Albert O. Nicholas Dean
Wisconsin School of Business
2002-2010
Michael M. Knetter joined the Wisconsin School of Business as its dean in July 2002. As dean, he has orchestrated the novel $85 million Wisconsin Naming Gift, the expansion of Grainger Hall, the restructuring and improved national standing of the full-time MBA, and the restructuring and expansion of the Enterprise MBA programs for working professionals.
Prior to joining the school, he was associate dean of the MBA program and professor of international economics in the Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College.
Knetter has published widely in the areas of international and macroeconomics. He served as senior staff economist for the President’s Council of Economic Advisors for former presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton, and is currently research associate for the National Bureau of Economic Research and faculty affiliate of the La Follette School of Public Affairs. He is a director of American Family Insurance and Wausau Paper, and a former director of Great Wolf Resorts. He also currently serves as a trustee of Neuberger Berman Funds and Northwestern Mutual Series Fund, and as a member of the Advisory Board of the newly formed Wisconsin Business Council. He is chairing the capital campaign for The Road Home of Dane County, a non-profit that assists in finding housing and work solutions for homeless families in Dane County.
In March 2010, Knetter was named UW-Madison’s vice chancellor for advancement, in addition to leading the business school. In October 2010, he took over as President and CEO of the University of Wisconsin Foundation. To commemorate Dean Michael Knetter’s leadership at the Wisconsin School of Business, over 200 alumni and friends joined together to make a collective gift of $5.4 million to the School of Business and make Knetter an honorary member of the Wisconsin Naming Partnership.
Knetter completed his undergraduate studies in economics and mathematics at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and his Ph.D. in economics at Stanford University.