Exploring (Business) Ecosystems and Forging New Paths

Leeds’ new dean, driven by curiosity and collaboration, envisions the school’s future.

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Vijay Khatri values thinking in multiple dimensions. He values the array of interactions that occur within a community working toward a common purpose. That’s probably why he’s a big believer in ecosystems.

Incessant curiosity about Leeds’ various ecosystems

“I like to see how things are connected with each other. Interdisciplinary work is not straightforward, and I’ve found in my own research it’s about connecting the dots in seemingly disparate areas. With an ecosystem approach, we can take an integrative perspective that is at the center of multifaceted challenges that businesses face today,” said Khatri, who took the helm as the Tandean Rustandy Endowed Dean of the Leeds School of Business in July. Khatri holds the first named endowed deanship at CU Boulder, supported by a $5 million gift by alumnus Tandean Rustandy (Fin’87) that will help the new dean create and execute a vision to grow Leeds.

Prior to Leeds, Khatri served as the executive associate dean for strategy, innovation and technology at Indiana University Bloomington’s Kelley School of Business. There, he spearheaded Kelley’s strategic initiatives, taking an integrative view to Kelley’s and the university’s global education initiatives, and leading innovations in schoolwide processes, including the underlying systems for those processes.

Now, after settling into his new position at Leeds, Khatri is developing a framework around a culture of care; enhancing momentum in research; accelerating student-centered education; and engaging alumni, employers and the community. He’s looking at ways to differentiate Leeds from other business schools, including opportunities to grow the graduate program’s portfolio and new ways to approach teaching.

“We are at a great moment in time. We’re making a trajectory-altering impact on students through our interdisciplinary scholarship and research in, for example, sustainability and with values-based leadership,” Khatri said. “We have outstanding faculty and staff who are at the top of their game, and we are really firing on all cylinders.”

Seeking input to drive innovation

Khatri, who graduated from the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management with a PhD in management information systems and a minor in computer science, has professional expertise in the information economy that includes design, management, governance and use of data repositories. 

His academic background paired with key personal beliefs—curiosity, innovation, impact, compassion and balance—as well as a collaborative leadership style often means brainstorming new ideas with many colleagues to gather input and inspire innovation. For example, at the Dean’s Cabinet summer retreat, participants collated their ideas for the future of Leeds using sticky notes, which he used to steer a conversation related to enhancing the school’s culture and business processes.

Steer—but not command. In Khatri’s view, it’s important to let ideas and discussions percolate.

“Being in academics, you have to let it flow; let it be organic. You focus on expansive vision and then bring clarity in execution,” he said.

Khatri excels at uniting diverse teams like the Dean’s Cabinet around a clear vision and common goals, said Jingjing Zhang, associate professor of information systems at Kelley School of Business and co-director of the Institute for Business Analytics (IBA).

“His leadership embodies accessibility, meticulous attention to details and the ability to inspire innovation while promoting unity,” Zhang said. “He consistently fosters an environment of open dialogue, placing genuine value on each team member’s input, thus creating a space where ideas aren’t merely heard but actively cherished and nurtured.”

“We are at a great moment in time. We’re making a trajectory-altering impact on students through our interdisciplinary scholarship and research in, for example, sustainability and with values-based leadership.”

Tandean Rustandy Endowed Dean of the Leeds School of Business Vijay Khatri

Michael Leeds (Fin’74), who with his family gave CU Boulder’s business school a name and a challenge—to become a leader in ethics, diversity and social responsibility—describes Khatri’s leadership style as values-driven and inclusive.

“The many people who met Vijay during the interview process and since have been struck by his humility and his vision for building a caring and supportive Leeds community and setting an example nationally and internationally,” Leeds said.

The results of Khatri’s approaches speak for themselves. In 2011, he founded Kelley’s IBA and served for 11 years as its co-director. One of the first business analytics institutes in the nation, IBA is a cross-disciplinary initiative that brings together departments, faculty, students, alumni, employers and corporate partners.

Khatri “not only established the IBA from the ground up but also forged enduring traditions,” Zhang said, including seminars, conferences, a speaker series and case competitions.

Multiplying impact through inclusion

Khatri said that being the eighth oldest business school in the country, Leeds has an extraordinary legacy of excellence. He views impact as making a trajectory-altering difference in view of our remarkable legacy.

