Sri Zaheer

Srilata (Sri) Zaheer became the 12th dean of the Carlson School of Management at the University of Minnesota on March 8, 2012. She served in this role until July 2, 2023.

During her tenure as dean of the Carlson School, Sri launched a Military Veterans Initiative to help servicemen and women transition from military to business careers, resulting in the Carlson School being named the number one Military Friendly business school in the nation. Sri increased the business community’s engagement with the school, resulting in a wealth of new experiential learning opportunities for students, and oversaw the introduction of new degrees in business analytics, supply chain management, finance, and new programs in partnership with Tsinghua University in Beijing and Tongji University in Shanghai, as well as online degrees and certificates.

Sri holds the Elmer L. Andersen Chair in Global Corporate Social Responsibility and her research focus is on international business — a topic on which she has published extensively. She is a Fellow of the Academy of International Business, and an Area Editor of the Journal of International Business Studies. In 2018, Zaheer received the PwC Strategy& Eminent Scholar Award, for lifetime achievement in scholarship from the International Management Division of the Academy of Management.

Prior to academia, Zaheer worked for multinationals such as Tata Consultancy Services and Sandoz (India) Ltd. She also reported on politics and business from India and Nigeria for Business International. These experiences have provided the foundation for her research in international business, as well as leading the Carlson School’s engagement with the corporate community.

Sri serves on the boards of the Economic Club of Minnesota and H. B. Fuller, and is a Life Trustee of Hamilton College, New York. She previously served on the boards of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, chairing it from 2020-2023, the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC), Greater Twin Cities United Way, the Guthrie Theater, and the Destination Medical Center Economic Development Agency of Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN.

In 2021, the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal honored Sri’s professional achievements, leadership qualities, and contributions to the broader Twin Cities community with its Women in Business Career Achievement Award. In 2020, for her service on the Board of Directors of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Sri was named an Outstanding Director by Twin Cities Business (TCB). In 2019, Sri was recognized as part of the publication's TCB 100: The 100 People to Know in 2020. Also in 2019, Sri was inducted into the Junior Achievement of the Upper Midwest Business Hall of Fame and honored as a Woman of Distinction by the Girl Scouts of Minnesota and Wisconsin River Valleys. In 2013, Sri was recognized as a Women in Business award winner by the Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal.