Professor | Leo Helzel Chair in Entrepreneurship and Innovation | Faculty Director, Berkeley Haas Entrepreneurship Program | Distinguished Teaching Fellow
Entrepreneurship & Innovation | Management of Organizations

About

Toby E. Stuart is the Helzel Chair in Entrepreneurship, Strategy and Innovation; Faculty Director of the Berkeley Haas Entrepreneurship Program; the Associate Dean for External Affairs; and Faculty Director of the Institute for Business Innovation at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley. In 2021, he was a visiting professor at the Harvard Business School. Previously, he has served as: The Charles Edward Wilson Professor at Harvard Business School; The Samberg Professor and Faculty Director of the Lang Center for Entrepreneurship at Columbia University’s Business School; and the Fred Steingraber-A.T. Kearney Professor of Leadership & Strategy at University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business. He received his PhD from the Graduate School of Business, Stanford University. He holds an AB, summa cum laude, in economics from Carleton College.

At Harvard Business School and Columbia Business Schools, Stuart was course head for the MBA-level required courses in Entrepreneurship and Strategy Formulation, respectively. He has also taught executive education courses and served as an advisor to senior executives around the world on corporate strategy, M&A, innovation and technology strategy, leadership, entrepreneurship, venture capital and private equity.

Currently, Stuart is a member of the board of directors (audit committee) at HNTB Holdings, the largest private transportation engineering firm in the United States. He is co-founder and a board member (chair, audit committee) of Flock Freight, a VC-backed “unicorn” tech-logistics company that algorithmically carpools industrial freight. Stuart also is proud to have cofounded the Black Venture Institute. He also serves on the board of FLYRLabs, an AI-based revenue optimization company for the airline industry, and of Atmosfy. Previously, Stuart served as a Venture Partner at Avid Park Venture.

Stuart is the recipient of the 2007 Kauffman Prize Medal for Distinguished Research in Entrepreneurship, which is granted every second year to recognize one individual’s contributions to entrepreneurship research. He has received the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence at Columbia Business School; the Award for Teaching Excellence at Cornell University’s NY-Tech campus; and is a multiple-recipient of the Cheit Award for Teaching Excellence at Berkeley Haas. He has won the Administrative Science Quarterly’s Scholarly Contribution (best paper) award, and many other recognitions for scholarly contributions. Much of Stuart’s research has examined social networks, particularly their role in entrepreneurship, innovation, and strategy. His current projects include a book, in process, and a series of papers examining large-scale medical claims data. He serves as a Department Editor at Management Science, and has held numerous, past editorial roles.

Expertise and Research Interests

  • Entrepreneurship & Innovation
  • Corporate Strategy
  • Social Networks