U.Va. Darden School of Business Names Erika James Senior Associate Dean of Darden Executive Education

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Nov. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The University of Virginia Darden School of Business and the Darden School Foundation today announced that Erika James will serve as the new senior associate dean of Darden Executive Education.

(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121112/DC10915 )

(Logo:  http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100916/DC66431LOGO)

James will oversee custom and open-enrollment programs for Darden Executive Education, which has helped companies and executives solve their toughest business challenges since 1955.

"Erika is a talented and proven leader who will energize Darden Executive Education," said Darden's Dean Robert F. Bruner. "An expert in leadership and organizational behavior, she knows what it takes for executives and companies to lead in these uncertain times, and she will be a valuable partner to organizations and professionals of all levels."

Trip Davis, president of the Darden School Foundation and senior associate dean for external relations added, "Erika has been a wildly successful faculty member at Darden since 2001. She has served as course head of 'Leading Organizations' for the First Year of Darden's MBA program and pioneered the position of associate dean of diversity at Darden."

James teaches in several Darden Executive Education programs and helped design the successful open-enrollment course "Women Emerging in Leadership", which regularly receives five out of five ratings. The program was delivered as a custom course in 2011 and 2012 to female leaders in the United Arab Emirates in partnership with the Emirates Institute of Banking and Financial Studies.

"My goal as senior associate dean of Darden Executive Education," said James, "is to prepare leaders to operate in uncertain times; to make use of rapidly evolving technologies, with a strong grasp of globalization; and to manage in an environment in which people and consumer goods are increasingly diverse."

James earned a master's degree and a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan. She served as a visiting faculty member at Harvard Business School.

To learn more about James' goals for Darden Executive Education, watch her video interview.

About the Darden School of Business

The University of Virginia Darden School of Business is one of the world's leading business schools, offering MBA, Ph.D. and Executive Education programs. The unique Darden experience combines the case study method, the highest-ranked faculty whose research advances global managerial practice and business education, and a tight-knit learning environment to develop principled and complete leaders who are ready to make an impact.

SOURCE University of Virginia's Darden School of Business