GMAC appoints Nalisha Patel as new Regional Director for Europe

The Graduate Management Admission Council™ (@GMACUpdates) has appointed Nalisha Patel as their new Regional Director for Europe. Joining from her most recent role of managing the full portfolio as Executive Director of Degree Programmes & Student Experience at London Business School, Patel will head up GMAC’s overall European strategy for research, market intelligence and engagement with the sector from schools, prospective students and alumni to media, commerce and advocacy bodies.

On Patel’s appointment, Sangeet Chowfla, President and CEO of GMAC, said,

“GMAC’s mission as an organization is to help create stronger connections between graduate business education candidates and programmes so they can discover and evaluate one another – through research insights, experiential recruitment solutions, professional development, leading assessments and evaluation tools, and the world’s largest graduate management education portal. We are pleased that someone with Nalisha’s strong background has joined GMAC, and we look forward to working closely with the European business schools as we work to create increasingly more opportunities to help people find their path to a graduate business degree.”

Patel brings more than a decade of experience in the graduate management education sector, including senior roles at London Business School – such as Programme Director for the Global Masters in Management and Masters in Analytics & Management – and serving as a Governing Body Member for LBS.

A key goal for Patel as she joins GMAC is to widen participation for under-represented groups within European graduate management education (GME). The state of diversity in the global GME market was recently highlighted by GMAC’s The Global Diversity of Talent – Attainment and Representation report, the first reference guide of its kind to better understand representation for GME degree attainment worldwide.

A key finding within Europe was the lack of women attaining graduate business degrees, just 38.4% are awarded to women, notably lower than the global average of 44.8%. Closing this gender gap and widening participation for women in GME is something Patel sees as key to tackle in her new role.

Nalisha Patel says,

“This is a pivotal time in GME as we come out of the pandemic. People are assessing what is most important to them, and institutions respond and decide on how to translate their learnings from this time into their decisions. I’m thrilled to take on this role and play my part to fulfil our purpose of ensuring talent never goes undiscovered.”

Patel’s other key focus areas are working with schools to understand, support and shape the future of GME, championing master’s programmes that are a key part of the fabric of European GME. Together with the London based team, she sees offering an extended range of services and support to both candidates and schools a key to evolving with the market.  

The Graduate Management Admission Council™ (GMAC™) is a mission-driven association of leading graduate business schools worldwide. Founded in 1953, GMAC creates solutions and experiences that enable business schools and candidates to better discover, evaluate, and connect with each other. 

GMAC provides world-class research, industry conferences, recruiting tools, and assessments for the graduate management education industry, as well as tools, resources, events, and services that help guide candidates through their higher education journey. Owned and administered by GMAC, the Graduate Management Admission Test™ (GMAT™) exam is the most widely used graduate business school assessment.

More than 12 million prospective students a year trust GMAC’s websites, including mba.com, to learn about MBA and business master’s programs, connect with schools around the world, prepare and register for exams and get advice on successfully applying to MBA and business master’s programs. BusinessBecause and The MBA Tour are subsidiaries of GMAC, a global organization with offices in China, India, the United Kingdom, and the United States.