Elad Granot Appointed Dean of Undergraduate Sy Syms School of Business
Yeshiva University announced on March 26 that Elad Granot will be the next dean of the Undergraduate Sy Syms School of Business. Granot is a three-time business school dean at Rider University, Ashland University and John Carroll University, with experience in academia, corporate leadership and venture capital. He will assume the role in July.
Granot’s appointment fills a vacancy left by Dean Noam Wasserman, who led Sy Syms for six years before departing last year to become head of school at the Ramaz School.
Granot told The Commentator that his decision to join YU is more than just a career move.
“What made this the right fit is that it represents something much deeper than a typical leadership role for me,” he said. “It is really the convergence of my professional work, my identity and my sense of purpose.”
That decision traces back to Oct. 7, he said. Granot, who grew up in Israel and served in the Israeli Defense Forces, said the attacks clarified something he had long felt but not fully articulated.
“I felt a responsibility to make my next chapter one where my professional work and my commitment to the Jewish people were fully aligned,” he said.
What drew him specifically to Sy Syms was its refusal to treat academic excellence and Jewish values as separate pursuits.
“The idea that you can pursue the highest level of business education while being grounded in Torah values and a strong ethical framework is very powerful,” he said. “That integration is something I have tried to live throughout my career, and it is what made this feel like the right place.”
“Dr. Granot brings the vision, experience and values to advance that mission,” President Ari Berman said in a statement to YUNews where Provost Selma Botman similarly called the new dean an “ideal leader to take our school to new heights.”
Granot’s academic training took place both in the United States and Israel. He earned a B.A. in English from Tel Aviv University before completing an M.S. in management and marketing at Boston University and a Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Before entering academia, Granot held senior roles in the private sector, serving as CMO at KPMG Israel, an accounting firm, and CEO of Prismus Design Group, a media production company, before transitioning into education. He has remained active in the business world as an advisor to several companies and programs, including iAngels, an Israeli angel investment platform, and Interstate Fusion Ventures, a venture capital firm.
Granot said these experiences in the business world are inseparable from his perspective on education.
“You are constantly making decisions in conditions of uncertainty,” he told The Commentator. “There is rarely a clear right answer. You have to weigh trade-offs, take responsibility and live with the consequences of your decisions.”
The implication for the classroom, in his view, is straightforward.
“Students need to develop judgment, and judgment is always connected to values,” he said. Ideally, a strong business education should bring together “rigorous academic thinking with real-world application” and ground both “in a clear sense of responsibility."
Growing up between two countries has reinforced that conviction.
“Being Israeli is a core part of who I am,” he said. “Serving as an officer in the IDF taught me early on that leadership is not about title. It is about responsibility — for people, for decisions and for outcomes.” His years in the United States too exposed him to different approaches to innovation and intellectual openness, qualities he said he tries to bring into every program he builds.
Granot told YUNews that he hopes to produce “values-driven leaders who combine professional excellence with ethical clarity and a deep sense of purpose to positively impact their communities and the world.”
In practice, this means “being very intentional about how students develop, not just what they learn,” he told The Commentator. Curriculum matters, he said; real cases, internships and projects necessarily force students to make decisions rather than just analyze them. “Students are encouraged to ask difficult questions, to challenge each other, and to refine their thinking over time,” he said. “Growth often comes through that process.”
The goal, he said, is for students to leave with more than professional skills.
“Leadership is not just about success or achievement. It is about responsibility. Responsibility for how you lead, how you treat others and how your decisions affect the broader community.”
For all his experience, Granot told The Commentator that his first priority upon arriving on campus is to listen.
“There is already a meaningful foundation here, academically and in terms of values, and I want to take the time to listen, to learn and to understand the community before setting direction,” he said.
“I’m really looking forward to learning from Dr. Granot’s experiences as a CEO, investor and academic leader.” Noah Cooper (SSSB ‘27) told The Commentator. “ It’s exciting to have someone who brings both real-world perspective and strong academic balance to Syms.”
Photo Caption: Elad Granot
Photo Credit: Elad Granot
