Chief Innovation and Entrepreneurship Officer, UC Berkeley | Professor & Former Dean | William & Janet Cronk Chair in Innovative Leadership
Economic Analysis & Policy | Finance
About
Rich Lyons is a Professor of Economics and Finance at the Haas School of Business, where he served as dean from 2008 to 2018 and acting dean from 2004 to 2005. In January 2020, he became the first Chief Innovation and Entrepreneurship Officer for the University of California, Berkeley. In his new role, Lyons oversees development of the campus-wide ecosystem for innovation and entrepreneurship, including patenting and technology licensing.
As dean of the Haas School, Lyons led a sweeping culture initiative that drove the school’s historic strengths more deeply into admissions and other critical processes with a set of four Defining Leadership Principles: Question the Status Quo, Confidence Without Attitude, Students Always, and Beyond Yourself. He oversaw the development of Connie & Kevin Chou Hall—a new academic building funded entirely by alumni and friends—as well as attracting eight of the 10 largest gifts in school history. Lyons forged stronger ties with other UC Berkeley colleges and departments with a focus on dual degree programs combining business with STEM fields, including the new Management, Entrepreneurship, and Technology program with Berkeley Engineering. In 2018, he was awarded with the Berkeley Citation, given to individuals whose contributions to UC Berkeley go beyond the call of duty and whose achievements exceed the standards of excellence in their fields. Lyons also received Berkeley’s highest teaching honor in 1998.
Lyons’ research and teaching are mostly in international finance, though his more recent work explores how business leadership drives innovation and the importance of culture in shaping organizations. From 2006 to 2008, he took a leave from Berkeley to serve as Goldman Sachs’ Chief Learning Officer, focusing on leadership development for managing directors. Prior to joining the faculty at UC Berkeley in 1993, he was an assistant professor at Columbia Business School. He received his BS in finance from Berkeley and PhD in economics from MIT.
Expertise and Research Interests
- Leadership and Culture
- Cryptocurrencies
- Microstructure Finance
- Exchange Rate Economics
- International Finance
- Richard K. Lyons and Jennifer Chatman. The Berkeley Haas School of Business: Codifying, Embedding, and Sustaining Culture. BerkeleyHaas Case Series.
2017 - Richard K. Lyons with M. Evans. Order Flow and Exchange Rate Dynamics. Journal of Political Economy.
2002 - Richard K. Lyons. The Microstructure Approach to Exchange Rates. MIT Press.
2001 - Richard K. Lyons with R. Portes. A Good Investment for Excess Reserves. Financial Times.
2000 - Richard K. Lyons. Profits and Position Control: A Week of FX Dealing. Journal of International Money and Finance.
1998 - Richard K. Lyons with T. Ito and M. Melvin. Is There Private Information in the FX Market? The Tokyo Experiment. Journal of Finance.
1998 - Richard K. Lyons. A Simultaneous Trade Model of the Foreign Exchange Hot Potato. Journal of International Economics.
1997
At Haas since 1993
2018 – present, William & Janet Cronk Chair in Innovative Leadership, Haas School of Business
2008 – 2018, Bank of America Dean and Professor of Business, Haas School of Business
2009 – 2016, Kruttschnitt Family Chair in Financial Institutions
2006 – 2008, S. K. and Angela Chan Chair in Global Management
2006 – 2008, Chief Learning Officer, Goldman Sachs
2005 – 2008, Executive Associate Dean, Haas School of Business
2004 – 2005, Acting Dean, Haas School of Business
2004, Sylvan Coleman Professor of Finance
2004, Associate Dean for Academic Affairs
1993 – 2004, Professor (Associate/Assistant/Full), Haas School of Business
1987 – 1993, Professor (Associate/Assistant), Graduate School of Business, Columbia University
1987, Summer Intern, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, Washington D.C.
1985, Research Assistant, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Paris
1983 – 1984, Research Analyst, Financial Industries Division, SRI International (formerly Stanford Research Institute)
Visiting Postions
University of Toulouse, Toulouse, France
Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
London School of Economics, London, UK
Foundation for Advanced Information and Research (FAIR), Tokyo, Japan
University of Aix-Marseille, Marseille, France
- Board: Matthews Asia Funds
- Board: Syntax Funds
- Board: Ashesi University Foundation, Ghana
- Research Associate: National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)
- Member: Council on Foreign Relations
- Consultant: IMF, World Bank, Federal Reserve Bank, European Commission
- Advisory Board, Economic Policy Review (NY Fed.)
- English
- French
Berkeley Citation
Highest campus honor for individuals whose contributions to UC Berkeley go beyond the call of duty
2018
Sterling Schoen Award for Diversity Leadership from the Consortium
2018
National Science Foundation grantee
1994-1997, 1997-2000, 2000-2003
National Science Foundation Graduate Fellowship
1984-1987
Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching, MFE Program
2003
Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching, MBA Program
1994, 2000
Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching, Evening MBA Program
1996, 1999
Distinguished Teaching Award
UC Berkeley’s Highest Teaching Award
1998
Highest Honors, UC Berkeley
1982
Phi Beta Kappa
Member
- Understanding the Bitcoin Revolution and Why It’s Likely to Change the World, Christian Broadcasting Network, 04/30/2021
- Bitcoin prices top $50,000 for the first time, CBS News, 02/16/2021
- Tesla buys $1.5B in Bitcoin, will accept as payment soon, Associated Press, 02/09/2021
- Elon Musk Decries ‘M.B.A.-ization’ of America, The Wall Street Journal, 12/09/2020
- Corporate Responsibility and The Two Minds of Milton Friedman, ProMarket, 11/16/2020
- Nobel Laureate, Berkeley Economist Oliver Williamson Dies at 87, Bloomberg, 05/23/2020
- No, Tether isn’t pumping Bitcoin, new academic study claims, Decrypt, 04/22/2020
- The Berkeley Changemaker™, California, 06/18/2020
- A Month in Review – April 2020, Securities, 04/30/2020
- No, Tether isn’t pumping Bitcoin, new academic study claims, Decrypt, 04/22/2020
- 5 Berkeley SkyDeck startups that might change the way we live, UC Berkeley News, 02/10/2020
- American business schools are reinventing the MBA, The Economist, 11/02/2019
- “Richard Lyons, UC Berkeley’s first CIEO: “I plan to set up a series of benchmarks”, MBA & Educación Ejecutiva (Spanish), 09/30/2019
- Chancellor’s Letter: The Year of Implementation, California, 09/11/2019
- UC Berkeley appoints its first director of innovation and entrepreneurship, AmericaEconomia, 07/18/2019
- International Finance, Undergraduate & Executive MBA
- Currency Markets, MBA programs
- Financial Market Microstructure, Undergraduate Program