Building a Business School

Laying the Foundation

Gregory Prastacos was a professor of management science at the Athens University of Economics and Business, the leading business school in his native Greece for almost 30 years, serving as rector, the equivalent of a university president, from 2007-2011. His decision to come to Stevens was by no means his first exposure to the United States. He received his bachelor’s, master’s and doctorate from Columbia University, and from 1978-82 he was an assistant professor of decision sciences at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Prastacos: I was finishing my term as the rector of the Athens University of Economics and Business in late 2011. I saw an opportunity for me and my family to move to the U.S., to continue my career as an academic and also to give my children the opportunity to get a good education in the United States. I saw that Stevens was a perfect choice for me. It was an amazing location. It was a business school that was centered on technology, which was aligned very well with my background, and I saw a lot of opportunities for growth. I was very happy to accept the offer that was made to me.

Michael zur Muehlen (Associate Professor & former Associate Dean of Graduate Studies): I remember when he joined, he visited me at home. He went around and talked to a number of different people in the school to get the lay of the land. I think that is a sign of a good leader, when you listen more than you talk at the beginning. And so that stuck with me. He wanted to figure out who the people were, how this place ticks and how to pick it up from where it was to where it could be over time.

Don Lombardi (Teaching Professor): I remember vividly when Gregory came to Stevens. My goddaughter was in town, and I was with her and her parents. I knew the new dean was coming, but I didn't know when. We went on the elevator, and in came this guy with the most beautiful sports jacket you have ever seen. I mean, it was dynamite. I said, “Oh, you must be the new dean.”

I introduced him to my goddaughter, and he was so nice and so cordial, and the guy didn't know me at all. My goddaughter's dad is one of my old military buddies, and he's hard to impress. When we left, he said, “Man, you're in good shape. He gets it.” The phrase “transformational leader” gets thrown around a lot, but that’s what he is.

Ann MurphyAnn Murphy (Associate Professor & former Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies): When Gregory started, he was very strategic, which I loved because I'm a strategy person. One of the first things he did was convene a task force to create a strategic plan. Tackling the challenge of creating a strategic plan forced us to think carefully about who we were as a school and what our vision was for the future. It was a collaborative process that ultimately led to us deciding to evolve our identity from a niche technology management school to a robust business school while still maintaining that essence of having technology at our core.

Prastacos: During that process, all of us collectively, put together the ambitions and the goals that we wanted to achieve. It is not enough to say, “I want to become a school of business.” We said we wanted to be branded as a school of business very well associated with technology. That means a whole lot of things. It means the programs that we are offering orienting students towards this new era of digital technology. We had to attract faculty who were doing research in those areas. We wanted to attract very technology-oriented students. This is not very difficult because, you know, the younger generation is very much into technology, but still it was an issue that we had to address, and that branding strategy really paid off.

AACSB Accreditation

To make the transition to a true business school, the first step was to achieve accreditation from the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) International, considered the “gold standard” among business schools. AACSB International is the world’s largest business education alliance, and less than 5% of the business schools worldwide are accredited by this prestigious organization.

Prastacos: Stevens is one of the oldest universities in the country and has a very good reputation, but when I came, I saw that reputation was basically the engineering school. Very quickly, I realized that everybody wanted this to be to become a school of business. Students were telling me that they were spending a lot of time during interviews trying to explain what the School of Technology Management was. And faculty also felt that what they were doing really belonged to a school of business. The School of Technology Management was not accredited, and we had to move very quickly towards accreditation. It's a prerequisite if you want to become a respected school of business. So very quickly, we started a process of trying to get the school accredited by the AACSB.

Murphy: We knew that to be a legitimate and well-respected business school, we had to pursue accreditation seriously. Gregory was fantastic at that. There was a team of people, but he spearheaded it. It was very exciting because it felt like we were a startup inside this nearly 150-year-old university.

