Dr. Rao was the Dean Emeritus of Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad. He was Provost at the Woxsen School of Business, Hyderabad.

He has a PhD in Industrial Administration from Carnegie Mellon University, USA and holds a Bachelors degree and Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering & Management from College of Engineering, Guindy.

He also taught at the Stern School of Business, New York University, Graduate School of Management, University of Rochester, Professor and as a visiting faculty at the University of Tennessee. He has held various positions at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B) including the position of Director from March 1997 to May 2002. Before joining ISB as DEAN he was Professor Emeritus, Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore. Prof Rao has published over 85 articles in various professional journals.

Dr. M. R. Rao has held various top positions such as:

• Member of the Board of Directors Mazagon Docks Limited.
• Member of the Board of Directors Moschip Semiconductor Technology Limited.
• Chairman and member of the Board of Directors of Andhra Pradesh Industrial Development Corporation Venture Capital (APIDCVC).
• Chairman of the All India Board of Management Studies constituted by the All India Council for Technical Education.
• Advisory Board of General Motors India Science Laboratory.
• President of the Operational Research Society of India from January 2003 to January 2005.
• Member of the Advisory Board of Citigroup and member of the Board of Editors, OPSEARCH – a journal of the Operational Research Society of India.
• Member of the Graduate Management Admission Council (GMAC) Board, the first Indian business school Dean to occupy this position.
• Vice President of the All India Management Schools (AIMS) for the year 2007-2008.
• Member in the Executive Group of the Editorial Board at the Information Systems Frontiers – a Journal of Research and Innovation.