Professor David Oglethorpe appointed new Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Cranfield School of Management

Cranfield is delighted to announce that Professor David Oglethorpe will be joining the University as Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Cranfield School of Management.

Professor Oglethorpe will join Cranfield in September 2019 from the University of Sheffield where he is currently Dean of the University’s Management School and Professor of Environmental Sustainability.

Announcing the news, Professor Sir Peter Gregson, Cranfield’s Chief Executive and Vice-Chancellor, said: “David will be an excellent addition to the University’s Executive Team. With his strong track record in building multi-disciplinary collaborations with industry, we are excited about the role David will play at Cranfield.

“Under David’s leadership of the School of Management, we look forward to continuing to develop innovative research and educational programmes that create the next generation of leaders in technology and management.”

Commenting on his appointment, Professor David Oglethorpe, said: “I am delighted and honoured to be taking on this role and helping to shape the future of such a great School and University. Cranfield’s reputation for excellence in research and advanced education is recognised globally and I am looking forward very much to working alongside such world-renowned academic staff, at the most professional of academic institutions, to ensure an innovative and successful future.”

Simon Rowlands, Chair of the Cranfield School of Management Advisory Board, said: “We are delighted to be welcoming David to Cranfield School of Management. Over the last few years, the School has been at the cutting-edge of developing new education models, with the delivery of our Masterships (masters-level apprenticeships) programmes and our continued recognised excellence in Executive Education. This is an exciting time for David to be joining us, as we look to develop our strategic vision for the School.”

The University is grateful for the leadership of the School of Management provided by Pro-Vice-Chancellor Professor Lynette Ryals OBE, who will now concentrate on the development of MK:U in her role as Chief Executive of MK:U – the proposed new university in Milton Keynes being developed by Cranfield.

About Professor David Oglethorpe

Professor David Oglethorpe was appointed Dean of the Sheffield University Management School in February 2014. David initially joined the Management School in July 2012 as Chair in Environmental Sustainability in a cross-faculty role to augment interdisciplinary research activity across the University in relation to sustainability issues, principally within the food and water sectors.

David has an undergraduate honours degree in Agricultural Economics (1988) and a PhD in Environmental Economics (1996), both from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne. Between his degrees, David worked in the property and food sectors and he has remained focused on land use, natural resource and food throughout his career.

After working as a Research Associate at Newcastle University, David joined the Scottish Agricultural College and Edinburgh University as senior lecturer in 1996, becoming head of the Natural Resource Economics Department and later the Land Economy Division. David left academia in 2004 to work with the newly formed English Farming and Food Partnerships as Economics and Research Director, in a new venture supported by Defra to help re-engage and re-connect the food supply chain. David returned to academic life in 2006 to a Chair in Sustainable Supply Chain Management at Newcastle Business School, Northumbria University where he was also appointed as Associate Dean, Research in 2010. David has been external examiner for undergraduate and postgraduate programmes at Reading and Bangor Universities and is currently external examiner for food and agri-business management programmes at University College Dublin.

About Cranfield School of Management

Cranfield is an exclusively postgraduate university that is a global leader for education and transformational research in technology and management.

Its business school has been a world leader in management education and research for 50 years, helping individuals and organisations learn and succeed by transforming knowledge into action. We are dedicated to creating responsible management thinking, improving business performance and inspiring the next generation of business leaders. We work to change the lives of our students and executives by encouraging innovation and creative thinking, as well as the drive to succeed and make a real impact on their organisations.

Organisations as diverse as Jaguar Land Rover, BAE Systems, Royal Dutch Shell, L’Oréal, UNICEF and the African Development Bank have benefited from our work, which ranges from management research projects, through staff talent management development on our MBA courses, to customised executive programmes.

Cranfield is one of an elite group of Schools worldwide to hold the triple accreditation of: AACSB International (the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System) and AMBA (the Association of MBAs).