Cranfield School of Management is pleased to announce the appointment of Professor Lynette Ryals as Interim Director from 1st August.

Professor Ryals has many years’ experience at the School of Management as Professor of Strategic Sales and Account Management and as a member of the School of Management's Executive Board.

She is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, Fellow of the Society of Investment Professionals, a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Logistics, and an International Fellow of Hanken School of Economics in Finland.

Her prize-winning research has been published in world-leading journals including Harvard Business Review and the Journal of Marketing. Since 2011, she has been Chair of the Case Centre, an independent, not-for-profit organisation dedicated to promoting the case method in business education.

In 2014, Professor Ryals was appointed to her current role as Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Education) for Cranfield University. She is responsible for learner experience and education quality for award-bearing and non-award-bearing executive and professional courses at Cranfield, as well as the education aspects of research degrees. Professor Ryals will maintain her current role,  with leadership of selected projects being assumed by other members of the University Executive.

Commenting on her appointment as Interim Director, Professor Lynette Ryals, said:

"This is an exciting time for Cranfield School of Management, as we celebrate our 50th year. I’m looking forward to helping our world-renowned faculty prepare for the new academic year.

"The School is rightly very proud of its heritage and the recent announcement by The Economist of our MSc in Management as the best in the UK demonstrates our continued commitment to excellence."

Professor Ryals succeeds Professor Maury Peiperl as Director and becomes the first woman to take up the position in the School’s 50-year history. Professor Peiperl is taking up a new appointment as Dean of the School of Business at George Mason University near Washington DC, also starting on 1 August.

Professor Sir Peter Gregson, Vice-Chancellor and Chief Executive of Cranfield University said:

"I would like to thank Maury for the leadership and direction he has given both the School of Management and the wider University since he joined us in February 2015. He has been with us during a period of unprecedented change and we have benefited from his international expertise and viewpoint. We wish him every success in the future.

"I am delighted that Lynette is taking up this position, she has made an outstanding contribution to the wider University and I’m sure her many years of experience with the School will be invaluable during this period."

Professor Lynette Ryals

About Cranfield University

Cranfield has been a world leader in management education and research for over 50 years, helping individuals and organisations learn and succeed by transforming knowledge into action. We are dedicated to creating responsible management thinking, improving business performance and inspiring the next generation of business leaders. We work to change the lives of our students and executives by encouraging innovation and creative thinking, as well as the drive to succeed and make a real impact on their organisations.

Organisations as diverse as Jaguar Land Rover, BAE Systems, Royal Dutch Shell, L’Oréal, UNICEF and the African Development Bank have benefited from our work, which ranges from management research projects, through staff talent management development on our MBA courses, to customised executive programmes.

Cranfield is one of an elite group of Schools worldwide to hold the triple accreditation of: AACSB International (the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), EQUIS (European Quality Improvement System) and AMBA (the Association of MBAs).

We are in the Top 10 International Business Schools in the Forbes’ ranking.

Our open and customised executive education programmes are ranked in the top five in the UK, according to the latest Financial Times survey, and in the top ten in the world for international reach. Over 10,000 people come to Cranfield each year to benefit from our executive and professional development programmes.