Meet Dean Anil Menon

Anil Menon, Ph.D Bio

A Career forged at the intersection of Business Model Innovation, Market Transitions, and Operational Leadership: Anil Menon’s career reflects a wealth of experience navigating market transitions, rethinking strategies, developing new go-to-market ecosystems, and contributing to successful business turnarounds. Across diverse industries, he has helped develop new business models, scalable revenue streams, and operational systems aligned with emerging market opportunities. His pragmatic, results-oriented strategic and operational approach, honed through extensive experience, connects his leadership roles across business, global organizations, and academia. Whether at Cisco, IBM, the World Economic Forum, or as Dean of the Crummer Graduate School at Rollins College, Anil focuses on creating a market vision and translating it into execution, enabling organizations to adapt their strategies and operations to achieve tangible outcomes.

Currently serving as the George D. and Harriet Cornell Dean of the Crummer Graduate School at Rollins College—ranked among LinkedIn’s Top 100 MBA Programs globally—Anil is reimagining the MBA model to address the complexities of today’s global challenges and the transformative potential of AI. By combining the liberal arts tradition of critical and analytical thinking with practical judgment, exceptional communication, and executive presence, he aims to prepare leaders to navigate uncertainty, leverage emerging technologies, and contribute to both economic and societal progress in an interconnected world.

As Executive Vice President of Community & Urban Services at Sharecare (2020–2023), Anil worked on leveraging data and analytics to enhance community health outcomes. Sharecare, a leading digital health platform, provided a foundation for integrating community health insights with smart infrastructure solutions.

Anil joined the World Economic Forum (2018–2020) at a key moment in its evolution, recruited by Founder & Executive Chairman Professor Klaus Schwab, who valued his experience in aligning market transitions with strategic business pivots. He served as Senior Advisor to the Chairman and Managing Director and was a Member of the Managing Board, helping align the Forum’s strategy to address global challenges and position it as a platform for sustainable and inclusive progress.

Anil also served as Senior Advisor to HRH The Prince of Wales (now King Charles III) on HRH’s Sustainable Markets Initiative from 2020 to his coronation.

From 2008 to 2018, Anil held leadership roles at Cisco, including SVP and Deputy Chief Globalization Officer. Personally recruited by John Chambers, he also served as Global President of Smart+Connected Communities, where he helped incubate and expand

Cisco’s Internet of Things (IoT) business into a billion-dollar enterprise. Among his achievements was the development of the Kinetic for Cities platform, a recognized leader in IoT and analytics for smart cities. He also led Cisco’s globalization headquarters in Bangalore, India, and chaired Cisco India’s External Board.

At IBM (2001–2008), Anil held several senior roles, including the VP for IBM’s Worldwide Brand Strategy, head of its worldwide market intelligence function, and the chief marketing and strategy officer for its $34 billion global hardware business. During this period, he played a pivotal role in shifting IBM’s hardware division from a product-based to a systems-focused structure, with a customer-centric approach. As part of his worldwide market intelligence role, he sponsored the WebFountain project, an early AI and analytics initiative at IBM’s Almaden Research Lab. These roles underscore his long-standing commitment to advancing business analytics and AI.

Currently, Anil continues his focus on AI by leading the establishment of the Center for AI-EDGE (Executive Decision Making, Governance, and Execution) at Rollins College, equipping leaders with tools to thrive in today’s data-driven landscape.

Anil’s last role in academia was a tenured professor at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School, where he was recognized for his expertise in marketing strategy and innovation. He holds a PhD in marketing strategy and multivariate statistics, with his dissertation funded by the Strategic Planning Council—a think tank established by GE and Harvard Business School. He later served on the Council’s executive committee.

His academic and research achievements include his appointment as the Sony Fellow in Business Innovation (1993–1996) at Sony Corporation, Japan, where he advanced business strategies around innovation for a leading technology company. He has received awards such as the American Marketing Association’s Alpha Kappa Psi/Sheth Award for impactful research and the Academy of Marketing Science’s Distinguished Practitioner Award for his work at IBM.

Anil has served on the boards of Orbia and Netafim and currently sits on the boards of the Yale School of Management’s Center for Customer Insights and the nonprofit Antique Phonograph Society. Past affiliations include advisory roles with the Center for Global Health Innovation and MIT’s Senseable City Lab, as well as with Coca-Cola’s technology incubator and Citibank India’s advisory board.

Beyond his professional endeavors, Anil is an avid collector of 19th-century Baluchi carpets and Edison phonographs balancing his appreciation for history with his commitment to shaping the future of business and innovation. He is a proud husband and father of two daughters.

Anil Menon, PhD Bio – PDF