Saif Benjaafar

Our Team

The Tauber Institute for Global Operations leadership includes faculty Co-Directors representing the Ross School of Business and the College of Engineering and a Managing Director.

Institute directors work closely with members of the Industry Advisory Board to develop program goals and activities that provide the cutting-edge skills and tools graduates need as they pursue leadership roles in Operations. Award-winning University of Michigan business and engineering faculty lead the core and elective courses offered by the Tauber Institute and serve as advisors for Tauber team projects. A dedicated staff oversees institute operations and coordinates programs and services for the Tauber community.

Faculty Co-Director Saif Benjaafar is the Seth Bonder Collegiate Professor and Professor of Industrial and Operations Engineering. Prior to joining the University of Michigan, he was McKnight Presidential Endowed Professor and Distinguished McKnight University Professor at the University of Minnesota where he also served as Head of the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering and as Director of the University of Minnesota Initiative on the Sharing Economy. He is a founding member of the Singapore University of Technology and Design where he served as a Head of Pillar (at the rank of Dean). He has broad research interests in operation management (supply chains, service systems, and markets) and other applications of optimization, stochastic modeling, and game theory. His current research focus is on sustainable operations and innovative business models, including sharing economy, on-demand services, and online marketplaces. He is a board member of Hourcar, a social car sharing organization. He is a Fellow of INFORMS and IISE and is the current Editor in Chief of the INFORMS journal Service Science.