Biography

Erika H. James became Dean of the Wharton School on July 1, 2020 and was reappointed in 2026 for a second term ending in 2032, making her the first Wharton dean in the past two decades to have her tenure extended.

James has built on Wharton’s record of excellence through purposeful, strategic growth. Early in her first term, she launched The Wharton Way, a strategic roadmap to shape the School’s priorities, strengthen institutional alignment, and drive innovation across its teaching, research, and global engagement efforts. Wharton’s unprecedented investments in faculty since 2020 include hiring more than 25 percent of all current standing faculty. James also spearheaded curricular enhancements in artificial intelligence and analytics and launched Wharton’s first new degree program in 50 years with support from the largest philanthropic gift in Wharton history.

Prior to joining Wharton, Dean James was the John H. Harland Dean at Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. Earlier in her career, she held academic positions at Tulane University and the University of Virginia’s Darden School, where she led the school’s executive education division and developed groundbreaking leadership programming.

Trained as an organizational psychologist, Dean James is a highly sought-after expert on crisis leadership, workplace diversity, and management strategy. She is an award-winning educator, innovative researcher, and trusted advisor to senior executives who has paved the way for women leaders both in education and corporate America. Dean James’s latest book is The Prepared Leader: Emerge from Any Crisis More Resilient Than Before which she co-authored with Lynn Perry Wooten, President of Simmons University. She and Wooten are also co-authors of Leading Under Pressure: From Surviving to Thriving Before, During, and After a Crisis.

Dean James holds a Ph.D. and master’s degree in organizational psychology from the University of Michigan, as well as a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Pomona College of the Claremont Colleges in California. She is a trustee of Pomona College and currently serves on the board of directors of Morgan Stanley and The Economic Club of New York.

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