New leader appointed to Massey Business School

Monday 8 October 2018

Professor Stephen Kelly, a specialist in strategy and enterprise, has been appointed to head Massey University's College of Business.

New leader appointed to Massey Business School - image1

Professor Kelly has been appointed to lead Massey Business School.

Last updated: Tuesday 29 November 2022

Professor Stephen Kelly, a specialist in strategy and enterprise, has been appointed to head Massey University’s College of Business.

Professor Kelly joined Massey in January 2016 as head of the School of Management but has been acting Pro Vice-Chancellor of the college – also known as the Massey Business School – since July when Professor Ted Zorn stepped into a more research-focussed role.

Vice-Chancellor Professor Jan Thomas announced the appointment today, saying Professor Kelly had done an excellent job in an acting capacity and his rapport with the school’s staff and students, and leadership style, made him a clear choice.

“Professor Kelly is a well-renowned researcher and academic, whose extensive leadership experiences means he is ably equipped to build on the work of his predecessors, who have ensured the school is ranked among the top 2 per cent of business schools worldwide,” Professor Thomas says.

Professor Kelly commenced his academic career in 1998, following a decade spent working in the building materials and construction sector. He has a Bachelor of Administration from Griffith University (1987), a Master of Business (1997) and a Doctor of Philosophy (2004) from Southern Cross University. His PhD thesis focused on the identification and analysis of relationship benefits in business-to-business channels.

Before joining Massey, he held management and leadership positions at educational institutions in Singapore and Australia, including academic director and managing director of the M2 Academy in Singapore from 2013 to 2015 and head of school, and subsequently dean, of the Southern Cross Business School in Sydney from 2006-13.

He has published more than 70 articles and received in excess of $1 million in grant, project and research funding during his academic career. Last year he was awarded a grant worth more than $70,000 from Microsoft to examine the impact of cloud computing and other potentially disruptive technologies on the agrifood sector.

Professor Kelly says he is pleased to be appointed the role and lead a college with a rich history and strong community and business connections.

His appointment is effective immediately.

About Massey Business School

Massey Business School is one of five academic colleges at Massey University, providing programmes across the University’s three campuses, Auckland, Manawatū and Wellington, and distance learning. It is comprised of five schools – Accountancy; Aviation; Communication, Journalism and Marketing; Economics and Finance; and Management. It is also home to the Institute of Executive Education and Enterprise, which offers the longest continuous running Master of Business Administration (MBA) programme in New Zealand.

There are currently around 12,000 students studying at the college, including 2100 at postgraduate level, and approximately 300 full-time equivalent staff.