Ted Stohr (Professor): From the very first day when Gregory arrived, he has led us to achieve his vision of turning to a local school narrowly focused on the discipline of technology management to a globally ranked business school. Gregory not only drove this transformative vision, but his dedication to the school inspired all of us to do a little better. I vividly remember how Gregory worked with us personally on spreadsheets full of the administrative details required for our first successful application for AACSB accreditation in 2015. On several occasions, this entailed communicating with him via email late in the night and even into the small hours of the morning. There was no way we could not succeed!

George CalhounGeorge Calhoun (Professor, Director of the Quantitative Finance Program, Director of the Hanlon Financial Systems Center & Center for Research Toward Advancing Financial Technologies Managing Director): From his previous experience, Gregory had the understanding and the vision of what a business school is and needed to be, and he set about to create the entity that we have today. A part of that was accreditation. That's something that I did not appreciate at first. Gregory was committed to accreditation being a big part of what we had to do. Without his impetus, it wouldn't have happened. It's not easy to get. Only 5% of the business schools have it, and there's a reason why the other 95% don't.

Gaurav Sabnis (Associate Professor of Marketing): It was very important for me because one of the things I was worried about when I came for an interview was that the school was not AACSB accredited. He told me, “We are getting it.” That showed focus. It was an example of the importance of what I teach my students about internal marketing. So many times, marketing is focused on the outside consumers but many times you have to sell the idea within the institution. Of course, here lot of people came from the engineering side, weren't as aware of the AACSB, and would initially find some of the questions too detailed, too pointless or too jargon-filled. But he was able to communicate not just the importance of getting that label of an AACSB school but also what it would do to help us as a business school grow in a more structured way. I consider that one of his biggest accomplishments because it's not easy.

Prastacos: There was an amazing mobilization of the faculty to get that recognition, that accreditation, and within a record time of three years from 2012 when I joined until 2015, we managed to get full accreditation. I think that process was very important, not only because we got the accreditation, but to get the accreditation you have to really change. You have to change your curricula, you have to change your processes, you have to pay attention to research, you have to pay attention to the student success. All of these happened in those amazing three years. So when 2015 came, we became a school of business.

Major Changes to Major Offerings and Faculty

During the multi-year process that culminated in 2015, the management, marketing, finance, and information systems undergraduate majors and the business intelligence and analytics master’s program were launched in 2013, and the economics major began in 2014. With this rapid expansion of offerings, the faculty also underwent similar growth.

Murphy: Joining more of a “startup” business school might appear a little risky for prospective tenure-stream faculty members. Gregory helped faculty understand that they could be successful at our school and that high-quality research would be prioritized, supported, and rewarded. I think a big factor in us being so successful in recruiting great faculty is because Gregory had such an illustrious academic career before coming to Stevens and that added legitimacy and trust in what he said and did.

Stefano Bonini (Associate Professor of Finance): I had been in the U.S. during my Ph.D., and since the end of 2008 I had been appointed as a visiting associate professor at NYU. At the time of the interview, I had spent most of my time there, returning to Italy as little as possible. My wife and I felt this was a better place for us, and I was working towards a plan to make New York City our exclusive home when Stevens reached out. I had never even known the school existed! I was intrigued but hesitant. After entering the Babbio Center and meeting Gregory I was immediately sold. I have worked a lot in venture capital and Gregory had an entrepreneurial vision that reminded me of successful startups. He wanted the school to become one of the top schools in the country. He was looking for people who could contribute with top research. There were risks, but there was huge potential. In the investment world, there’s a popular saying from Thomas Edison, “Vision without execution is hallucination.” He had the vision, and I was firmly convinced that he could execute.

Sabnis: Until then, the meeting with the Dean was always a formality. They just gave you the spiel about what the school is, and it was the faculty member or the search committee who really talked to you. But here Gregory was very involved. He was talking to me in detail about what my plans were, and he sent me the signal that what he was looking for was not just somebody who churns out 15 mediocre articles. He was looking for someone who was gunning for the Journal of Marketing and top-level things. That is what they wanted. He had a very clear vision of how he wanted to make it a business school with a technology focus as opposed to just an extension of an engineering school.

