UM business school dean to step down at end of the year

The University of Miami business school dean will step down come Dec. 31 to start a sabbatical year in January 2023.

UM President Julio Frenk announced the news in an email Monday morning, praising John Quelch, 71, as an “admirable leader” who “left an indelible mark” on the Herbert Business School.

Frenk said Quelch agreed to stay on for a five-year term when he became dean on July 1, 2017. Quelch also serves as the university’s vice provost for executive education.

Frenk didn’t mention any positions for Quelch at UM after his sabbatical. But Jacqueline Menendez, a university spokeswoman, said Quelch “has not accepted or been invited to accept any positions at any other institutions.”

The Herald emailed Quelch requesting an interview. Marlen Lebish, a spokeswoman with the business school, declined to comment on his behalf.

Details on the search for the next business dean will take UM at least a couple of weeks to define. Frenk said in his message he will take time to consult with “faculty and other key stakeholders on plans for a transition and the search for a new dean.”

During Quelch’s tenure, UM renamed its business school in 2019 in honor of Miami philanthropists Patti and Allan Herbert, after receiving what the university calculated to be more than $100 million in lifetime giving from the Herberts. The couple met at UM as students in the 1950s. Patti Herbert died in 2020.

Quelch oversaw the redesign of the two-year MBA program at UM and launched the nation’s first STEM-certified master of science degree in sustainable business, among other accomplishments.

Before UM, Quelch served as the Charles Edward Wilson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He also worked as a professor of health policy and management at Harvard’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health. His UM bio recognizes the dual appointment as “one of only a few faculty members across Harvard University with this distinction.”

British by birth, Quelch was named in 2011 a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. He also was dean of the London Business School.