Rajnandini Pillai Biography

Rajnandini (Raj) Pillai, Ph.D.

Dr. Pillai is a Professor of Management at CSUSM.

She received her doctorate in 1994 from the State University of New York at Buffalo in Organizational Behavior. Her areas of teaching and research interest are leadership and cross-cultural management and she teaches in our undergraduate and graduate programs.

Dr. Pillai earned her MBA from the University of Bombay, India and has held management positions in the banking industry in India.

She has published several research articles on charismatic and transformational leadership and cross-cultural management in the leading journals in the field. She was also chief editor of a volume entitled, Teaching Leadership: Innovative Approaches for the 21st Century, in the Leadership Horizon series.

She has consulted with several service organizations in the U.S. on leadership effectiveness and has received awards for excellence in teaching and research including the College of Business Outstanding Professor Award, the Western Academy of Management Ascendant Scholar Award, the President’s Award for Scholarship and Creative Activity, and the Harry E. Brakebill Distinguished Professor Award. She has offered leadership workshops for organizations such as the Carlsbad Chamber of Commerce.

Dr. Pillai is also Executive Director and a founding member of the Center for Leadership Innovation and Mentorship Building (CLIMB) at CSUSM which hosts the “In the Executive’s Chair” class.