, Hyderabad.
Bapna teaches graduate students, executives, CIOs, and CMOs how to leverage analytics and the broader digital revolution for competitive advantage. He has developed the CIO Academy at the Indian School of Business as well as analytics-oriented leadership academies at F500 companies such as Optum, Ameriprise and M Health Fairview. His research investigates online dating, social media, social engagement, the causal effect of AI and ML innovations such as recommender systems, analytics, economics of information systems, trust and peer influence online, human capital in digital services and online auctions. His work has been published in numerous journals, including Management Science, Informs Journal on Computing, Statistical Science, Information Systems Research, Journal of Retailing, MIS Quarterly, and Decision Sciences. His views have also been featured in the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal, Knowledge@Wharton and The Economic Times, among others. Bapna has two decades of industry consulting, executive education, keynote speaking and board experience. He is on the board of iPondr.com, the Academic Advisory Board, Indian Institute of Management, Udaipur, and a founding Governing Board Member, International Centre for Information Systems and Audit under the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
Professor Bapna has been invited to present his research at the National Bureau of Economic Research, Federal Trade Commission, Facebook, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Google Inc., Bangalore, Harvard University, The Wharton School, Carnegie Mellon University, New York University, Georgia Institute of Technology, Boston University, University of Maryland, IIM-Calcutta, National Chengchi University, Taiwan, University of Washington, National University of Singapore and the University of Connecticut among others. He was invited to give the keynote address for the 13th International Conference on Electronic Commerce 2011, Liverpool, UK. Bapna served as a senior editor for MIS Quarterly from 2010-2017, senior editor for Information Systems Research, 2018 – 2021, and has been an associate editor for Management Science. He has served as the co-chair of the prestigious Workshop on Information Systems Economics (WISE) 2010, 2014 and 2020, and the Conference on IS and Technology (CIST) 2009. He is one of the three founders of the Statistical Challenges in E-Commerce (SCECR) workshop. He regularly serves on program committees of major international IS conferences and workshops. Bapna was the founding academic co-director (with Professor Joe Konstan) of the University of Minnesota's Social Media and Business Analytics Collaborative (SOBACO), an interdisciplinary research center conducting research at the intersection of social media and big-data analytics.
Prior to joining Carlson, Bapna was a tenured associate professor at the Indian School of Business and the University of Connecticut. He served as the founding Executive Director of the Srini Raju Centre for Information Technology and the Networked Economy (SRITNE) at the Indian School of Business, where he founded the CIO Academy. At UConn Bapna was an Associate Professor and Ackerman Scholar in the Operations and Information Management Department at the School of Business. Professor Bapna completed his Bachelors in Commerce from St. Xavier's College, Calcutta, and Bachelors in Computer Engineering from the Manipal Institute of Technology. He received his doctorate degree from the University of Connecticut, where his thesis was in the area of economics of online auctions.
Note: The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (www.cag.gov.in ) is a Constitutional authority responsible for the audit of the Union Government, the State Governments, Government-owned companies/ corporations as well as other bodies, authorities, and entities which are substantially financed by Government.
Dr. Leena Chandran Wadia is Professor and Dean (Education and Outreach) at The University of Trans-disciplinary Health Sciences and Technology (TDU), Bangalore. She received her PhD in Physics from the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore. Since then, she has been a researcher at several places in India and abroad including the National Centre for Software Technology (NCST, now CDAC), TIFR, and IIT Bombay, all in Mumbai, CERN and EPFL in Switzerland, and most recently the Observer Research Foundation, Mumbai, a public policy think tank. She has also served in the corporate sector, as Senior VP and CTO, of a start-up company in the Telecom sector.
Leena was a member of the technical secretariat to the Dr. Kasturirangan committee on India’s new National Education Policy (NEP). She also served as a member of the drafting committee of the Draft NEP 2019 that was a precursor to NEP 2020, released by the Government of India in July 2020. Her present focus is in the area of vocational education and its implementation, in the spirit of NEP 2020. She has co-authored a recent report for UNESCO on this topic, titled ‘Vocational Education First’ in their ‘State of the Education Report for India’ series.
