The Hindu Business Line : Chair planned in Balachandran’s name at Kellogg

Several colleagues of Prof. Bala V. Balachandran, Professor of Accounting, Information and Management, J. L. Kellogg School of Management, are leading a campaign to raise $1 million for an endowed professorship at Kellogg School of Management in Prof. Balachandran’s name.

Among those involved in the campaign are Donald P. Jacobs, Kellogg Dean Emeritus, Roger Nelson, retired Deputy Chairman for Ernst & Young, and Harry Kraemer Jr., former chairman and CEO of Baxter, an official statement said.

Prof. Balachandran is stepping away from full-time teaching this year to spend more time with family and the Great Lakes Institute of Management, though he will remain engaged with Kellogg as Prof Emeritus.

Some of Prof. Balachandran’s students from Kellogg — Vijay Sankar, Deputy Chairman, Sanmar Group; Vijay Chakravarthi, Project Leader, Boston Consulting Group; Vinod K. Dasari, COO, Ashok Leyland; and Sameer Mehta, Principal, Atlas Advisory, said this was the first time that an endowment chair was being created and named after an Indian Professor at an American institution.

Prof. Balachandran joined Kellogg after having received formal training in mathematics, engineering and industrial administration.

His doctorate was from Carnegie Mellon University. In addition to producing more than 75 articles, Prof. Balachandran has served in editorial capacities for peer-reviewed journals.

A snapshot of his efforts over the last 35 years would include his leadership as chair of the Accounting Department (1979-1983), his tenure as director of the Accounting Research Center (1985-2006), his promotion of experiential learning initiatives like LEAP and Global Initiatives in Management (GIM), and his role in starting the India Business Club and India Business Conference.

In India, he helped create MDI New Delhi and Hyderabad’s Indian School of Business (ISB) — an initiative launched in 2001 that drew on resources from Kellogg and the Wharton School.

He is also Founder and Honorary Dean of the Great Lakes Institute of Management in his hometown of Chennai. — Our Bureau