Srikant Datar : In the running for dean

It might just turn out to be another big story of India shining in the firmament of business academia. The person generating the biggest buzz in the hallowed portals of the Harvard Business School is Srikant Datar, an accounting professor at the esteemed institution. After Kim B. Clarke's departure as the dean of HBS, Datar is one of the frontrunners for filing up the void which one would argue is the Golden Boot of management education.

History is replete with instances of Indians in leadership positions at US B-schools. Beheruz Sethna was the first dean of Indian origin in a US B-school, the College of Business at Lamar University at Texas. Dipak Jain is the dean of the Kellogg School of Management since 2001. If Datar gets the job, he would not be the first Indian dean of a Harvard institution. The honour goes to Vicky Narayanmurthy, the dean of the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences who will be stepping down later this year.

However, choosing a leader entails working out a perfect balance between theory and practice for the HBS authorities. In such a scenario the dean would be the edifice on which the future of HBS rests. As Jay W. Lorsch, professor of human relations at HBS, said in another magazine: "The new dean is going to have to find a way to determine whether we are creating the kind of education we want to create".

Datar, an IIM-A alumnus, has a long list of academic achievements to his credit. His experience with global companies as General Motors, Boeing, AT&T and his extensive research background in accounting and finance might just end HBS' search for a leader with a global outlook. He faces competition from Debora L Spar , a senior associate for faculty recruiting at HBS who teaches International Business and runs executive education programs. Also in the fray are Rebecca Henderson, a Ph.D from Harvard serving as professor at the Sloan School of Management at MIT, and Peter Tufano, director of faculty development at HBS.