Suman Banerjee (Associate Professor & Ph.D. Program Chair): I was a little bit worried about how Stevens, as a business school, would be successful in the future. It was an engineering school and engineers dictated the policies for the most part. But his leadership and his assurance that he would let me do things as long as he thought they would be good for the school in the long term swayed me. He gave me freedom in working with the Ph.D. programs, and we are now proud of these programs. He reassured me that he has the same set of goals that I have.

Elaine Henry (Professor & Area Coordinator of the Finance, Economics, Financial Engineering and Accounting): Gregory is undaunted by things that would probably be roadblocks for a lot of other people. The example that comes to my mind is that Stevens, when I arrived, didn't even have an accounting major. And Gregory is just like, “Okay, well, we're going to have one.” Putting together a major that has such different specializations in it is tough, but he just took it for granted that we would make it happen. I think that's the way that he's been able to be so effective. It’s as though he looks at what should be done, what needs to be done and then gets it done. He's not fazed by things that seem near impossible.

Continuing the Momentum

As new programs, initiatives and industry collaborations such as the Hanlon Financial Systems Center, the Industry Capstone Program, CRAFT, the Center for Student Success, COPA, the Inclusive Leadership Program and dual degree master’s programs with international partners were launched, the school had more than just ideas to present to potential faculty hires, prospective students, university leadership and national reputation-makers.

Embedded in a school focused on technology, the School of Business utilized that advantage to continually evolve the curriculum and blend traditional business skills with the latest innovations across every business discipline.

Prastacos: We submitted our papers to U.S. News and World Report. Three years later, we were ranked immediately 103rd among 500 business schools that were submitted, which was very, very impressive, given that it was the first time that we were participating the U.S. News ranking exercise. And from there on, of course, it started becoming better and better because everybody realized the momentum with which the school is moving. I had the huge support from the leadership—President Farvardin and the three provosts that I worked with. All of them were very supportive of the school and of the activities we undertook. There was a budget need every once in a while, and I was happy to be able to receive these additional budgets that we needed in order to grow our faculty.

Joelle Saad-LesslerJoelle Saad-Lessler (Industry Professor & Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies): I think we've hired some phenomenal faculty, and that was very much a function of Gregory pushing very hard at the Provost office to get those faculty lines. That was huge. It got us to the point where we're large enough to require organization into areas which we were too small to do before. He was always strategic about helping us get what we needed from the central university.

Jeff Nickerson (Professor and Steven Shulman '62 Endowed Chair for Business Leadership): I think Gregory’s biggest legacy is going to be the superb effort he led on hiring over the last 12 years. He consistently encouraged us to bring the best scholars in our disciplines to campus. He was open-minded when candidates came from one discipline but could be useful to us in another. When candidates exhibited strong potential, he worked hard to recruit them. We now have a set of scholars that are the envy of other business schools. Because we have done so much hiring in the last 12 years, especially relative to the size of our school, we have a dynamic faculty who are knowledgeable in the latest techniques, technologies, and topics – more knowledgeable on average than faculty members in many of the better-established competing business schools. These recently hired faculty members are gaining international attention for their research, and all of us at Stevens are benefiting from the growing reputation of the business school.

Jeff HedrickJeff Hedrick (Assistant Dean and Senior Director of Strategic Initiatives): Many of our incoming faculty have multiple FT50s even before they arrive. I look at the pipeline and it's absolutely amazing how many papers we have in the revise and resubmit stage. With an FT50 publication, the average time from when you submit to the time it’s actually published is two-plus years. So we have a really strong pipeline. It’s going to keep growing even faster because of the quality of the faculty we've hired.

