Most academics spend their careers inside the ivory tower. Dima Jamali, however, spends hers building bridges. Dima connects boardrooms to civil society. She also links the Global North with the Middle East. Moreover, she bridges the parliamentary floor and the dean’s office.
A New Chapter at LAU
In September 2025, Jamali takes the helm as Dean of the Adnan Kassar School of Business at the Lebanese American University (LAU). This marks another milestone in her trajectory. Notably, that trajectory includes a top 2% global ranking in sustainability from Stanford University. Yet despite this recognition, Jamali refuses to let leadership become a purely administrative exercise.
“I am not interested in managing decline or maintaining the status quo,” Jamali says. “I want to transform how business education drives systemic change.”
Dima Jamali: An Unconventional Path
Jamali’s career defies easy categorization. After earning her PhD in Social Policy from the University of Kent, she spent over a decade at the American University of Beirut (AUB). She rose to Endowed Chair in Responsible Leadership in 2014. Then in 2018, she did something rare. She paused academia to run for parliament.
She served as an MP for Tripoli in 2018. The experience deepened her understanding of power and institutions.
This hybrid perspective became her signature. She has been a scholar, a consultant, an elected official, and an executive. In 2020, she moved to the UAE. There, she served as Dean at the University of Sharjah from August 2020 to August 2023.
After that, she joined Canadian University Dubai as Dean of the School of Management. She later became Vice President for Academic Affairs. Finally, she served as Vice President for University Advancement.
The Global Compact Legacy
Ask Jamali what she feels most proud of, and she will not lead with her 10 books or 150+ publications. Instead, she will point to the UN Global Compact Network Lebanon (GCNL). She founded this network in 2015. She also served as its President and National Representative.
While Lebanon fractured, Jamali mobilized private sector firms around the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). She proved that corporate responsibility could function even when the state could not. Her network delivered practical humanitarian and environmental projects on the ground. Consequently, this work earned her the Aspen Institute Faculty Pioneer Award in 2015. The Financial Times calls this award “the Oscar of business school teaching.” She also received the 2024 Kuwait Prize, which recognizes pioneering Arab scholars.
A Distinctly Arab Leadership Model
Jamali’s research challenges Western-centric assumptions of CSR and social entrepreneurship. Her edited volumes include CSR in the Middle East (Palgrave, 2012), Social Entrepreneurship in the Middle East (Palgrave, 2015), Handbook of Responsible Management (Edward Elgar, 2019), and CSR in Developing and Emerging Economies (Cambridge University Press, 2019). In particular, she argues that responsible leadership in this region must account for informal networks. At the same time, it must also consider religious philanthropy (zakat). Furthermore, it needs to recognize the unique role of the family firm.
She has tested these theories as a consultant for the World Bank, USAID, and the United Nations. The result is a collaborative but uncompromising leadership style. Colleagues describe her as intensely strategic. She does not chase visibility for its own sake. At the same time, she remains fiercely committed to the next generation of Arab women scholars and youth change agents.
What Dima Jamali Brings to LAU
When Jamali steps into the dean’s role at LAU in September 2025, she inherits an AACSB-accredited school with a strong regional reputation. Her mandate is clear: elevate it to a global podium.
She will likely do what she has always done. That means building partnerships. At AUB, she served as Executive Director for Strategic Partnerships. At Canadian University Dubai, she served as Vice President for University Advancement. She understands that a business school’s relevance no longer depends solely on journal citations. For instance, Stanford ranked her among the top 2% of global scientists in sustainability in 2020 and 2021. Similarly, QS ranked her third among business and management scholars in the UAE for four consecutive years (2021–2024). However, Jamali knows that real impact also requires placing graduates in meaningful roles. It also means convening the private sector around real problems.
The school she now leads, the Adnan Kassar School of Business (AKSOB), is already a powerhouse. For example, enrollment reached 3,218 students as of fall 2025. In addition, the school holds AACSB accreditation. This is a distinction held by only the top 1% of business schools worldwide.
Looking at global rankings, AKSOB ranked #51–75 globally in Finance in the 2024 Global Ranking of Academic Subjects (GRAS). It also ranked #1 in Lebanon across Finance, Business Administration, and Economics. Meanwhile, Times Higher Education placed AKSOB at #101–125 globally for Business & Economics in 2025. Once again, the school ranked #1 in Lebanon.
Furthermore, eighty-five percent of Lebanon’s top 2% most-cited business scientists call AKSOB home. On top of that, a relaunched Advisory Board now brings together 20 industry leaders from across the region. As a result, Jamali will not just manage this legacy. Instead, she will expand it.
The Bottom Line
Dima Jamali is not a typical dean. A tenured professor. An elected politician. A UN network founder. Also, a corporate advisor. Her awards include the Shoman Prize for Young Researchers (2010), the Eisenhower Fellowship (2013), the National Council for Scientific Research Excellence Award (2016), and the Shield of Excellence for the Arab Region (2015). Yet she remains restless.
Her story matters for executive women globally. The reason? She refuses false choices. Left politics, but did not leave power. Moved countries, yet never abandoned the Levant. Publishing, teaching, and leading with a singular thesis. For Jamali, responsible leadership is not a soft skill. Instead, it is the only durable legacy.
At a glance: Dima Jamali
Current: Dean, Adnan Kassar School of Business, Lebanese American University (effective September 2025)
Recent roles: Vice President for University Advancement & Vice President for Academic Affairs, Canadian University Dubai; Dean, College of Business Administration, University of Sharjah
Distinctions: Top 2% global scientist in sustainability (Stanford, 2020–2021); Kuwait Prize (2024); Aspen Institute Faculty Pioneer Award (2015)
Publications: 10 books, over 150 international publications
Unique fact: Former elected MP in Lebanon (2018); founder of the UN Global Compact Network Lebanon
Education: PhD, University of Kent; MA, San Jose State University; BA, American University of Beirut
Editor’s Note
Dima Jamali. That is all I had. A name. Then I started reading.
Some leaders collect titles. She, however, collects transformations. What stopped me was not her titles or her awards. Instead, it was the pivot.
Most executive women protect their narrative carefully. Jamali does not. She allows the mess. She owns the detour.
That honesty felt different. Jamali writes her own. The clean, linear story that magazines love? She does not fit that. Better than that, actually. She is real.
I hope her journey unsettles you a little. It should. The best leaders always do.
Welcome to a different kind of success story.
Stay connected with Dima:
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https://www.instagram.com/dimarachidjamali
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