Kai Peters, Dean and Director, Ashridge Business School, United Kingdom, has been selected as 2009-10 chair of the Board of Directors for the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC). Peters, whose term of office runs through July 1, 2010, leads a 14-member board that includes representatives from academy and industry in 19 countries. The board sets strategic goals and guides the non-profit education organization, which has a membership of 177 leading graduate business schools worldwide. GMAC also owns the GMAT exam, used by more than 4,600 MBA programs and almost 2,000 business schools as part of the admission process.
While explaining that the GMAT exam "remains a critical symbol” of quality in graduate management education, Peters said, “As a Dean, I consider requiring the GMAT an important element in our success. Special areas of focus for GMAC in the year ahead will include expanded use of the latest technological advances to better serve business schools and students. We will explore and develop new products, expand initiatives to increase diversity in business school applicants, and move forward on the ‘next-generation’ GMAT.”
He added that the ‘next-generation’ GMAT exam, set for completion in 2013, will utilize new advances in testing technology and science to provide better and more precise measures of skills applicable to both traditional and new MBA programs. "These are difficult economic times for all of us, but they also offer unique opportunities for organizations such as GMAC to grow and prosper. I am especially excited to lead the GMAC board right now as we seek new ways to help business schools and students master a changing world and changing marketplace," said Peters, who has served on the board for the past two years and was most recently its Vice-Chair.
"Kai is certainly the right leader for our board during this critical period," David A. Wilson, CEO and President of GMAC said. "His strong international perspective on management education, as well as his deep understanding of the changing nature of graduate management education and the corporate world, will serve the industry and our organization well."
Peters joined Ashridge in 2003. Previously, he was Director of MBA programs and then Dean at the Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) of Erasmus University, Netherlands. He serves on supervisory and advisory boards for several organizations in the technology and health care sectors, and is a board member of Centrepoint, a London-based charity for homeless youth. In addition, Peters is a member in the educational associations AACSB, AMBA, EFMD and ABS. He is also owner and former Managing Director (1989-93) of a company in the German publishing sector and has worked in organizational development for IBM and Volkswagen. Peters writes and lectures extensively on strategy, leadership and management education. His new book on stewardship is scheduled for publication in 2010.
The GMAC was founded by nine business schools in 1953 and introduced the GMAT exam in 1954. The GMAT exam is the first and only standardized test specifically designed for graduate business schools and MBA programs by faculty members.
