Professor Shailesh Gandhi is currently a Professor of Practice at MDI Gurgaon, teaching in the PGDM and PGDM–Business Analytics programmes. He has an extensive career spanning academia, academic administration, and industry, with over two decades of experience in higher education and significant leadership exposure in the corporate sector.

He served on the faculty of the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad (IIMA) in the Finance & Accounting Area from April 2004 until his retirement in September 2021. Prior to joining IIMA, he taught at IRMA (2001–2004) and NICMAR, Mumbai (1984–1986). Before entering academia, he spent 15 years in industry, including eight years in consulting and seven years as General Manager in finance and accounting roles.

He holds a Fellow (PhD) from IIMA and a Bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering, where he graduated as a University Topper and Gold Medalist. At IIMA, he taught across flagship programmes including the PGP (MBA), PGPX (One-Year MBA), and the PhD programme, offering courses in Financial Reporting and Analysis, Strategic Cost Management, Management Control Systems, Corporate Finance, and Financial Statement Analysis.

In addition to teaching and research, he held several senior academic leadership roles at IIMA. He served as Dean (Programmes) from 2016 to 2020, leading key institutional initiatives such as EQUIS accreditation, SAP S/4HANA ERP implementation, oversight of national and international rankings, mentorship of IIM Nagpur, and the establishment of IIMA’s Dubai Branch, where he also served as Director. He earlier served as Chairperson of the PGP and PGPX programmes and was a member of multiple academic and administrative committees.