Robert F. Bruner is University Professor at the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. Founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson, the university is ranked among the top academic institutions in the United S ...

, Distinguished Professor of Business Administration, and Dean Emeritus of the

Darden School of Business The Darden School of Business is the graduate business school of the University of Virginia, a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia. The Darden School offers MBA, PhD, and Executive Education programs. The school was founded ...

. He was the eighth dean of Darden and has been a faculty member there since 1982. He teaches and conducts research in

finance Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fina ...

and

management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

at the University of Virginia and has won numerous teaching awards. Bruner has led innovation in management education at Darden and globally. In 2011, Bruner led a global task force of Deans for the

Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, also known as AACSB International, is an American professional organization. It was founded as the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business in 1916 to provide accreditation to ...

. The task force produced a comprehensive review of global management education. The resulting book-length report, ''The Globalization of Management Education'', urged educational leaders to rise to the challenges of

globalization Globalization, or globalisation (Commonwealth English; see spelling differences), is the process of interaction and integration among people, companies, and governments worldwide. The term ''globalization'' first appeared in the early 20t ...

. Bruner has guided two curriculum design efforts at Darden in which he emphasized Darden's approach: instruction integrated across fields, an enterprise point of view of the leader and general manager, and high-engagement discussion. He has taught students in the MBA and MBA for Executives formats, and doctoral students. He has instructed practitioners in executive education courses around the world and is co-author of Case Studies in Finance, now in its sixth edition. Bruner has advanced Darden and the field of management education in areas including

entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values th ...

innovation Innovation is the practical implementation of ideas that result in the introduction of new goods or services or improvement in offering goods or services. ISO TC 279 in the standard ISO 56000:2020 defines innovation as "a new or changed entity ...

, globalization and diversity. Prior to his appointment as dean in August 2005, Bruner served as the founding executive director of Darden's Batten Institute, which focuses on entrepreneurship and innovation. There, he expanded Darden's Business Incubator, established a Fellows Program, promoted research, and encouraged the creation of new courses, including his “Patents and Corporate Valuation” course. As a financial economist, Bruner is best known for his research on

mergers and acquisitions Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

corporate finance Corporate finance is the area of finance that deals with the sources of funding, the capital structure of corporations, the actions that managers take to increase the Value investing, value of the firm to the shareholders, and the tools and anal ...

and

financial panic A financial crisis is any of a broad variety of situations in which some financial assets suddenly lose a large part of their nominal value. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, many financial crises were associated with banking panics, and man ...

s. His books include ''Deals from Hell'', ''Applied Mergers and Acquisitions'' and ''The Panic of 1907: Lessons Learned from the Market’s Perfect Storm''. The last title, co-authored with Sean D.Carr, was published in 2007 and attracted attention for its discussion of the underpinnings of financial crises. Born in Chicago, Bruner received a B.A. from

Yale University Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...

in 1971 and the MBA and DBA degrees from

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

in 1974 and 1982, respectively. Bruner served as a loan officer and investment analyst for First Chicago Corporation from 1974 to 1977. He served as a visiting professor at INSEAD, IESE and

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manhatt ...

business schools. Bruner and his wife, Bobbie, have two sons. In 2011, CNNMoney/Fortune named him “Dean of the Year.” Bruner is also a prolific writer of case studies in Management, and has featured among the top 40 case authors consistently, since the list was first published in 2016 by The Case Centre. Bruner ranked 13th In 2018/19, ninth in 2017/18, seventh in 2016/17 and 2015/16.

References

External links

Robert Bruner's Faculty Page at Darden School of BusinessRobert Bruner's Blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bruner, Robert Harvard Business School alumni Yale University alumni University of Virginia faculty Living people Business school deans Year of birth missing (living people) Bestselling case authors American university and college faculty deans