Prastacos: First of all, every school tries to be more technology-based these days. This is natural because we see how technology disrupts everything, particularly in business. The roles of the managers are changing and therefore the educational content of what we deliver is changing because you get to teach students different things. We are very lucky to be in the Stevens ecosystem because Stevens is technology. You wake up in the morning, you go to bed at night, it's technology. When you are in that environment, it is very natural to get the input of the engineering school, for example. They're doing brilliant work, so it is very easy for us to develop collaborations with the School of Engineering and Sciences. We do joint research proposals; we collaborate on courses. This collaboration has really benefited the School of Business.

Zachary Feinstein (Assistant Professor and Director of the Fintech Certificate Program): Since I joined Stevens in 2019, and especially after 2021 when we began to return to in-person instruction, Gregory has been a big proponent for advancing financial engineering and financial analytics through the development of Financial Technology programs. Being a business school within a technical institute has meant that we are constantly revisiting our curriculum to introduce new courses, certificates and programs as technologies change. By staying at the forefront of financial technology, our students are constantly challenged to think about new ways of operating which has led to a number of interesting projects and careers.

Adding New Programs

Prastacos: There are so many initiatives that originate from faculty and students, and I'm very open to them. I am the type of person who wants to give opportunities, and therefore, when ideas come to me, usually I evaluate them. I invite a group of colleagues to sit down, think about it, talk about it, and give the person who made the recommendation an opportunity to present the plan. This is how many things have happened. For example, CRAFT, which is the Center for Research to Advance Financial Technologies. I still remember it was an idea that came from Steve Yang, who was a faculty member at the School of Systems and Enterprises. He wrote me a letter. I was the dean of a different school, and I enthusiastically supported him. It was really very gratifying when the whole financial engineering group moved to the School of Business, and Steve already knew that the dean is supporting that initiative, which eventually materialized to this amazing center to advance fintech.

My associate deans have always come with great ideas. I remember Ann Murphy had many ideas about the undergraduate program, Joelle Saad-Lessler comes with so many new ideas to advance the critical thinking of the students and to advance the writing skills of the students. Chihoon Lee, who is the associate dean of graduate programs, as well as Michael zur Muehlen who was the associate dean before him, they came with so many ideas and initiatives to promote international collaboration or to promote excellence in the graduate programs. All of these ideas for me are what we need to advance because the whole world is moving quickly, and unless you have initiatives, you will be left behind. This is something that I actively seek and encourage from the faculty, especially after the first few years when they have established their research. I encourage them to think as a leader and to take leadership initiative, and I will support them if I think that this is aligned with the mission and the goals of the school.

Pete DominickPete Dominick (Teaching Professor & Co-Director of the Inclusive Leadership Program): Gregory was instrumental in launching the Inclusive Leadership Program. It would not have happened without his interest and enthusiasm for it. He was the one who brought me into the conversation in the first place. He both gave me space to develop ideas and helped me refine and shape them into concrete options that could be discussed with potential donors. He facilitated meaningful dialogue with the interested Board of Trustee donors that helped all of us refine and expand upon what might be possible. He also brought the School of Business Board of Advisors into the conversation. This helped us affirm the value proposition for what we were proposing and make sure our approach was grounded in its emphasis on the business case for inclusion.

Michelle CrillyMichelle Crilly (Assistant Dean of Student Success): When we launched the Center for Student Success, Gregory went to bat for us, and it really changed the way academic advising is done at the university. Now all the schools have an office that does what we do. A big part of that was Gregory’s support. In my opinion, it’s one of the biggest things he's done because it has affected every single student on campus, not just the School of Business.

Nicole Malantchouk (former Director for Corporate Outreach and Professional Advancement): Over his tenure, Gregory saw the potential to build resources internally to address industry’s need for talent with both technical and business expertise. With persistence, we grew the program in the School of Business to support student career development and encouraged Faculty to incorporate career-planning skill-building in the classroom. Gregory is strategic at building boards and surrounding the school with influential industry people who can help us break down barriers externally. He attracted board members who were energized and excited to help students and the School of Business.

