Safwan Malek Masri, Ph.D.

Dr. Masri is Vice Dean and Director of the MBA Program of the Graduate School of Business, Columbia University. He earned his BS degree in Industrial Engineering from Purdue University in 1982; his MS in Industrial Engineering also from Purdue in 1984; and his PhD in Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management from Stanford University in 1988. He joined the Management Science and Operations Management Faculty at Columbia Business School in July 1988, and was appointed Vice Dean of Columbia Business School in January 1993.

His primary teaching and research activities are in the areas of operations management, supply chain management, international business, and technology management. Professor Masri was honored with the Singhvi Professor of the Year for Scholarship in the Classroom Award in 1990. He has most recently been honored with the Robert W. Lear Service Award in 1998, and with the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence in a Core Course in 2000. He has held teaching positions at Stanford University and Santa Clara University.

Professor Masri is active in consulting and executive education in the U.S., Latin America, Europe, and the Middle East. His consulting and executive training clients have included Merrill Lynch, PaineWebber, Salomon Brothers, Deutsche Bank, Bankers Trust, Citibank, Ford Motor Company, Pfizer, IBM, Bahrain Institute of Banking and Finance, and the United Nations. He advises, and is a director of, a number of international corporations, start-up ventures, and charitable foundations that include ARAMEX International, the Nuqul Group, Aregon, Sage Ventures, the Colbert Foundation, and Friends for Life.

He is Advisor to Her Majesty Queen Rania Al-Abdullah of Jordan on education and information technology, and serves on the e-Government and on the Human Resources Development Committees of His Majesty King Abdullah’s Economic Consultative Council. He is also a member of the Advisory Board for the United Nations Development Programme Project for the Assessment of Arab Universities.