William Warren Haynes was born in Berkeley, California on March 10, 1921. His father was a laborer who was working for the Southern Pacific Railroad Company at the time of Warren's birth, while his mother was a housewife. Both of Warren's parents valued education. His father started college in 1900 but never completed his degree due to illness, while his mother held a bachelor's degree from the University of Washington and a Master's degree from the University of Southern California, unusual for a woman at that point in American history. Prior to her marriage, she was a school teacher.

Warren was passionate about travel and, according to family stories, he slept with a world atlas under his pillow while growing up. After earning a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California at Berkeley in 1942, and being elected to Phi Beta Kappa, Warren was awarded a National Scholarship to attend Harvard Business School. His studies there were interrupted by World War II. During the war he was a first lieutenant in the United States Army stationed as an administrative officer in the Philippines. Prior to entering the service, he was awarded an Industrial Administration degree from Harvard. After the war, Warren resumed his studies at Harvard, earning an MBA in 1947.

He then began coursework and research for a Doctor of Commercial Science (DCS) degree, the equivalent of a PhD. A Fulbright Scholarship funded research in England in 1950-51 and he completed his DCS in 1952. His dissertation, Nationalization in Practice: The British Coal Industry, was published by the Harvard's Graduate School of Business Administration in 1953.

In the meantime, Warren had begun his teaching career. In 1947, he served as an Instructor of Economics and Statistics at Ohio State University and in 1948 was hired by the University of Kentucky's Department of Commerce as an Assistant Professor. He remained at the University of Kentucky for 15 years, teaching courses in economics and management, mostly at the graduate level. During those years, he also was a visiting lecturer at the University of Leeds (1950) and a visiting professor at the University of California at Berkeley (1953-1954). In addition to teaching, Dr. Haynes continued active research of the British Coal Industry and received two Ford Foundation grants (1954 and 1956-57) to update his doctoral study through research in Britian. He authored or co-authored numerous journal articles and textbooks during his Kentucky years.

While at Kentucky, Warren met Catharine Kennedy, who was teaching in the University's Sociology department. They married in 1950 and had three children: Douglas, now a professor of South Asian History at the Dartmouth College; Kenneth, now a professor of Entomology at University of Kentucky: and Carolyn, who for the past 30+ years has worked as a Social Worker.

In 1963, Dr. Haynes was selected by the Ford Foundation to head a Harvard Business School team to support the Indian government and local leaders in developing the Indian Institute of Management at Ahmedabad. He remained in this position for two years but kept a strong connection with IIMA throughout the remainder of his life. His family is honored that his work there is still remembered more than fifty years later.

The time in India was immensely influential in shaping Haynes's subsequent career direction, which for a number of years focused on institution building in developing countries. Upon return to the United States in 1965, he became Director of the Harvard Business School's Division of International Activities and acted as Chairman of the Harvard's International Teacher's Program (ITP) and oversaw numerous teacher training projects both in the US and abroad. In the early 1970's ITP moved to Europe and is recognized as the "leading management faculty development program in the world with a consistent aspiration to develop faculties, share expertise and improve the quality of teaching across the world."

In 1969, Dr. Haynes was named Dean of the Business School at the State University of New York at Albany (now known as the University at Albany). In the three years before his death, he "introduced a new concept in MBA education....contrasting sharply with the traditional pattern of most such programs" due to its focus on developing a strong, integrated knowledge of business functions before specialization. By 1975, the School of Business at University of Albany was ranked in the "top 12 innovative top quality MBA programs" in the country by MBA Magazine.

Dr. Haynes died from multiple myeloma in April 1972, at the age of 51.

Date of Birth: March 10, 1921

Date of Death: April 1972