CLU names School of Management dean

Gerhard Apfelthaler to replace Charles Maxey June 1

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Gerhard Apfelthaler joined the CLU faculty in 2009.

Photo: Brian Stethem

(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. – Feb. 28, 2013) Gerhard Apfelthaler has been named the new dean of California Lutheran University’s School of Management.

Apfelthaler will replace Charles Maxey on June 1. Maxey will return to full-time teaching and research after serving as dean since 1991.

“Gerhard brings to this position a strong international network, a steady record of publishing and an entrepreneurial spirit,” said CLU Provost Leanne Neilson.

Apfelthaler, who joined the CLU faculty in 2009, is associate dean for School of Management graduate programs and a professor of international business and management. He designed CLU’s MBA program in Austria and has been a key player in international recruitment. He also helped develop new MBA emphasis tracks in sustainable business and arts management.

Prior to joining the faculty, Apfelthaler served as an international consultant for CLU from 2001 to 2008 while he was the chair of the Department of International Management and area coordinator for business programs at the FH Joanneum University of Applied Sciences in Graz, Austria.

The Thousand Oaks resident previously served as dean of international business studies at Kufstein University of Applied Sciences in Austria and as a visiting fellow at Singapore Management University, the Rochester Institute of Technology and Victoria University in Australia. Apfelthaler, who earned a master’s degree and doctorate at the Vienna University of Economics and Business Administration, has extensive experience in export promotion from his time in Austria’s foreign commercial service in Singapore, Thailand and the United States and has successfully started companies in Austria and the United States.

Apfelthaler has published several books and is currently working on “The Deadly Sins of International Business.” He is a co-founder and the associate editor of the European Journal of International Management, an executive adviser at CURE Pharmaceutical, and a senior partner at AT Consult.

Maxey shepherded the School of Management through tremendous growth, particularly in the last decade as it established new economic research centers and expanded international programs and degree offerings. New master’s degrees include an international MBA program that has students from China, Taiwan, India, Saudi Arabia and many European countries, and an online MBA in financial planning that has been honored by the United States Distance Learning Association and Financial Planning magazine. Enrollment in the School of Management, which offers classes in Woodland Hills and Oxnard as well as on the main campus in Thousand Oaks, has increased more than 20 percent in the last three years.

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