STEPHAN MEIER

• Chair of Management Division, Columbia Business School

• PhD in economics, University of Zurich

• Focuses on human side of business strategy

Stephan Meier is the Chair of the Management Division and the James P. Gorman Professor of Business Strategy at Columbia Business School. He was born and raised in Switzerland, a country characterized by its diverse cultural interactions. From a young age, Stephan was intrigued by the dynamics of human interactions, which guided him towards completing an MA in history, economics, and political science at the University of Zurich, Switzerland. His academic pursuit did not stop there; he furthered his education with a doctorate in economics at the same institution. His research during his PhD focused on the effects of motivation beyond income maximization and limited rationality on decision-making and organizational impacts, culminating in a doctoral thesis on non-selfish behavior and its implications for organizations.

After relocating to the U.S., Stephan worked as a senior economist at the Center for Behavioral Economics and Decision-Making at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston. This role deepened his appreciation for the significance of evidence-based policy making. Since 2008, Stephan has been an integral part of the faculty at Columbia Business School, where he teaches and researches the 'human side' of strategy within the MBA program and executive education courses. As the coordinator of the core strategy course, he has been instrumental in shaping the curriculum and approach to teaching strategy formulation to MBA students. Furthermore, Stephan has designed and taught various electives focusing on global business, the future of work, and consulting, earning him an award for Excellence in the Classroom.