University of Chicago:

Dean, University of Chicago Booth School of Business (July 1, 2001 to June 30, 2010); George Shultz Professor of Economics (July 1, 2001 to June 30, 2011).

During Snyder’s time as Dean, Chicago’s positioning became clear as a high integrity institution, known for its commitment to the hierarchy of ideas and the extraordinary professional development of its students. Positive outcomes in terms of financial performance, programmatic initiatives, and rankings followed naturally.

Financial performance: In November 2009, Snyder was on the receiving end of his second record-setting gift to a business school, the $300M gift from David Booth of Dimensional Fund Advisors to name the University of Chicago Booth School. During the announcement Snyder identified David Booth as a great marketer, superb entrepreneur, as well as an extraordinary financial thinker. Snyder also quoted George Shultz and paraphrased Bob Dylan.¹

The school’s endowment grew from $197M at the start of his tenure to $475M at the end date, not including the effects of David Booth’s gift. During his deanship, the cumulative operating surplus at Chicago Booth was $100.4M. This reflected strong performance in terms of program execution, overall management, and development.

The PhD program endowment went from $2.7M in 2001, to over $15.0M as of June 2010. With the help of an array of committed donors, the school increased the MBA student scholarship budget by an average annual increase of 17.1% over nine budget cycles. It also more than doubled number of endowed professorships, and during Snyder’s deanship, Chicago Booth enjoyed the highest retention of senior faculty in five decades.

Programmatic initiatives: During his tenure, Chicago Booth opened a permanent campus in London, was ready for the expansion of its Singapore campus, and opened the $125M Harper Center in Hyde Park, Chicago. The Becker Center and the Initiative on Global Markets were established during his deanship. The school launched the CRSP indices project, which should generate substantial guaranteed license revenues, and also launched the Nielsen Marketing database projects.

Rankings: Chicago Booth moved from 10th in the Businessweek rankings to 1st, and has held the number 1 ranking since 2006. The school ranked in the top 10 in 74 of 78 rankings during his deanship. The Economist also ranked it number 1 twice during his tenure. These rankings were significant for the school; while it had been well-ranked prior to his tenure, it never had received a number 1 ranking.