Marci Armstrong, associate dean of graduate programs, Cox School of Business, Southern Methodist University, has been selected as 2008–09 Chair of the Board of Directors for the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC).
McLean, Virginia (August 23, 2008)—Marci Armstrong, associate dean of graduate programs, Cox School of Business, Southern Methodist University, has been selected as 2008–09 Chair of the Board of Directors for the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC).
Armstrong, whose term of office runs through July 1, 2009, will lead a 15-member board that includes representatives from academe and industry in the U.S. and abroad. The Board sets strategic goals and guides the non-profit education organization, composed of 160 leading graduate business schools worldwide and dedicated to creating access to and advancing graduate management education. GMAC also owns the GMAT exam, used as part of the admissions process by more than 4,000 business school programs.
“I am especially excited about the opportunity to work with the Board in positioning GMAC as a thought leader and critical resource for the graduate management education community as we enter a new and increasingly competitive international marketplace,” says Armstrong, who has served on the Board for the past three years and was most recently its vice chair. She adds that special areas of focus for the coming year will include building upon GMAC’s strong foundation to create “an association for tomorrow,” exploring and developing new products and expanding initiatives for increasing diversity in applicants for business programs.
Armstrong’s responsibilities at Cox include strategic leadership for eight graduate programs, including MBA and joint MBA programs and specialized master’s degree programs in business. She also teaches MBA and Professional MBA students and is a six-time teaching award honoree. Armstrong has consulted for top private and public companies, such as Accenture, American Airlines, the FBI, Lockheed Martin, Texas Instruments and Verizon. She received her Ph.D. in management science from the University of Texas at Dallas.
“Marci is the right leader for our Board at this juncture,” comments David A. Wilson, president and CEO of GMAC. “Her deep understanding of the changing nature of graduate management education and the corporate sector, as well as the needs and expectations of a new generation of students, will serve the industry and our organization well.”
The Graduate Management Admission Council was founded by nine business schools in 1953. and introduced the GMAT exam in 1954—the first and only standardized test specifically designed for graduate business and management programs. The organization‘s headquarters are in McLean, Virginia; a second office is located in London, U.K. For more information about GMAC, visit www.gmac.com; for information about the GMAT, visit www.mba.com.