Clayton Magleby Christensen was an American academic and business consultant who developed the theory of "disruptive innovation", which has been called the most influential business idea of the early 21st century. Christensen introduced "disruption" in his 1997 book The Innovator's Dilemma, and it led The Economist to term him "the most influential management thinker of his time." He served as the Kim B. Clark Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School (HBS), and was also a leader and writer in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He was one of the founders of the Jobs to Be Done development methodology.
Georges Frédéric Doriot was a French-American known for his prolific careers in military, academics, business and education.
Sir Leonard Valentinovich Blavatnik is a Soviet/Ukrainian-born British-American businessman and philanthropist. In 2024, Forbes estimated his net worth at $32.1 billion, ranking him the 52nd-richest person in the world. In 2017, Blavatnik received a knighthood for services to philanthropy.
Lillian Lincoln Lambert is an American businesswoman, and the first African-American woman to graduate from Harvard Business School (HBS), where she was one of the co-founders of the African-American Student Union. She graduated in 1969 and received the W. E. B. Du Bois award. After holding down a number of different jobs she started her own building services company, Centennial One, in 1976. After she sold that, she engaged in public speaking and published a memoir.
Frank J. Caufield was a co-founder and named partner of the venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, based in Menlo Park, California.
Steve Blank is an American entrepreneur, educator, author and speaker. He created the customer development method that launched the lean startup movement. His work has influenced modern entrepreneurship through the creation of tools and processes for new ventures which differ from those used in large companies.
David Frankel is a South African-born American entrepreneur and venture capitalist. He is the co-founder of Founder Collective, a seed-stage venture capital fund with offices in New York City and Cambridge.
Russ Banham is an American author and reporter formerly with The Journal of Commerce and later a freelance journalist writing for The Wall Street Journal, Inc., Forbes, The Economist, Euromoney, Financial Times, Chief Executive and several other business publications and trade magazines.
Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private Ivy League research university. Located in Allston, Massachusetts, HBS owns Harvard Business Publishing, which publishes business books, leadership articles, case studies, and Harvard Business Review, a monthly academic business magazine. It is also home to the Baker Library/Bloomberg Center, the school's primary library.
Karen Gordon Mills is an American businessperson and former government official who served as the 23rd Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). She was nominated by President-elect Barack Obama on December 19, 2008, confirmed unanimously by the Senate on April 2, 2009, and sworn in on April 6, 2009. During her tenure, her office was elevated to the rank of Cabinet-level officer, expanding her power on policy decisions and granting her inclusion in the President's cabinet meetings. On February 11, 2013, she announced her resignation as Administrator and left the post on September 1, 2013.
Nitin Nohria is an Indian-American academic. He was the tenth dean of Harvard Business School. He is also the George F. Baker Professor of Administration. He is a former non-executive director of Tata Sons.
Tarun Khanna is an Indian-born American academic, author, and an economic strategist. He is currently the Jorge Paulo Lemann professor at Harvard Business School; where he is a member of the strategy group, and the director of Harvard University’s South Asia initiative since 2010.
Jonathan Milton Nelson is an American billionaire businessman. He is the founder of Providence Equity Partners, a global private equity firm based in Providence, Rhode Island, which manages funds with over US$45 billion in commitments. As of September 2023, Nelson's net worth is estimated by Forbes at $3.4 billion.
Robert F. Greenhill is an American businessman widely credited with helping create and pioneer the modern mergers and acquisitions advisory business on Wall Street. He is the founder and chairman of Greenhill & Co., an investment bank headquartered in New York City which since its inception, has advised on transactions valued at close to $3 trillion and now operates in 17 offices globally across North and South America, Europe and the Middle East, and Asia and Australia. In May 2023, Japanese conglomerate Mizuho acquired Greenhill &Co. for $550 million in an all cash transaction.
Harvard Innovation Labs (i-Lab) is an institution which aims to promote team-based and entrepreneurial activities among Harvard students, faculty, entrepreneurs, and members of the Allston and Greater Boston communities.
William J. Poorvu is an American real estate investor, civic leader and philanthropist. Currently an adjunct professor in entrepreneurship, Emeritus at Harvard Business School, he taught on the HBS faculty from 1973 until 2002.
Noam T. Wasserman is an American academic. He is currently the dean of the Yeshiva University Sy Syms School of Business. Previously, he held the position of professor of clinical entrepreneurship at the University of Southern California and the director of USC's Founders Central Initiative. Additionally, he previously served as an associate professor of business administration at the Harvard Business School. His research focuses on Organizational Behavior and Entrepreneurship. He has written about the challenges faced by the founders of startup companies.
William A. Sahlman is an American academic. He is a professor emeritus at the Harvard Business School. He has published research about entrepreneurship, including over 150 business cases. He is the co-author or co-editor of three books.
Stefan Thomke is the William Barclay Harding Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He has worked with global business leaders and taught many executive programs on product, process, and technology development, customer experience design, operational improvement, company turnarounds, and innovation strategy. He is currently the faculty chair of the General Management and Managing Innovation executive education programs at Harvard Business School. Previously, Thomke was faculty chair of the MBA Required Curriculum and faculty co-chair of the doctoral program in Science, Technology and Management. He was also faculty chair of HBS executive education and research in South Asia.
Thomas R. Eisenmann is an American economist and currently the Howard H. Stevenson Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, the Peter O. Crisp Faculty Chair at the Harvard Innovation Labs, and the Faculty Co-Chair of HBS Rock Center for Entrepreneurship. Eisenmann is also the author of the book Why Startups Fail.
