FY26 Annual Report

This article was written by, and originally appeared in, UChicago News.

Madhav Rajan has been reappointed for a third term as the Steven S. Wymer Dean of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, President Paul Alivisatos and Provost Katherine Baicker announced.

The George Pratt Shultz Distinguished Service Professor of Accounting, Rajan has overseen a period marked by growth across every area of the school’s mission since joining Chicago Booth in 2017: growing its faculty, launching new academic programs and attracting transformative philanthropic support.

“For nearly a decade, Madhav has led with purpose and a clear sense of what makes Booth distinct,” Alivisatos said. “A third deanship term reflects the sustained confidence we have in Madhav’s stewardship of Booth.”

Rajan has invested in Booth at every level. Faculty recruitment and retention have been a consistent priority, including the launch of Booth’s network of research centers, which support scholarship by bringing faculty from different disciplines together. He also expanded Booth’s reach across the University through the Business Economics track of the Economics major in the undergraduate College. The school launched its first new degree programs in nearly 90 years, the Master in Management and Master in Finance, which welcomed their inaugural cohorts in 2024. He has also vastly increased scholarship funding, making a Booth education accessible to a much broader range of students.

“At every turn, Madhav’s leadership has made Booth stronger,” Baicker said. “He has recruited and retained exceptional faculty, put the school on extraordinarily strong footing, and taken smart risks on new ideas. We are thrilled to have Madhav continue serving as dean, and know that our whole community will benefit from his leadership and vision.”

To ensure Booth’s long-term financial success, Rajan has cultivated deep relationships with alumni and friends who share his ambitions for the school, securing a $100 million gift to endow the Stevens Doctoral Program, a $60 million gift to support the Asness and Liew Master in Finance Program, and a $100 million gift to endow the Sokolov Executive MBA Program. These commitments reflect the confidence Booth’s alumni and friends have in the School’s trajectory, and have helped grow Booth’s endowment from $702 million to over $2 billion during the past decade.

In addition to his work at Booth, Rajan took on an expanded University-wide role in 2025 as chief global strategist, providing oversight for UChicago Global and the institution’s international strategy for its campuses abroad.

“Nine years ago, I arrived at a school with a storied tradition of rigorous, evidence-based thinking and a mission to apply it to the defining questions of our time,” Rajan said. “Partnering with our faculty, staff, students and alumni to turn that combination into work that has lasting impact has been the great honor of my career. I am excited to build on that energy to further broaden and deepen the school’s impact across the globe.”