The 2025 Chartered ABS Fellows announced

We are delighted to announce three new Fellows of the Chartered Association of Business Schools. Merrill Jones, Professor Pawan Budhwar, and Professor Debashis Chatterjee have all received the award in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the Chartered ABS’s mission.  

The Fellows were recognised at the Chartered ABS Annual Conference on 10 November 2025.  

Merrill Jones, former Head of Faculty Operations, University of Sussex  

Merrill has made a sustained contribution to the Chartered ABS over the years, including having served on the Professional Managers’ committee for six years as a highly active and supportive member of the community. She was a played a key role in instigating the Professional Services Leadership Programme, for which she was later involved in developing the curriculum for, and then co-facilitating the inaugural cohort. Merrill has spoken at several Chartered ABS conferences over the years, including the Annual Conference and the Professional Managers’ Annual Conference. She also co-authored the Chartered ABS report ‘Exploring Professional Services Models in UK Business Schools’, a valuable resource for our members.  

Professor Pawan Budhwar, Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor International, Aston University  

Professor Budhwar has made numerous significant contributions to the Chartered ABS, most recently acting as the Co-Chair of the inaugural India-UK Business School Dialogue. This role involved many months of work, providing critical support to create the foundations and facilitate relationship opportunities to support the creation of the Dialogue. In addition to the Dialogue, he has spoken at a range of our conferences, and is a contributor to and ambassador for the Development Programme for Directors of International. He has also been a long-standing member of the AJG Scientific Committee, having worked on four editions of the guide since 2015.  

Professor Debashis Chatterjee, Director, IIM Kozhikode 

Professor Chatterjee has provided pivotal leadership from the conception of the India-UK Business School Dialogue through to its delivery. Along with Professor Budhwar, he was Co-Chair of the Dialogue, and Chair of the Indian Advisory Group formed of key stakeholders including Indian business schools, AIMA, AMDISA, AACSB, AMBA-BGA and EFMD Global. His connections in Indian business schools were invaluable, and he helped us to secure an impressive line up of speakers and delegates which contributed to the great success of the Dialogue – our first ever international conference.