Michael Mazzeo, a professor of strategy at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, will be the next dean of the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, effective January 1, according to Chancellor Andrew D. Martin.
Mazzeo will succeed Anjan V. Thakor, the John E. Simon Professor of Finance and director of doctoral programs and the Wells Fargo Advisors Center for Finance and Accounting Research, who has served as interim dean since July.
“I am delighted that Mike Mazzeo has accepted our offer to become the next dean of the Olin Business School,” said Martin. “Mike stood out as an impressive candidate from the beginning of the search process. We are fortunate to have found a talented leader and scholar to take on this role and build on Olin’s global reputation as a leader in business education and scholarship.
“I would also like to take this opportunity to recognize and express my gratitude to Anjan Thakor for his service as interim dean. He has been a strong and consistent presence over the past seven months and has been instrumental in ensuring a smooth transition for the Olin community. I am very grateful to Dean Thakor for continuing to serve in this interim role until the end of the calendar year.
Mazzeo comes to Washington University from Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management, where he has served as a professor in the Strategy Department since 1998 and a faculty member at the Institute for Policy Research since 2007. He has received many accolades for his teaching. A three-time recipient of the Chairs’ Core Course Teaching Award, he has also won three Best Elective teaching awards in the Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) and executive MBA programs.
In addition to research and teaching, Mazzeo was senior associate dean of curriculum and instruction at Kellogg from 2017-2020 and faculty director of the school’s night and weekend MBA and master’s in management programs. In these roles, Mazzeo facilitates the creation of new curricular pathways to meet the changing needs of students in areas such as technology management; diversity, equity and inclusion; and sustainability. He oversees a new data analytics unit that provides insights into everything from faculty hiring to reputation to student career outcomes.
Mazzeo was also the point person on the Kellogg team that responded to the academic disruption caused by COVID-19 and brought lessons from that experience to the transformation of the school’s professional degree programs.
“It’s fitting that Mike is a professor of strategy because what struck me in our conversations was his bold, strategic thinking, as well as his commitment to using data to identify and improve opportunities for those development,” said Beverly Wendland, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs.
“The breadth and depth of his experience at Kellogg prepares him well for this role, and we are fortunate to have such a proven leader. Olin is a strong asset for WashU, and knows I believe that the university as a whole will be stronger as a result of Mike being dean.
A prolific publisher, Mazzeo’s research focuses on empirical industrial organization, particularly on the development of new statistical methods for examining the relationship between product differentiation strategies and market competition. His work spans a variety of industries including airlines, banking, health care, lodging, retail and telecommunications.
“It is an honor to be named the next dean of the Olin Business School, an area known for its values-based and data-driven approach to educating leaders,” said Mazzeo. “WashU is a world-class institution on a path to greater distinction as a global leader in higher education. I look forward to the opportunity to work closely with students, faculty and staff to build on Olin’s proud tradition of excellence.
Mazzeo is a graduate of Stanford University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and urban studies and a doctorate in economics.
A travel enthusiast, Mazzeo teamed up with fellow business professors Paul Oyer, of Stanford University, and Scott Schaefer, of the University of Utah, in 2010 to launch the Roadside MBA. Over the past 12 years, they have visited more than 250 small and medium-sized businesses in more than 30 states and 12 countries in search of stories that illustrate the important ideas taught by leading MBA programs.
In 2014, they also published a book, “Roadside MBA: Backroad Lessons for Entrepreneurs, Executives and Small Business Owners,” based on road trip experiences.
Mazzeo is the father of a first-year student at New York University. Outside of work, he volunteers his time as a member of the board of directors of Howard Brown Health, the largest LGBTQ-affirming health care organization in the Midwest.
