Shyam Kamath is the Founding Dean Emeritus of the College of Business at CSU, Monterey Bay. He has held academic and administrative positions at universities in the U.S., Canada, Asia and Europe. Previously, he co-founded three start-ups, pioneered a number of successful academic start-ups, worked for a national economic planning agency and for leading international firms in the energy equipment and consumer goods industries. He has been a consultant to four governments and over 100 companies and non-profits worldwide. He serves or has served on the boards/advisory councils of a number of local, regional, and national non-profit organizations. He currently serves on the advisory board of the for-profit company, LeaderJam (Boston, MA) and has served as the CEO of a Monterey-based non-profit organization. His previous corporate board experience includes serving on the board of a number of technology companies.

Shyam has published over 80 articles in leading peer-reviewed scholarly and trade journals and is the author or co-author of three books. His consulting and research has included work on regional economic development and the success and failure factors of technology parks and innovation districts. He holds an undergraduate degree in economics from the University of Delhi, an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, and an MA and PhD in international economics and development from Simon Fraser University.

Shyam is passionate about building strong local communities, creating innovative economic opportunities, pioneering responsible business practices and catalyzing educational excellence. He loves traveling and exploring the ancient and new world with his life partner and wife, Kiran. His interests include reading and writing, jazz and blues, theater and film.