Ashish Nanda

Ashish Nanda is Senior Lecturer and C. Roland Christensen Distinguished Management Educator at Harvard Business School. From 2018 to 2021, he was course head for the MBA Required Curriculum course in Strategy. Beginning in 2022, he is teaching an MBA Elective Curriculum course on Strategy in Professional Service Firms. Besides, he teaches courses in leadership, strategy, and professional services in executive education programs.

Nanda’s research, teaching, and advisory work focus on leadership and strategy, particularly in the context of professional services. Over the course of his academic career, he has published more than 120 case studies and course notes, several of which have been bestsellers. He has published several articles and is a coauthor of Professional Services: Text and Cases. During his stint as Director at IIMA, Nanda has written on, and participated in conferences and task forces related to, administration of higher education institutions, particularly professional schools. 

Prior to joining HBS, from 2013 to 2017, Nanda served as Director of Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (https://www.iima.ac.in), India’s premier management institute. During his tenure, the number of chaired professorships increased from one to 16, faculty recruiting was accelerated, executive education grew significantly, and a blended-learning MBA program was initiated. Nanda led a fundraising drive which raised a larger commitment by private donors in the four years of his tenure than in the 50 years prior. The fundraising afforded the institute the ability to intensify research investment, expand programs, and invest in infrastructure. The institute begin a major campus expansion project and restore the iconic heritage campus designed by Louis Kahn. Nanda was also actively engaged in the development of the IIM Act, which recognized IIMs as institutes of national importance and granted them significant autonomy. In addition to his responsibilities as director, Nanda taught courses on ethics and professional services in the MBA program and in executive education offerings.

Before joining IIMA, Nanda was the Robert Braucher Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School. He joined HLS faculty in 2008 as a chaired professor with a mandate from to bring the world of practice closer to the world of academia. During his stint at HLS, Nanda established a unique executive education program (https://execed.law.harvard.edu/), which became recognized as the premier executive education program for law firm and corporate counsel leaders. During his tenure, HLS initiated the flagship Leadership in Law Firms and Leadership in Corporate Counsel program, and the Milbank at Harvard associate development program. In addition to establishing executive education, he set up a case studies center at HLS (https://casestudies.law.harvard.edu/), which has become a valuable source of scholarship for law students and practitioners in the profession. Nanda also taught courses for JD and LLM students on leadership in law firms and business and finance for lawyers.

Nanda was a Harvard Business School faculty member for 13 years before joining Harvard Law School. During that time, he taught MBA courses, doctoral seminars, and executive education courses in general management, leadership, ethics, professional services, and joint ventures.

Nanda has advised professional service organizations, including asset management, investment banking, accounting, advertising, engineering consulting, executive search, financial services, human resource consulting, IT consulting, management consulting, legal services, public relations, real estate, and strategy consulting firms. His work with these organizations has spanned advisory board membership, strategic planning, organization design, governance systems, succession planning, compensation systems, recruitment and promotion practices, and leadership development. He has taught globally in executive development programs tailored for professionals, entrepreneurs, and public officials. He has been a non-executive director on boards of public companies, private firms, partnerships, not-for-profit organizations, and academic institutions.

Nanda holds a PhD in Business Economics (Harvard), an AM in Economics (Harvard), a PGDM in Management (IIM Ahmedabad), and a B.Tech. in Electrical Engineering (IIT Delhi). Before pursuing his PhD, he worked for five years with the Tata group of companies as Tata Administrative Services officer. He has received C. Roland Christensen Distinguished Management Educator designation from Harvard Business School, IIT Delhi Distinguished Alumni Award, Harvard Business School's Henry B. Arthur Fellowship, Harvard University's Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics Faculty Fellowship, President of India Gold Medal (twice), and IIMA Director's Gold Medal.

Nanda is married to Shubha Nanda, a faculty member at Tufts Dental School, Boston. The couple has a son, Pranav, who is a neurosurgery resident at Massachusetts General Hospital. In his free time, Nanda enjoys reading and traveling.