Dr. Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou is the Richard P. Simmons Professor of Finance and is the 10th dean of the Tepper School of Business at Carnegie Mellon University, a top ranked business school, a post that she assumed in October 2020.

Before arriving at the Tepper School, Bajeux-Besnainou helmed the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University in Montreal, where she led the establishment of the Bensadoun School of Retail Management. While there, Bajeux-Besnainou launched several new master’s programs in retailing, finance, and analytics, as well as introduced a series of interdisciplinary minors such as entrepreneurship for undergraduates, and data analytics for multiple degree programs. Bajeux-Besnainou was associate dean for undergraduate programs and chair of the finance department at the George Washington University School of Business before she joined McGill.

Under her leadership, the Tepper School launched its first Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Strategic Plan and repositioned its brand as The Intelligent Future℠, where decisions are data informed and human driven. Committed to interdisciplinary education and collaborative research, Bajeux-Besnainou is expanding specialized master’s programs, developing a Center for Intelligent Business, and increasing funding for students and faculty. She seeks to expand the impact of research through a broad thought leadership initiative.