Kai Peters, Ashridge Dean, is New Chair of Graduate Management Admission Council Board of Directors

MCLEAN, Virginia -

Kai Peters, dean/director, Ashridge Business School, United Kingdom, has been selected as 2009-10 chair of the board of directors for the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC).

Peters, whose term of office runs through July 1, 2010, leads a 14-member board that includes representatives from academe and industry in 19 countries. The board sets strategic goals and guides the nonprofit education organization, which has a membership of 177 leading graduate business schools worldwide. GMAC also owns the GMAT exam, used by more than 4,600 business programs and almost 2,000 universities as part of the admission process.

“These are difficult economic times for all of us, but they also offer unique opportunities for organizations such as GMAC to grow and prosper,” said Peters, who has served on the board for the past two years and was most recently its vice chair. “I am especially excited to lead the GMAC board right now as we seek new ways to help business schools and students master a changing world and changing marketplace.”

Peters added that the GMAT exam “remains a critical symbol of quality in graduate management education. As a dean, I consider requiring the GMAT an important element in our success.” He noted that special areas of focus for GMAC in the year ahead will include expanded use of the latest technological advances to better serve schools and students and to further enhance the strong security that ensures a fair and transparent process for all test takers.

Other areas of focus, Peters continued, will include exploring and developing new products, expanding initiatives to increase diversity in business school applicants, and moving forward on the “next-generation GMAT.” This program, set for completion in 2013, will utilize new advances in testing technology and science to provide better and more precise measures of skills now in the GMAT, along with measures of new skills applicable to both traditional MBA and new business programmes.

“Kai is certainly the right leader for our board during this critical period,” said David A. Wilson, CEO and president of GMAC. “His strong international perspective, as well as his deep understanding of the changing nature of graduate management education and the corporate world, the role of technology, and organizational strategy and development, will serve the industry and our organization well.”

Peters joined Ashridge in 2003. Previously, he was director of MBA programs and then dean at the Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) of Erasmus University in the Netherlands. He serves on supervisory and advisory boards for several organizations in the technology and health care sectors, and is a board member of Centrepoint, a London-based charity for homeless youth. In addition, Peters is a member and active participant in the educational associations AACSB, AMBA, EFMD and ABS. He is owner and former managing director (1989-93) of a company in the German publishing sector and has worked in organizational development for IBM and Volkswagen.

Peters writes and lectures extensively on strategy, leadership and management education. His new book on stewardship is scheduled for publication in 2010. He was selected twice for HR Magazine’s list of the top 100 human resources professionals. Peters holds degrees from York University in Toronto; the University of Quebec in Chicoutimi, Canada, and Erasmus University.

The Graduate Management Admission Council was founded by nine business schools in 1953 and introduced the GMAT exam in 1954. The GMAT is the first and only standardized test specifically designed for graduate business and management programs by business school faculty members. The organization’s headquarters are in McLean, Virginia; it also has an office in London, U.K. For more information about GMAC, visit www.gmac.com; for information about the GMAT, visit www.mba.com.

Source: Graduate Management Admission Council

Judy Phair of the Graduate Management Admission Council, +1-703-245-0660, Cell phone: +1-202-903-3227, jphair at gmac.com