John Kraft, dean of the Warrington College of Business, Graduate Programs in Business and the Fisher School of Accounting at the University of Florida, has been elected vice president-president elect of AACSB. He officially begins his term July 1, 2000, and will serve through academic year 2000-2001, assuming the presidency of AACSB on July 1, 2001, for the academic year 2001-2002.

"John Kraft is one of the best known of American deans," said Larry E. Penley, Arizona State University’s business dean who becomes president of AACSB on July 1, 2000. "That is true in North America and elsewhere. He brings significant international experience to the position. His commitment to the globalization of the Florida business programs will be an asset to AACSB in its establishment of global leadership in the field.

"I have a very personal reason for my happiness at John’s election," added Penley. "John was dean at Arizona State while I served as management department chair. I know him as an honest, focused and gifted manager of higher education."

Kraft has a lengthy record of service to AACSB spanning a broad cross-section of areas and activities. He has chaired the Minorities Committee, the Environmental Scanning Task Force and the AACSB/EBI Steering Committee and currently chairs the Business Accreditation Committee. Kraft has served on the Visitation, Standards, Business Accreditation, Nominating and Continuing Accreditation Committees and the Peer Review Improvement Task Force and the International Partnership for Continuous Improvement. He currently serves in an ex officio role to the Candidacy Committee, the Accreditation Application Review Committee for Non-U.S. Schools and the Accounting Accreditation Committee. Additionally, Kraft has been a presenter at numerous AACSB professional development programs and at Annual Meeting concurrent workshop sessions.

"I am looking forward to my year as vice president-president elect," said Kraft. "In the coming year, I will be working with Bob Taylor (University of Louisville dean who is 1999-2000 AACSB president) and Larry Penley to learn about the challenges facing our organization, as well as completing projects undertaken during my term as chair of the Business Accreditation Committee.

"In terms of my personal objectives, my overall goal is to enhance our organization’s role in delivering high quality management education," he said. "However, my specific interests are in the areas of technology, expanding our role in management education globally, and honing AACSB accreditation activities to better fit the mission and needs of our diverse membership."

Kraft said it is important that AACSB expand its presence beyond North America in the coming years, and said he will work to ensure that AACSB continues to build on its traditional competitive advantage through peer review and accreditation of programs worldwide. "Leading AACSB, particularly at the beginning of a new millennium, is an honor and it is a responsibility that I embrace with relish," he said.

Kraft has had extensive business, government and academic experience. He has served as a consultant for several Fortune 500 companies and has been on the Board of Directors of Greyhound Financial Corporation (a subsidiary of the Greyhound Dial, Fortune 100 Corporation), Citibank of Arizona (a subsidiary of Citicorp, New York, Fortune 100 Corporation) and Kroy Inc., of Scottsdale, Ariz. Kraft also has served in executive positions at several federal agencies: the Department of Housing, the Department of Energy, the Cost of Living Council, the Price Commission and the National Science Foundation.

Kraft has held tenured faculty positions at the University of Florida and at Arizona State University and was on the faculty at Florida as assistant professor of economics from 1970 to 1974. From 1980 to 1986, he was professor of finance and held administrative positions as associate dean and director of the Bureau of Economic and Business Research at Florida. He serves on the University of Florida Research Foundation Investment Committee. Kraft was professor of finance and dean of the College of Business at Arizona State University from 1986 to 1990. The author of over 100 research articles, books and monographs, he has served as director of several non-profit organizations, including: Arizona State Research Institute, Arizona State University Research Park, the Washington Campus, the Economics Club of Phoenix, Junior Achievement of Arizona, INROADS/PHOENIX Inc. and the AACSB Western Region. Kraft is the former president of the Arizona State University Research Park and is a director of the Graduate Management Admission Council.

Kraft has a B.S. in mathematics from St. Bonaventure University and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in economics from the University of Pittsburgh.

Other election results, unavailable at Newsline press time, were sent via Email to AACSB member representatives in late February. Newly elected board members officially assume their positions on July 1, 2000.