And when it comes to impact, collaboration and inclusion is just as important to Khatri. He sees Leeds’ diversity mission becoming even more expansive to include not just internal communities but also external communities, including alumni as well as recruiters, the city of Boulder and  far beyond.

“I would love for us to talk more about diversity in every sense of the word—having conversations about all aspects of diversity is important—and how we include everyone.”

While he’s a believer in the power of teams, Khatri is also highly focused on individual relationships. In his prior role as the department chairperson at the Kelley School of Business, he oversaw more than 55 faculty members and dedicated time to helping them identify their individual aspirations.

“I’ve always been an avid advocate of people. People know that when they join the team, their well-being and their goals will always be my priority at the end of the day,” he said.

Khatri grew up in India in a competitive academic environment where he was wholly focused on academics and had little time for anything else. As an adult, he’s catching up by pursuing a range of interests, from pickleball to traveling and photography—and especially literature.

“Now I’m reading all the books that I didn’t get a chance to read before,” he said.

In fact, these days, Khatri reads two to three books at a time, although he hasn’t had as much of that during his first months as dean. A recent favorite is An Immense World by Ed Yong.

“I became so intrigued by that book because it’s about how all of us sense the world in a different way. When I look at my dog, for example, I used to be a little impatient when he wanted to smell, but I learned that dogs sense the world with their noses and not their eyes,” he said.

A dog’s best friend, Khatri adopted Max in 2020.

Compassion as the foundational emotion for making connections

Khatri’s first dog, Evart, was diagnosed with brain cancer in 2019 and suffered epileptic attacks for almost a year despite many trips to the vet, radiation therapy, a special diet and plenty of pampering. When Evart couldn’t climb up to the second-floor bedroom, Khatri would set up a sleeping bag downstairs to be near him.

Kyle Cattani, chair of the operations and decision technologies division (ODT) at the Kelley School of Business—a position Khatri held for five years—remembers a walk with his wife, Dana, and Khatri and Evart one day in the summer of 2019 when it became clear that Evart was terminally ill. Khatri stopped to pick up a stick while Evart continued on.

“Vijay explained to us that Evart was a ‘retriever’ and thus was required to pick up sticks. But his health had declined to such a stage that he could no longer pick up the sticks,” Cattani said.

Fortunately, Vijay was there to help him. Whenever there was a stick, Evart would stop, and Vijay would ‘retrieve’ it. Vijay, apparently, was the retriever for the golden retriever.

“Vijay served ODT the way that he served Evart. He quietly picks up sticks for each of us and, in his kind way, supports us in all our endeavors.”

Evart passed away in 2020, and a quilted portrait of the beaming golden retriever, made for Khatri by a friend, Karen, sits on a shelf in his office.

“Evart was a special pup. He inspired me with his positivity, resilience, and showering extraordinary joy on others every day,” Khatri said, his demeanor calm and thoughtful.

He adopted Max, also a golden retriever, in 2020, and has been patiently helping him overcome anxiety and adjust to his new life—and new smells—in Boulder.

Keeping a balanced perspective

Just as Max is adapting to a new environment, Khatri is taking root at Leeds, gathering input, thinking about the future, and “identifying the right places to grow in a balanced way,” he said.

Khatri sees business schools as hubs of innovation that offer a transformative experience. Its purpose is evolving, he said.

“Two decades ago, it was about [teaching] top line and bottom line—enhancing revenue, cutting costs and managing risks. Now it’s integrating those goals to those of our communities. Think about whether we are able to do things in a sustainable manner from a long-term perspective,” he said.

This evolving focus has a catchy name: the “triple bottom line,” which factors in social and environmental impact alongside financial performance.

Top of mind for Khatri is preparing Leeds graduates to address and tackle complex societal issues, including poverty, inequality and climate change, while prioritizing sustainability and using ethics-based reasoning.

“We really need to prepare leaders who will be ready for the future, the next decades,” he said during a recent interview in his sunny office at Leeds adorned with mementos from his life and travels. “The broad and balanced thinkers will not just think about now and their own communities; they will also think about future generations and will be intrinsically connected with our communities near and far.”

With that, Khatri hustled off to his next meeting to collaborate on new opportunities and innovate within this new ecosystem.