President Morton Schapiro and Provost Jonathan Holloway have announced that Dr. Francesca Cornelli will begin her tenure as Northwestern Kellogg’s new dean on August 1, 2019. Prof. Cornelli will be replacing Kathleen Hagerty who has been serving as interim dean since September 1, 2018. Cornelli will be leaving her position as professor of finance, deputy dean of degree education and director of private equity at London Business School.

In the Kellogg news release, Schapiro states: “We’re proud to welcome Professor Cornelli to Northwestern University as dean of one of the world’s premier business schools. She’s uniquely suited to take our Kellogg School to the next level – and to continue building a genuinely global model for business education and scholarship.”

Shattering glass ceilings

Cornelli’s hiring gives Kellogg an important distinction. They are now the only major business school in the world to have two back-to-back female deans. This is not the first glass ceiling that Cornelli has broken: in addition to being the first woman to become a full professor at London Business School, she is one of a small number of female academics in finance – a traditionally male-dominated discipline.

More about Cornelli

Professor Cornelli is a highly respected and accomplished author and educator in the business world. She has conducted research in corporate governance, private equity, privatization, bankruptcy, IPOs, and innovation policy. Cornelli received her bachelor’s degree from Universita Commerciale Bocconi in Milan, Italy. She completed her master’s and PhD at Harvard.

In addition to her position at London Business School where she worked for 25 years, Cornelli has taught or held positions at Wharton, Duke Fuqua, the London School of Economics, the Indian School of Business, and the New Economic School in Moscow.

More about Kellogg

Kellogg has become a powerhouse in the past several years: the average GMAT scores for the class graduating in 2020 was 732, which is a 17-point improvement over the past five years. This score is similar to those at Wharton and Columbia Business School, and beat Chicago Booth by a single point. While many business schools have seen a drop of 6-8% in applications, Kellogg’s decrease was only 2.7%. They also set a record for the most women enrolled in a full-time MBA program – 46%.

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Related Resources:

• Why MBA?, a free guide to writing about your MBA goals
• Kellogg MBA Application Essay Tips & Deadlines
• From Hospitality to Kellogg MBA to Accepted MBA Admissions Consultant, a podcast episode