Gert-Jan “GJ” de Vreede Appointed Dean of Stevens Institute of Technology School of Business
Stevens Institute of Technology has named Gert-Jan “GJ” de Vreede as dean of its School of Business, effective September 1, 2024. De Vreede will also serve on Stevens faculty, effective August 1. De Vreede succeeds Gregory Prastacos, who is retiring at the end of this academic year.
De Vreede, who was selected after a comprehensive nationwide search, has served as interim dean of the University of South Florida (USF) Muma College of Business since August 2022 and is a professor in the USF School of Information Systems and Management.
“GJ de Vreede is an outstanding selection to lead Stevens’ School of Business into the future. His impressive scholarship in artificial intelligence, entrepreneurship and technology aligns perfectly with Stevens’ strengths and strategic vision,” said Stevens president Nariman Farvardin. “Under his leadership, I am confident the School of Business will continue elevating its national reputation for developing the next generation of innovators and business leaders.”
Under de Vreede’s leadership, the Muma College of Business – which spans three campuses – experienced substantial growth, reaching an eight-year high in enrollment, achieving new milestones in fundraising and research support, expanding its fintech center, and naming and redeveloping its Nault Center for Entrepreneurship.
De Vreede is a widely recognized scholar in the fields of artificial intelligence, crowdsourcing and collaboration engineering. His research has been published in prestigious journals, including FT50 journals, and has been cited over 12,000 times.
A member of the USF faculty since 2015, de Vreede has served as associate dean for research and professional programs at Muma; as interim dean of the College of Business at USF Sarasota-Manatee and as associate chair of the Department of Information Systems & Decision Sciences at Muma. Since 2021, he has also served as a professor in the International Summer School at Renmin University of China in Beijing.
Before joining Muma, de Vreede held leadership and (visiting) faculty positions at the International Summer School of the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing; the Management Center Innsbruck at the University of Innsbruck, Austria; the University of Nebraska at Omaha; the University of Pretoria, South Africa; Delft University of Technology, the Netherlands; and the University of Arizona.
De Vreede holds a Ph.D. in Information Systems and a Master of Science cum laude from Delft University of Technology.
“Stevens has long been respected as a center of technological and business creativity in terms of business and technology education,” said de Vreede. “I am eager to build upon the outstanding work of Dean Gregory Prastacos, who has elevated the School of Business to new heights through program growth, increased research output and improved student outcomes. I am thrilled to join the Stevens team and look forward to playing a key role in helping not just the School of Business but the entire Stevens community further develop the university’s profile as an ‘institution of choice’ for academics, research and innovation.”
Stevens School of Business prepares students to become leaders in the digital economy by embracing new and emerging technologies. The school is home to the Center for Research toward Advancing Financial Technologies (CRAFT), the first fintech-focused Industry University Cooperative Research center funded by NSF. Highly regarded for student outcomes and cutting edge research, the school was also selected as the founding academic partner for NJFAST, a hub for financial technology and insurance technology startups and the result of a partnership with the New Jersey state government, NJEDA and Plug and Play.