PARAG DIWAN was brought up in a scholarly family in Chandigarh. His parents taught law and literature at Punjab University. From childhood he imbibed the complexities of the higher education system thus developing an innate desire to contribute to higher education. After completing his degree in Chemical Engineering from Punjab University, Parag Diwan went to Clemson University USA where he acquired his Masters in Chemical Engineering which he followed up with a Doctorate in Business Administration from Punjab University. He passed all his degree programmes with top honours. Dr. Diwan began his career with a public sector high technology company to develop and manufacture application specific integrated circuits for consumer, space and defence applications; a contemporary pursuit in a rapidly industrializing nation.
It was during his considerable tenure in the corporate world that Dr. Diwan envisioned the growing relevance of academics. It was a time when India due to its all-pervasive economic reforms, was becoming the destination of choice for FDI. Dr. Diwan was invited to join All India Management Association (AIMA). As a young Dean and Director, the role provided a challenge to create new paradigm for distributed management education that would be affordable to large number of young graduates and professionals who made up the emerging workforce of modern India. Today, AIMA-Centre for Management Education (CME) is the largest business school in the private autonomous sector in India.
In 2001, Dr. Diwan became the youngest Vice Chancellor in the country, by becoming the founder Vice Chancellor of University of Petroleum & Energy Studies, (UPES) India. UPES has created new paradigm where the domains of energy and education have been intertwined. India’s first ever domain focused University providing cutting-edge education and research in Oil, Gas, Power and larger transportation sector, under his dynamic and creative guidance, UPES has emerged as the largest creator of talent for the energy sector, offering over 80 specialized graduate, post-graduate and doctoral courses through its Colleges of Engineering, Management, Design and Law. However, Dr. Diwan is committed to responsible, future-oriented education encompassing sustainable and optimal use of energy resources, cutting edge solar and biofuel research, community development initiatives and path breaking programmes. Lead the strategic alliance of UPES with Laureate Education International USA, a network of over 80 Universities in 22 countries having a combined student base of over a million students.
Post his 15 years long stint at UPES, he has been involved for couple of years with Laureate International Universities to establish undergraduate and postgraduate programs in Energy, Infrastructure and Transportation (EIT) sector, in their Universities in Mexico, Malaysia, Cyprus and Turkey. He was also engaged with Great Lakes Group in developing blueprint and subsequent enactment of Great Lakes International University at Sricity, Andhra Pradesh. Currently, he is an evangelist and advisor to several HE Institutions working on the area how with the advent of 4th industry revolution, education should also transform to what he calls Education 4.0. Dr. Diwan has won several individual and institutional awards for outstanding contributions in the field of education and social causes including those at London and Houston. He was also awarded a prestigious Hewlett Packard fellowship for his work in the field of online education.
Dr. Diwan remains a young, creative, innovative and forward thinking force in education as a whole and in the energy sector in particular.
Chandan Chatterjee stands as a distinguished figure in the realm of education and industry with a robust experience spanning over three decades. His career is a testament to his expertise in market research, business development, and strategy, making him a revered adjunct professor at IME IIT Kanpur and a consultant revered for his innovative approach.
Born out of his profound passion for teaching and institution building, Chandan has left an indelible mark in education management. His commitment to enhancing academic systems through student and industry focus is evident in his curriculum design, pedagogy, and assessment methods, which have been implemented across prestigious institutes including IIMK, IIML, MICA, SIBM, and SCIT, among others. With a knack for fostering industry-academia partnerships, he continues to guide students and professionals alike, bringing real-world insights into the classroom.
In the industry sphere, Chandan's acumen spans across profit centre management, operations, business strategy, and system planning. His leadership roles across organizations have been characterized by a keen focus on driving business growth, process optimization, and team development. As a senior management consultant, he has been pivotal in providing strategic business consulting, process modeling, and implementation support to various sectors including IT, telecom, and manufacturing. Chandan's multilingual proficiency in Hindi, Swahili, and Bengali is a reflection of his global perspective and ability to connect with diverse groups. A gold medalist in Marketing from the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore and an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, his academic prowess is as commendable as his professional achievements. Beyond his professional and academic roles, Chandan is a mentor and a thought leader, continuously engaging with the community through seminars, publications, and as a panel reviewer for prestigious works in marketing management. His dedication to continuous learning and development, coupled with his extensive experience, makes him a visionary in both the educational and business landscapes.
