Cincinnati Business Courier: Johnny Rungtusanatham to head MBA program
Rungtusanatham brings extensive experience in founding, running MBA offerings
Johnny Rungtusanatham, PhD, has been tapped by the Carl H. Lindner College of Business as the new academic director of the college’s MBA programs.
Rungtusanatham, an Ohio Eminent Scholar in Operations Management and Quantitative Analysis, will also work as a professor in Lindner’s department of operations, business analytics, and information systems. Rungtusanatham arrives from Schulich School of Business at York University (Toronto), where he was a professor of operations management and information systems, and the Canada Research Chair in Supply Chain Management.
Johnny Rungtusanatham, PhD, professor of operations, business analytics, and information systems; academic director, MBA programs; and Ohio Eminent Scholar in Operations Management and Quantitative Analysis.
Previously, Rungtusanatham co-founded Arizona State’s online MBA program and served as the academic director of the executive MBA program at Ohio State University’s Fisher College of Business. According to the Cincinnati Business Courier, Rungtusanatham sees an opportunity for Lindner’s MBA offerings to connect with a larger student pool.
“We don’t think about high school principals or heads of nursing as businesspeople, but they need to do staffing, planning and budgets,” Rungtusanatham told the Business Courier. “They all have business processes to think about, whether they’re in it to make money or make society a better place.”
UC is equipped to welcome these business professionals due to its “unique way of thinking,” notably its top-ranked co-op program that transforms undergraduate students into business leaders.
“When most people think of the MBA, they think of business students,” he said. “But think of why the degree was actually created in the first place. It was created for individuals who do not have business backgrounds but who, for some reason, are in business organizations. So perhaps we’re going back to the original vision of what the MBA is and expanding that.”
Lindner’s full-time and part-time MBA program is ranked No. 1 in the Tristate area and No. 2 among public institutions in Ohio by U.S. News & World Report. The college’s online MBA offering has been designated a “tier 1” program (CEO Magazine) and the No. 11 program in the country (Fortune).
“I look forward to having broad conversations about how to offer the curriculum in a manner that offers individuals from all kinds of backgrounds the ability to successfully acquire the knowledge — and then apply that to have an impact not only in their professional work, but also their community and their personal lives,” Rungtusanatham said.
Read more from the Cincinnati Business Courier.
Featured image at top: The exterior of Lindner Hall. Photo by Gavin Vargas.
Empowering business problem solvers
At the Carl H. Lindner College of Business, we fuel professional growth through our distinctive combination of academic and hands-on experiences: our problem-solving mindset, cooperative education, flexible pathways, inclusive community and vibrant, urban setting. Place, age or stage — students from a diversity of backgrounds become problem solvers at Lindner.
Related Stories
Lindner graduate students shine in international simulation competition
November 10, 2025
Five master’s of information systems (MS IS) students took home fifth place out of 23 universities at the International ERPsim Competition hosted by HEC Montreal during the recent spring semester. The competition tests students’ knowledge of enterprise resource planning (ERP) software and their ability to adapt to challenging business problems.
Sugar overload killing hearts
November 10, 2025
Two in five people will be told they have diabetes during their lifetime. And people who have diabetes are twice as likely to develop heart disease. One of the deadliest dangers? Diabetic cardiomyopathy. But groundbreaking University of Cincinnati research hopes to stop and even reverse the damage before it’s too late.
Is going nuclear the solution to Ohio’s energy costs?
November 10, 2025
The Ohio Capital Journal recently reported that as energy prices continue to climb, economists are weighing the benefits of going nuclear to curb costs. The publication dove into a Scioto Analysis survey of 18 economists to weigh the pros and cons of nuclear energy. One economist featured was Iryna Topolyan, PhD, professor of economics at the Carl H. Lindner College of Business.