London Business School appoints associate dean

Laing will "help evolve LBS's brand and will have management responsibility for the school's external operations including development, alumni relations, regional advisory boards, corporate relations and communications," the business school said.

Laing spent four years in New York as CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi North America and as a member of the firm's world-wide board. She was also chairman of their London office twice. In between those two appointments she built her own agency, which she sold to Saatchi & Saatchi's holding company.

LBS, whose dean is Laura Tyson, has recently hosted a number of high-profile conferences and corporate events, including an evening featuring George Soros, the veteran hedge fund manager.