In 2008, he was appointed as the Dean of IBA Karachi, in 2015 he was awarded the Nishan-e-Imtiaz by President Mamnoon. He resigned as the dean of IBA in 2016, however remains the Professor Emeritus of the institute. During his tenure, IBA expanded from a solely business school to an interdisciplinary university.[5] In 2016, Hussain joined the Woodrow Wilson Center as a resident policy fellow.[6]