Growing up in the Northeast Indian state of Assam with enough rainfall to put Chicago under water, Kellogg Graduate School of Management Dean Dipak Jain was surrounded by gently sloping fields of world-famous Assam tea, which his father cultivated on a tea plantation.

While the world knows about his town’s famous tea, not many of the 30,000 people in his town knew about life outside of India.

“People would hear there is something called America and Europe,” Jain said. “But not many people know about it.”

Jain arrived at Kellogg in Winter Quarter 1987 to teach marketing research – a subject with which he had little experience. Now, at age 44, he is dean of one of the top business schools in the country, and according to NU’s 990 tax form, the highest paid employee at Northwestern in 1999.

Jain received his Ph.D. in statistics at the University of Texas at Austin in 1986. Shortly afterward, he was offered a teaching position at Kellogg.

“When I took that El, the wind came so strong I almost took the next train back,” Jain said. “I got a fever. When I went to teach, I still had a fever.”

And although Jain almost returned to India to direct a business school that Kellogg co-founded with the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business in 2001, the Kellogg search committee encouraged him to interview for the school’s top position.

Jain, who took over July 1, said his loyalty to Kellogg won out. He replaced Donald P. Jacobs, who had served as dean for 26 years.

“I feel Kellogg is responsible for all of what I am today, ” said Jain, who was associate dean of Kellogg for five years before assuming the school’s helm. “This is an opportunity for me to pay back my debts.”

Jain said his Kellogg colleagues helped him adjust to his teaching post, especially when he first arrived on campus. Jain learns quickly, said marketing department chair Lakshman Krishnamurthi, who lent the new professor 20 lecture outlines to help with his marketing research class.

At the end of the quarter, Jain’s students gave him an average score of six out of seven on Kellogg’s professor rating system.

“He took my materials and he taught them better than I do,” Krishnamurthi said. “There’s magic that transpires in the classroom. There’s no question that people leave a session quite inspired. … It’s not just verbal communication. (He has) a tremendous sense of respect for the material he’s teaching and respect for the students.”

During his stint as professor, Jain created the class New Products and Services. He now continues to teach students in the executive master of business administration program at the Allen Center.

Teaching is nothing new to Jain’s family – his grandfather taught and served as a principal for 50 years in India, and one of Jain’s three uncles was a teacher as well.

Tradition was a constant in Jain’s upbringing, even after he left for the United States. Jain’s father found him a wife, Sushant, in 1989.

“My father is blind,” Jain said. “I thought: If my father is blind, he must see something that none of us can see.”

The Jains have two daughters, ages 6 and 9, and a 3-year-old son.

During his seven months as dean, Jain has made slight changes to Kellogg’s administration, including splitting his former position into two roles dealing with students and faculty, hiring more career development office staff and adding directors to Kellogg’s international alumni offices.

Krishnamurthi said Jain’s inclusive style of leadership incorporates a variety of opinions to shape administrative decisions.

“He’s always been very willing to delegate responsibility, which I think is a good idea,” Krishnamurthi said. “Otherwise, everything gets bottled up.”

Jain said Jacobs taught him a great deal about leadership while he was associate dean. Jain is quick to name the similarities between himself and Jacobs: Both were born in June, have two daughters and a son, and are vegetarians who like to drink Assam tea.

“In 1957, Jacobs came to Northwestern, and I came to this planet,” Jain said. “It’s like a father handing over the keys to his son.”

Jacobs said Jain’s work ethic fueled the “seamless transition” between their tenures.

“He’s an absolute workaholic,” Jacobs said. “(But) you’re going to be around him for five minutes and you’re going to know that this man is a person who likes people, who makes people feel welcome. He’s very inclusive.”

Although Jain said he hopes to return to India after finishing his term, he always will be in debt to his days at Kellogg.

“It’s a great place to work, great,” he said. “You cannot ask for a better life.”