Former Business Executive and Entrepreneur Tapped to Lead USD School of Business

The University of San Diego has appointed Tim Keane, a former Fortune 500 executive and technology entrepreneur, to lead its School of Business.  Kean's private sector experience includes 20 years in marketing at Anheuser-Busch where he founded a business analytics department. He left the company to launch a software venture that became a Microsoft Joint Development Partner and was later sold to a Canadian firm.

Dr. Keane entered academe in 2004 at Rockhurst University in Kansas City. He was named a Ewing Marion Kauffman Entrepreneurial Scholar and launched the Helzberg School of Management's Center for Leadership and Ethics. Dr. Keane moved to Saint Louis University to lead the business school's ethics initiatives, where he led a cross-disciplinary team in launching one of the first sustainability research centers in the nation. 

Prior to joining the USD team, Dr. Keane was the founding dean of a new college of business in Denver at Regis University. He led the cultivation of the largest gift in the university's history to name the new business school.

Dr. Keane joins USD at a pivotal time as the USD School of Business sees to further its strong connections to the business community through their students, alumni, faculty and six centers of distinction. "Tim's innovation and collaboration skills connect with forward-thinking business leaders who seek to solve the most vexing issues in society while continuing to achieve financial sustainability," said USD President James T. Harris. "We are very pleased to welcome him to USD."

Thanks to the generous support of USD Board Chair and former CEO of Clorox Don Knauss and his wife, Ellie, the USD School of Business is poised to increase its influence in the coming years as it breaks ground on a new 120,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art business school complex.

"The opportunity to be part of such an accomplished team, committed to enabling business stewardship of society's future is exciting," Dr. Keane said. "When I look at the plans for the new business complex, I see an innovation ecosystem from which our students can grow the perfect combination of business skills, design thinking and emotional intelligence that will enable them to become great leaders in the future."

The USD School of Business is currently ranked No. 2 in California and No. 42 in the nation by Poets & Quants, No. 58 in the nation by Bloomberg Businessweek and No. 10 among Green MBA programs by the Princeton Review.

About the University of San Diego

Strengthened by the Catholic intellectual tradition, we confront humanity’s challenges by fostering peace, working for justice and leading with love. With more than 8,000 students from 75 countries and 44 states, USD is the youngest independent institution on the U.S. News & World Report list of top 100 universities in the United States. USD’s eight academic divisions include the College of Arts and Sciences, the Knauss School of Business, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, the School of Law, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences, the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, and the Division of Professional and Continuing Education. In 2021, USD was named a “Laudato Si’ University” by the Vatican with a seven-year commitment to address humanity’s urgent challenges by working together to take care of our common home.