Bonini: I was firmly convinced that dual degree programs could help in creating a long-term funnel of high-quality, diverse students. I felt that putting my time and efforts into developing such degrees was part of that entrepreneurial vision that attracted me to Stevens and that Gregory was seeking. He gave me full support, and I have now developed programs with six different schools that are constantly sending students who place in top institutions such as Goldman Sachs, Citibank, JP Morgan, European Central Bank, KPMG and the like. Other colleagues have worked along similar lines, and I believe that this is our best growth strategy.

Sabnis: If you come to him with an idea, he's usually going to let you take the ball and run. With marketing, I had his support, and he saw the vision that we can keep growing because not only is the capital of marketing right across the river, but it's also one of those courses that engineering students or music students find helpful. His embrace of technology has definitely given the program an identity of its own. He had that vision that we need to separate ourselves and make our “Marketing Strategy” course “Marketing Strategy in a Digital World.” Generally, in schools, deans or administrations are not enthusiastic about big changes, but he was all in on completely revamping the whole slate of those courses and introducing new ones.

Prastacos: One my favorite parts of being dean is working with the students and including their thoughts in the decision-making process. We have the Dean's Student Advisory Council, which is a group of represented representatives of students with whom I meet regularly. It is really one of the most gratifying moments when I meet with them and I listen to their comments and their recommendations. I really see the future leaders of this country, and that's definitely one of the favorite moments in my daily life here.

Nick Smith (Senior Business & Technology Major, Member of the Student Advisory Council): The Dean has been incredibly open to changes, and I think that's something that a lot of people respect about him. He's also very down to earth because he's not one to get stuck in the status quo. Even in his last couple of months as dean, he's still striving for better. He’s still having conversations with the students about the work that needs to be done or some of the changes that we would like to see made. And without that being a priority, I don't think anything would change. His interactions are always great. He always makes time for students. There have been times that I've emailed him and asked him to talk, and he'll set time up on the calendar within the week.

Sandie McDonald (Third-Year Business & Technology Major & Member of the Student Advisory Council): He has a connection to students, and not just me and the other advisors. I've always heard positive things about him, how he works with the staff, and his personal connections with professors. I think that's really important at the University because to feel that I'm on the same level as the dean, the administration, the professors and my peers is how we can get that synchronization throughout our organization and improve the curriculum overall. I think that his connection to everyone, how well he listens and executes our ideas, and gives us the time of day, is how he shows that leadership.

"Not the time to sit."

One of the keys to building on the successful change and transformation and reaching the school’s potential is sustaining the culture of inclusivity, transparency and collaboration established over the last 12 years. Prastacos set the precedent of leading by example and inspiring those around him to buy into the vision.

Prastacos: I think part of my role is to make everybody feel good and comfortable in their work environment. That involves a lot of empathy. It involves a very strong sense of inclusion for everybody. I am very supportive of the younger faculty who are here. They are spending their first years of their professional career trying to grow and sometimes they face difficulties. If they have questions, I try to be there for them and everyone in the School of Business. Transparency is always important because transparency makes people believe and trust you, and that's the first element of being a leader. You're not going to be a leader unless people trust you.

Don LombardiLombardi: From day one he was honest, direct and thoughtful. You never have to guess with Gregory. You know where he's coming from. He lays it out. He is good at listening. I found that if you give him ideas, suggestions, and solutions, he listens, and if you're right most of the time, he starts asking you for ideas Even if there is a disagreement, you know that your view is being respected.

Crilly: He expects a lot from his team, but he's fair about it. If I was to describe him in one word it would be fair. He’s also very open and transparent about anything that's going on with the school.

Zur Muehlen: He cares. Part of it is that he makes his expectations clear. He has a clear evaluation rubric to say, “Okay, here's how I'm going to figure out how much you're going to teach next year.” Faculty care about their quality of life, and part of that is how much teaching as opposed to research as opposed to service they are going to do. He has a very transparent process for that.

