Haas Gets An Interim Dean From Its Faculty Ranks

Jennifer Chatman will become interim dean of the Haas School of Business on Aug. 1

UC-Berkeley has appointed Haas Professor Jennifer Chatman to be the interim dean of the Haas School of Business starting on Aug. 1. She will temporarily succeed Dean Ann Harrison who announced that she will step down at the end of July after a successful five-year term.

The search for a permanent Berkeley Haas dean will begin in early fall.

Chatman is a well-known Haas player, having served as an associate dean for academic affairs from 2022 to 2024. From October to December 2023, she led the school as acting dean during Dean Harrison’s sabbatical. Chatman also was directly involved in a major cultural initiative led by former Dean Rich Lyons that led to the school’s Defining Leadership Principles. She joined the Haas faculty in 1993 after serving as an associate professor at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management for nearly six years.

CHATMAN HAS WON A LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD FROM THE ACADEMY OF MANAGEMENT

An organizational behavior professor, Chatman’s research has garnered numerous accolades, including the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Management. Her work has shown, for example, how emphasizing innovation within a strong organizational culture can increase a firm’s financial success and how narcissistic leaders create organizational cultures with less collaboration and integrity.

Chatman has a strong connection and commitment to Berkeley. A double Bear, she earned her BA in psychology in 1981 and her PhD in business administration from Berkeley in 1987. Her connection to academia has deep roots as well. She followed in the footsteps of her late father, Seymour Chatman, a first-generation college student and former faculty member at Berkeley, who was influential in the fields of film, literature, and rhetoric.

Harrison, who will continue to teach and research at Haas as a half-time faculty member, was enthusiastic in her endorsement of Chatman, noting her profound impact as an academic expert and effective leader. “Jenny has been an inspiration to many at Haas, including myself. Her appointment as interim dean ensures that Haas is in capable and visionary hands,” she said in a statement.

A MASTER TEACHER

Chatman added in a statement, “It will be my honor to serve the school and campus, and I look forward to hearing your ideas and concerns so that we can accomplish great things together in the year ahead. Let’s continue to let our Defining Leadership Principles inspire the best in us.”

During her tenure at Haas, Chatman has consistently received high praise for her teaching, reflected in her membership in the “Club 6” for high teaching evaluations. She also won the Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching and was named among the “World’s Best B-School Professors” by Poets&Quants. She has led numerous programs as part of Berkeley Executive Education, including the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Program and Leading Strategy Execution Through Culture Program, shaping future leaders by translating her research insights into practical knowledge.

Chatman’s influence extends into the corporate world where she advises top companies across various industries on real-world cultural challenges. She is widely recognized for her expertise in fostering effective organizational cultures and its impact on the success of the organization, co-creating one of the most widely used tools to assess organizational culture.

She co-founded and co-directs the Berkeley Center for Workplace Culture and Innovation with Haas Professor Sameer Srivastava. In March 2024, they launched a podcast, The Culture Kit with Jenny and Sameer, in which they apply insights from current research to help solve listeners’ workplace culture problems.

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