Most leading figures in business education tend to stay away from climbing the world’s toughest mountains, but Scott DeRue is daring in all aspects of his character. In 2013, Scott reached the summit of Mt. Everest, while he was still a Professor of Management at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business.

At the beginning of this month and three years on from that Everest expedition, Scott was named the new Dean at Ross. Just 39 years old, he is undeniably a young appointment, but brings with him a true belief in business education and exceptional drive.

A professor at the venerated institution since 2007, he achieved great success as Associate Dean for Executive Education, a Professor of Management, and as Director of the Sanger Leadership Center and Emerging Leaders Program.

It’s fair to say, however that higher education wasn’t the world that Scott was born into, although his splendid yellow Ross tie might argue otherwise. “Growing up in a fairly rural part of North Carolina, university wasn’t the default path for people in my community,” Scott explains.

However, his eyes were opened upon his enrolment at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, his grandfather’s alma-mater. “UNC made a lasting impression on me, it was my first experience of higher education and it was there I became acquainted with its transformative power.”

In between his undergraduate degree and the beginning of his career at Ross, Scott worked both as a management consultant for Monitor Group (now Monitor Deloitte) and was even a marketing manager of an 90 year-old luxury yacht company. The power of education proved too big a lure for Scott to resist, however, and he undertook a PhD in Management at Michigan State University before joining the faculty at the University of Michigan.

“Scott’s innovative emphasis on action-based learning in our Leading People & Organizations class placed us into unfamiliar situations to emulate the spontaneous and often unpredictable nature of business and life,” says Matt Schnugg, a former student of his. “It became as important as anything that I learned at Ross.”

Scott achieved a similar level of popularity in all of his posts at Ross, and it’s largely down to a shared perception of business education. “I’m a firm believer in business as a strong positive force in the world, and it was always my goal to produce research that would shape debates in the business school world”, says Scott. “I wanted to use my skills to enable great contributors to become great leaders.”

As Dean, Scott will now be able to implement his own fascinating vision for the school. Speaking with him, it’s abundantly clear right from the off that this vision is one of inclusivity and innovation, a vision that situates the students of Ross right at the core.

“Fundamentally, our aspiration is to set the standards for other business schools to follow by creating an environment that is both welcoming while remaining a top business school,” says Scott. “Crossing boundaries of gender and nationality, for example, are very important both to me and to Ross. We’ve invested a lot in pathways to get women more interested in business school, and have seen high levels of engagement so far.”

This year, Ross’s MBA cohort will come in at over 40% female, their MM program touching 50%. However, getting women in the door is only part of the task. “Creating a culture in business education where women and men can thrive equally is the next big step for us, but I’m confident we can achieve that.”

At over 47,000 living alumni, Ross has an enormous network, but what Scott considers even more important is that it’s consistently being rated as one of the most helpful. “I want to maintain that culture where you can pick up the phone knowing that someone is going to help you. It’s our responsibility to provide pathways for our alumni to connect in ways that are meaningful.”

Developing and nurturing innovative student experiences are also a focus for Scott, and often go hand-in-hand with the experiential learning and social impact he aspires his students to have. “We have incredible resources at Ross and they need to be used in creative ways. We’re proud to have been a firm advocate of action-based learning since the 1980s”, he says.

While this style of learning has, in the past, given Ross students millions of dollars in capital to handle, Scott instead references a recent project in Uganda. “Our students planned out a strategy for a hospital there, and then physically went to Uganda to implement it.” This is just one example of the kind of positive, transformational learning experience that Scott wants to build upon.

“There’s also our Impact Challenge, in which we partner with a social mission in Detroit. It’s a great opportunity for our students to develop leadership attributes and engage with individuals and organizations locally.”

Scott was previously Director of the Sanger Leadership Center and Faculty Director of the Emerging Leader’s Program, but how will he lead as Dean? “Community engagement has to be at the forefront of that”, he says. “I’m still developing my long-term plan for Ross, so in the meantime I’ll be surrounding myself with an incredible team and listening to everyone around me, be they students, staff, or corporate partners. Leadership means working together to create a path forward.”

So, what with all this new responsibility, what of Scott’s mountaineering? “[Laughs.] I’m more busy than usual at the moment, but I hope to get back to tackling mountains when I have the free time,” he says. “For now, I have a different mountain to climb here at Ross, and with a brilliant team behind me I’m confident we’ll conquer this one too.”