Saad-Lessler: With Gregory, there is a very clear vision—this is where we're going. He is unwavering in the quality he wants to achieve. He’s never going to sacrifice quality, and people go along with it because people believe in the vision.

Jeff Hedrick: His work ethic is incredible. He makes very thoughtful decisions. He seeks input in the decision-making process, and he listens to people. You can change his mind. He’ll have an opinion coming in, but he will listen to the people in the room and solicit a consensus agreement. In the end, it’s his decision but to his credit, he wants input and buy-in from his leadership team. He tries to make decisions and policies fair and transparent.

Chihoon Lee (Professor and Associate Dean of Graduate Studies): Whenever I feel a little overwhelmed and tired, his positive energy is contagious. He encourages me to look at things from a different angle. He has the capability to take the bird’s eye view and also pay very close attention to the details.

Brian RothschildBrian Rothschild (Assistant Dean of Graduate Studies and Senior Director of Graduate Management Programs): He has the ability to have a true understanding and grasp of everything that the business school does and will do, and be able to keep that all straight in his head. Whether it’s the details of what CRAFT is up to, the 90 faculty that we have, or the projects I’m working on daily, he’s got it all together. He’s very, very good at being able to see the big picture, but at the same time, knowing what level of detail to get involved with.

Murphy: He’s a hard driver for results, but he has a soft side to him too. He’s a person who knows when the babies are born in the school and asks about my kids or my husband. If someone has a personal challenge, as inevitably people do, he tries to be understanding and accommodate people as best as he can. I know that if I come to him with an issue, he will listen and be understanding. I think he is a mentor for so many of the faculty and staff.

Prastacos: I think the greatest achievement has been to develop a culture at the School of Business where people feel proud of working here, and that is the result of many things. It is the continuous effort that we all put into collaborating and supporting our colleagues. It is the amazing students that we attract and the success as they get into the market. It is the pride we get by looking at our alumni progress.

In some ways, we achieved more than I thought. There is a continuous evolution of what you expect to get and what you want. I didn't come to stay as a dean for 12 years, but they say that appetite comes as you eat. It became more and more exciting to be here, and more and more exciting to participate in this amazing growth and success, but there are many things still to do. I think there's a huge potential for this kind of business school with the location, the branding, the faculty and staff, and the students that we have are amazing resources that the school can move forward.

It is not the time to sit. Everything is changing. Everybody is moving forward. We need to continue improving. We need to pay attention to what we're not doing so well and improve it. And we need to take initiatives that will differentiate this school of business. I look forward to continuing our amazing path to achieve our potential under GJ’s stewardship.

GJ de VreedeDe Vreede: Gregory and the whole Stevens School of Business team should be celebrated for building an amazing business school in such a short time. It’s impressive and inspirational.

It is a tremendous honor to be entrusted with leading the Stevens School of Business as we write the next chapter in this remarkable success story. The school has accomplished so much in recent years, building an impressive reputation as an ambitious and innovative business program. As we look to the future, we will continue our upward trajectory, preparing students to thrive in the rapidly evolving business landscape.

The role of technology has become even more prominent. The rise of AI requires our graduates to possess the skills to leverage these powerful tools productively and ethically. Students and businesses have instant access to AI-generated insights based on vast amounts of data and information, at times of unknown veracity, so it’s vital to recognize the enduring importance of critical thinking to help students and businesses navigate the wealth of information and insights available to them.

One of the biggest ways we measure our progress is the work our students do after graduation. We want students to be prepared for success in today’s marketplace and be ready to take on the jobs that don’t yet exist!

For more than 150 years, Stevens has been at the forefront of scientific advances and innovation. The Stevens School of Business is a vital contributor to this legacy, providing an outstanding environment for student learning, faculty research and outreach to the business community. Our goal is to shape the thinkers, doers and innovators who will be the future leaders in business and society.