Robert L. Joss

A leader in global banking, a former U.S. Treasury Department official, and a Stanford Graduate School of Business MBA (’67) and PhD (’70) holder, Robert Joss became the eighth dean of the business school in 1999. He served as dean for ten years: overseeing the introduction of a new MBA curriculum, the institution of new collaborations between the school and Stanford University, and the construction of a new business school campus, which opened in 2011. From 2018 to 2025, he was co-director of the Stanford Leadership Academy, a program for the development of the university’s faculty and staff leaders. He continues to teach leadership and management in the school’s MBA program.

Prior to joining the business school as dean, Joss was chief executive officer of Westpac Banking Corporation, one of Australia’s largest banks, a post he held for six years. At Westpac, he was credited with refocusing the bank strategically, modernizing operations, and building a culture of teamwork, customer focus, open communication, and community support.

Before going to Australia, Joss held a variety of posts between 1971 and 1993 at San Francisco-based Wells Fargo Bank, serving from 1986 onward as vice chairman. Prior to Wells Fargo, Joss worked three years at the U.S. Treasury, first as a White House Fellow and then as deputy to the assistant secretary for economic policy.

He is currently a director of CM Capital and a Board Trustee at the National Center on Education and the Economy. He is also a member of the Ambassadors’ Council of the American Australian Association and is active in Australian American affairs. Formerly, Joss was a director of Citigroup, Wells Fargo & Co., Westpac Banking Corp., Shanghai Commercial Bank Ltd., Social Finance, Inc., Agilent Technologies, Inc., Makena Capital Management, Bechtel Group, and SRI International. In 2013, he was named by the Australian Financial Review as one of the fifty figures who most shaped the nation’s business landscape over the preceding half century. In 2016, he received the Companion of the Order of Australia, the highest national citizen honor, in recognition of his service to Australia’s business, financial, and academic sectors.