McGill University

Yolande E. Chan

Dr. Yolande E. Chan
Dr. Yolande E. Chan

Yolande E. Chan, Dean of the Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University

Dr. Yolande E. Chan joined McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management as Dean and James McGill Professor in August 2021.


Prior to joining Desautels, Dean Chan served as Associate Dean of Research, PhD and MSc Programs, and the E. Marie Shantz Chair of Digital Technology at Smith School of Business at Queen’s University. A gifted educator, Dean Chan received the Commerce Teaching Excellence Award and the Commerce Professor Student Life Award given to the professor who has contributed most to the student life of the graduating class. Dean Chan has also received the Queen’s University Distinguished Service Award, the Queen’s University Award for Excellence in Graduate Supervision, and a Smith School Researcher Achievement Award. She has previously served as Queen's University’s Associate Vice-Principal (Research). Before joining academia, she worked with Andersen Consulting (now Accenture).

Dean Chan holds a PhD in Business Administration from Ivey Business School at Western University, an MPhil in Management Studies from Oxford University (as a Rhodes Scholar), and SM and SB degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Her research focuses on innovation, knowledge strategy, digital strategy, digital capabilities, and business-IT alignment. Her work has been published in numerous academic journals, including MIS Quarterly, Information Systems Research, Journal of Management Information Systems, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Journal of the Association for Information Systems, Information Systems Journal, and Journal of Information Technology. She is co-Editor-in Chief of Journal of Strategic Information Systems.


Dean Chan is a Fellow and Distinguished Cum Laude member of the international Association for Information Systems. She is entered in the Canadian Who's Who, the Who's Who of Canadian Women, and the Who's Who in Canadian Business Directories.