Professor Kar Yan Tam, BS, MS, PhD, MH, JP
Dean of Business and Management

Biography 

Prof Kar Yan Tam is Dean of the Business School and Chair Professor of Information Systems, Business Statistics and Operations Management at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). He received his PhD from Purdue University and started off his academic career at the University of Texas (Austin). He joined HKUST in 1992 as a founding member of the Business School, where he served as Associate Dean from 1999-2006 and Associate Vice-President of the Provost Office from 2005-2007. He was appointed founding Dean of Undergraduate Education in 2007 and was the Associate Provost and Dean of Students from 2011-2016.

As Dean of HKUST Business School, Prof Tam leads a wide spectrum of academic programs from BBA to MBA, and EMBA to PhD. These include some of the world’s leading programs such as the top-ranked Kellogg-HKUST Executive MBA Program. In terms of research, HKUST Business School has been ranked the top in Asia from 2017 to 2021 by the reputable UT (Dallas) Top 100 Business School Research Rankings.

Prof Tam is currently a Board Member of EFMD and AACSB - the two major business education accreditation institutions in the world. He was the President of the Association of Asia Pacific Business Schools in 2018. As a researcher, Prof Tam is well known for his contributions in information systems and the diffusion of innovations in organizations. His earlier work on machine learning applications in financial distress prediction and investment portfolio construction was regarded as pioneer research in Fintech. According to Google Scholar, his publications received over 20,000 citations. Prof Tam is currently serving on the editorial board of a number of academic journals.

Prof Tam plays an active role in public services. He is currently serving on the Exchange Fund Advisory Committee of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Anti-money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Review Tribunal. He is also Chairman of the Curriculum Development Council of the Education Bureau and Chairman of the Hong Kong Committee for Pacific Economic Cooperation. He serves on the Council of two tertiary institutions - Metropolitan University of Hong Kong (MUHK) and Technological and Higher Education Institute of Hong Kong (THEi). He is a member of the Hong Kong Academy of Finance.