Professor Laing is currently Dean of Loughborough University’s School of Business and Economics and Chair of the Association of Business Schools. He will officially join Lancaster on 1 October 2015.

He joins LUMS at a time when the School has been recognised as the most research intensive business school in the UK in the recent Research Excellence Framework. The School has also achieved triple accreditation from AACBS, EQUIS and the Association of MBAs, securing its place in the top 1% of business schools worldwide.

Professor Laing has previously held posts at University of Glasgow Business School, where he was Head of School, and has also held the Beneficial Bank Chair of Marketing at the Open University Business School, where he was Director of Research.

As Dean at Loughborough Business School for the past five years he has been responsible for the merging of Business, Economics and Information Sciences into a single School and developing the research base and teaching performance of the School. This has seen the School consistently ranked among the top 10 UK business schools in national league tables. The School has also secured triple accreditation.

Lancaster University’s Vice-Chancellor Professor Mark E Smith welcomed the appointment saying: “We are delighted that Professor Laing will be joining Lancaster as the new Dean of Lancaster University Management School. He joins after 14 years of tremendous leadership from Professor Sue Cox and we look forward to his leading LUMS to even more significant successes and joining the Senior Management Team at Lancaster.”

Professor Laing said: “I am very excited to join LUMS at this juncture in its development. LUMS is firmly established as one of Britain’s top business schools, and I look forward to working with colleagues at Lancaster to position the School as a leading international business school at the forefront of management research and education which shapes business and the wider economy in Britain and beyond.”