Yale SOM Names Edward A. Snyder New Dean

This morning the Yale School of Management announced that Edward A. Snyder, currently Dean and George Shultz Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, has agreed to become the next Dean of the Yale School of Management. Snyder, who last fall announced his decision to step down from the role of Dean at Chicago Booth on June 30, 2010, won't actually begin his term immediately. He will take a year off, and then step into the Dean's office at Yale SOM on July 1, 2011. Current Yale SOM Dean Sharon Oster will continue on in her current role until then.

When Snyder announced that he was leaving Chicago Booth, it made a lot of waves in the education space, since he had put together one of the most successful tenures of any business school dean in recent memory. Under his leadership, Chicago Booth almost doubled its number of endowed professorships and more than tripled its scholarship assistance to MBA students. He transformed Chicago Booth by overseeing the move to the school's new Hyde Park campus and establishing a new campus in London. The school is now expanding its presence in Singapore and is playing a significant role in the University’s involvement in China.

And, the name says it all: In 2008, he announced a $300 million gift from Chicago alumnus David Booth and his family, which was the largest donation in the history of the University of Chicago and the largest gift to any business school in the world. In recognition of this gift, the school was renamed in Booth's honor.

This move marks the end of a long run in Hyde Park for Snyder, punctuated by stints in the public and private sector. He received both his M.A. in public policy, in 1978, and Ph.D. in economics, in 1984, from Chicago. He first started his professional career Antitrust Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, where he served for four years. He then moved on to academia at the business school of the University of Michigan, where he also served as Senior Associate Dean and founding director of the Davidson Institute, which focuses on emerging markets.

Before taking over as Dean of Chicago Booth (then called Chicago GSB) in 2001, Snyder was the Dean at the University of Virginia Darden School of Business from 1998 to 2001. At Darden, he directed an expansion of the school's MBA program, worked to improve the diversity of the student body, significantly increased the school's executive education offerings, and led highly successful fundraising efforts, including a record gift from a single donor.

The Yale SOM alumni here at Veritas Prep HQ are celebrating the announcement, while the Kellogg alumnus here is disappointed since he was hoping that Snyder might take over from Dipak Jain, who stepped down as the Dean at Kellogg last September.

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