
Longtime accounting faculty member Mahmoud Nourayi has retired after 31 years with LMU College of Business Administration. During his tenure, Mahmoud served as chair of the Department of Accounting, associate dean of the college and held the distinguished Paul A. Grosch Professorship.
Mahmoud first visited LMU in 1987 when now-retired accounting professors Frank Daroca and Alan Cherry invited him to teach as a visiting professor. He lived in Westchester and worked at USC at the time, and it wasn’t long before he joined the LMU accounting faculty full-time in 1990. Mahmoud taught a variety of quantitative courses, including “Cost Accounting,” “Management Accounting,” “Quantitative Methods” and “Planning and Managerial Decisions.”
“I will miss working with my incredible colleagues, staff and students,” said Mahmoud, who occupied the same office on the third floor of the Conrad N. Hilton Center for Business since its opening in 1995.
Accounting was the only major in the college when Mahmoud stepped in as associate dean in 2007. He was instrumental in adding other business majors and launching both the Business Administration Minor in 2011 and the M.S. in Accounting program in 2013. Other accomplishments include revamping the “Cost Management” curriculum and converting it to a 4-unit course, serving as a founding board member for the Executive MBA program, and teaching a semester abroad in Bonn, Germany.
In 2012, Mahmoud received the Outstanding Accounting Educator Award by the California Society of CPAs for his significant contributions to accounting education and demonstrated excellence in teaching. “It was a humbling experience and one of the highlights of my career,” he said.
Mahmoud is a member of many of the country’s top accounting organizations, including the American Accounting Association, International Association for Accounting Education and Research, California Society of CPAs and Institute of Management Accountants, for which he served as past president of the South Bay Chapter.
Already a few months into retirement, Mahmoud is spending his extra time golfing, writing and reciting Persian poetry, visiting family and traveling. Next up on his list of destinations? Turkey, Greece and South America. With a new professor emeritus title, Mahmoud will forever be grateful for the professional and personal opportunities and relationships that the university brought into his life. LMU will always hold a special place in his heart.