Thomas Robertson, dean of the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, has announced four senior positions including J.J. Cutler, Director of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid; Ira Rubien, Executive Director of Communications; Leonard Lodish, Vice Dean of the Program for Social Impact; and Douglas H. Collom, Executive Director of Wharton West.

“We are very fortunate to add so much talent at one time to our senior leadership team,” said Dean Robertson. “All of these posts play an important role in the life of the Wharton School and these individuals share an ability to achieve at the highest levels and bring out the best in those around them.”

J.J. Cutler is the new Director of MBA Admissions and Financial Aid.

Since 2007, J.J. has been President of Lindi Skin, a start-up offering skin care products specifically designed for people with cancer. In this role, he developed a strategic vision and successfully positioned the Lindi Skin brand, securing national media coverage and expanding the community of healthcare professionals sensitive to the skincare needs of cancer patients. He has served as Senior Vice President of Marketing for ARAMARK Healthcare’s North American group and spent seven years in a variety of roles at Johnson & Johnson. He managed over-the-counter brands; oversaw new market development for a variety of chronic immune-mediated inflammatory diseases; and helped create Canyon Seven, a wellness business developed in partnership with Canyon Ranch Health Resorts. While at Johnson & Johnson, he won the prestigious “Standards of Leadership” award for his work in building an MBA recruiting strategy for Wharton.

J.J. has deep roots in the community. He earned his B.A. in Communications from the College (School of Arts and Sciences) and his MBA in Operations Management and Strategic Management. While at Wharton, he served as a student advisor to the Academic Affairs office and a teaching assistant for the undergraduate Marketing 101 course.

Ira Rubien joins Wharton as Executive Director of Communications. Most recently, he was Director of Marketing and Brand Management for the Nursery & Care division of GRACO (Newell Rubbermaid) Children’s Products, where he developed and oversaw the implementation of a new vision for the 50-year-old global brand. Also at GRACO, he served as Director of Marketing for Car Seats, the company’s most visible category. Prior to that, he was Senior Brand Manager at Mattel, where he conceived and launched Matchbox’s 50th anniversary marketing program, which led to a dramatic 600% profit growth and earned him Mattel’s Outstanding Marketing Campaign award. He has been an Internet Brand Director for Addis, a brand strategy and design agency in Berkeley, California, and an Internet Marketing Manager for Headland Digital Media in San Francisco.

Ira has an MBA from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, and a B.S. in Information Systems and Industrial Management from Carnegie Mellon University.

Leonard Lodish will step down after more than seven years as Vice Dean of Wharton West, to take on yet another role as Vice Dean of the Program for Social Impact. In this role, he will work closely with faculty and students to expand Wharton’s initiatives pertaining to social responsibility and social progress.

Len is the Samuel R. Harrell Professor of Marketing as well as the leader and co-founder of the Global Consulting Practicum, which partners MBA students with foreign and domestic clients seeking to expand their international marketing efforts. He has been on the Wharton faculty since 1968 and was chair of the Marketing Department from 1984-1988 and 1991-1992. As Vice Dean of Wharton West since 2001, Len’s outstanding work has afforded us the opportunity to develop an even stronger presence on the west coast, requiring the new leadership to be based in San Francisco.

Len’s primary research and consulting areas are in entrepreneurial marketing, strategic and tactical marketing resource planning, marketing decision support systems, and applications in firm/marketing strategy, sales force, advertising, and promotion planning.

He received his Ph.D. in Marketing and Operations Research from MIT and his A.B. in Mathematics from Kenyon College.

Douglas H. Collom will be assuming the new leadership role for Wharton West, as Executive Director of Wharton West. The Executive Director position was created for the purpose of enhancing Wharton’s brand on the west coast, as well as providing a higher degree of coordination among Wharton departments in planning activities and programs for the benefit of students and alumni. Doug will have direct oversight for the MBA for Executives West Program, west coast operations for external affairs, corporate relationships on the west coast, and west coast operations of Wharton Entrepreneurial Programs. He will work with the current staff at Wharton West, as well as the senior administrative staff in Philadelphia.

Doug has served as an adjunct professor at Wharton since 2002. He and Professor Raffi Amit have co-taught a course on venture capital and start-up companies, initially at Wharton West and, since 2006, in Philadelphia as well. In addition, Doug has been a corporate partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati, a preeminent technology law firm based in Palo Alto, California for over 20 years, where he has concentrated in counseling technology companies at all stages of growth. He received his J.D. from the UCLA School of Law and his B.A. in U.S. History from Stanford.

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania — founded in 1881 as the first collegiate business school — is recognized globally for intellectual leadership and ongoing innovation across every major discipline of business education. The most comprehensive source of business knowledge in the world, Wharton bridges research and practice through its broad engagement with the global business community. The school has more than 4,700 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students; more than 10,000 annual participants in executive education programs; and an alumni network of more than 84,000 graduates.

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