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Lindner MBA program names new director

Johnny Rungtusanatham to lead the college’s diverse MBA offerings

headshot of Haley Fite By Haley Fite
4 minute read August 15, 2023

The Carl H. Lindner College of Business has appointed a new academic director of MBA programs. Johnny Rungtusanatham, PhD — also an Ohio Eminent Scholar in Operations Management and Quantitative Analysis — will fill the role and serve as a professor of operations, business analytics, and information systems (OBAIS). 

Rungtusanatham joins Lindner from Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto, where he served as professor of operations management and information systems and was the Canada Research Chair in Supply Chain Management.  

“He has a tremendous record in business education and is a world-class scholar in operations research,” said Andrew Harrison, PhD, assistant department head and associate professor of OBAIS. “He is also well known for excellence in the classroom and brings great administrative experience managing successful academic programs. Rungtusanatham will be an incredible asset to the OBAIS department and the Lindner College of Business.”

Rungtusanatham-johnny

Johnny Rungtusanatham, PhD, professor of operations, business analytics, and information systems; academic director, MBA programs; and Ohio Eminent Scholar in Operations Management and Quantitative Analysis.

Rungtusanatham knows what it takes to nourish and elevate a strong MBA program. As an associate professor at Arizona State University, he helped found its online MBA program. Rungtusanatham also worked closely with business professionals seeking executive education opportunities as the academic director of the executive MBA program at Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business.  

“I am looking forward to Rungtusanatham stepping into the role of MBA director. He has deep experience with the design and implementation of MBA programs,” said Jeffrey Franke, assistant dean, graduate programs. “Working with him and the faculty on curricula and determining the ideal student profile for our MBA degree programs will be critical to growth and expansion. Rungtusanatham will be a great partner to the academic directors and staff of the Graduate Programs Office.”

Beyond his duties as director of Lindner’s MBA offerings, Rungtusanatham will continue to teach students at the undergraduate and graduate levels and conduct research. 

Rungtusanatham has studied a wide variety of issues in operations and supply chain management over the course of his career. Most recently, he has investigated supply chain disruptions. He has been published in Production and Operations Management, the International Journal of Operations & Production Management and Manufacturing & Service Operations Management.

With every academic research piece that I put out, I always try to think about how do I bring it into the classroom? How do I bring it into [executive] education and how do I communicate it to practitioners?

Johnny Rungtusanatham, PhD

But Rungtusanatham aims for his research to reach beyond academic circles to amplify the real-world implications of his work for companies and business leaders.

“With every academic research piece that I put out, I always try to think about how do I bring it into the classroom? How do I bring it into [executive] education and how do I communicate it to practitioners?” said Rungtusanatham. “So, oftentimes my academic research has a companion piece that's geared toward practitioners that I'm able to convert into a teaching case that then can be used by a company or in our undergraduate or graduate educational offerings.”

Rungtusanatham also looks forward to being part of Lindner’s “legacy and educational philosophy behind the emphasis on co-op and experiential learning” and how he may incorporate that into his teachings.

Featured image at top courtesy of Johnny Rungtusanatham.

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