Indian American AI Expert Ravi Bapna to Lead Santa Clara Business School

Bapna currently serves as the Curtis L. Carlson Chair in Business Analytics and Information Systems at the University of Minnesota's Carlson School of Management, where he also holds roles as associate dean for executive education and academic director of the Carlson Analytics Lab and the Analytics for Good Institute.

At Santa Clara, Bapna will oversee the Leavey School's undergraduate, graduate, and executive education programs, as well as its faculty and research institutes. He will also hold the Mario L. Belotti Professorship and join the Leavey faculty.

University Provost James M. Glaser called Bapna a dynamic academic leader with expertise in emerging technology and a commitment to ethical innovation. Bapna co-founded the top-ranked Master of Science in Business Analytics & Artificial Intelligence program at Minnesota and established the Analytics for Good Institute, which applies data science to issues like housing equity.

Bapna has designed analytics and digital transformation programs for Fortune 500 companies and taught at NYU Stern and the Indian School of Business. His research has appeared in the Wall Street Journal and Financial Times, and his 2024 book 'Thrive: Maximizing Well-Being in the Age of AI' won a Axiom Best Business Book Gold Award.

Bapna holds a doctorate from the University of Connecticut, a bachelor's in commerce from St. Xavier's College, Calcutta, and a bachelor's in computer engineering from the Manipal Institute of Technology. He will be joined by his wife, Sofia Bapna, an award-winning scholar who will also join the Leavey faculty.