By UC Irvine Paul Merage School of Business

Ian O. Williamson, dean of UC Irvine’s Paul Merage School of Business, has been named chair of the board of directors of AACSB International, the world’s largest business education network and the global standard-setting body for business schools. His one-year term began July 1.

Founded in 1916 and now celebrating 110 years, AACSB connects educators, learners, and business leaders across more than 100 countries and territories. Its accreditation is recognized worldwide as the highest distinction a business school can earn, held by more than 1,080 institutions that together serve over 5 million learners.

AACSB’s board of directors brings together senior leaders from business schools and industry worldwide who serve as stewards of the organization, advancing excellence in business education while responding to the evolving needs of employers, learners, and society. As chair, Williamson will lead that board, guiding AACSB’s global strategy, its accreditation standards, and its mission to create the next generation of great leaders.

He assumes the role at a defining moment. His term coincides with the implementation of AACSB’s new Global Standards for Business Education, which took effect July 1, 2026. Williamson co-chaired the AACSB committee that developed the new Global Standards. The new standards were created to help ensure business schools can achieve world-class quality, innovation, and societal impact as they respond to new disruptions in business education, such as the adoption of artificial intelligence, changing demographics and shifts in global economic activity.

“Business education has entered a period of dramatic change. Artificial intelligence is rewriting the skills our graduates need. Global markets are shifting. In the face of these changes, society is asking business schools to prove, with evidence, that what we do matters. Our new Global Standards were built for exactly this moment. It is a privilege to lead AACSB’s board as we support more than a thousand business schools worldwide to have a positive social impact in their communities, and to bring what we are learning at the Merage School to that global conversation.”

Ian O. Williamson, Dean, The Paul Merage School of Business

Williamson served as vice chair and chair-elect of the AACSB board during the 2025-2026 fiscal year and also previously chaired the organization’s Innovation Committee, which guides AACSB’s work on emerging practices in business education. He succeeds Joyce A. Strawser, dean of the Stillman School of Business at Seton Hall University, and will serve alongside newly appointed vice chair and chair-elect Lee Newman, dean of IE Business School in Madrid.

The appointment follows the Merage School’s recognition in AACSB’s inaugural Global Impact Awards, where the school earned a 2026 award for its Future Leaders Initiative, honoring its leadership in expanding pathways into business education. Under Williamson, the school has embedded artificial intelligence across its curriculum, expanded access and affordability for working professionals, and deepened its ties to Orange County’s business ecosystem, home to operations of one-third of Fortune 500 firms. The work happening in Irvine now informs the global conversation about where business education goes next, and Williamson’s chairmanship ensures the best of what the world is learning comes back to Merage School students.

Williamson’s appointment reflects a career spent leading business schools on three continents. Before joining UC Irvine in 2021, he served as Pro-Vice Chancellor and dean of the Wellington School of Business and Government at Victoria University of Wellington in New Zealand and as associate dean at Melbourne Business School in Australia. He has advised public sector, private sector and not-for-profit executives in over 25 countries across six continents on how to drive organizational innovation, navigate change, manage global workforces and enhance operational and financial performance. He earned his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and was inducted into the Ph.D. Project Hall of Fame for his work expanding access and opportunity in academia and business.