It is something of a homecoming for Richard Lyons, who was appointed dean of the Haas school of business at UC Berkeley, in California, late last week.

As well as having a Californian upbringing and a Berkeley undergraduate degree, Prof Lyons became an academic at the Haas school in 1993 and was acting dean for a year when the departing boss, Tom Campbell, was seconded to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s department of finance.