Hello, and welcome to my site. I'm an assistant professor of Management & Organizations at the Questrom School of Business at Boston University, where I study strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship. I did my doctoral work at the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, in the Management Science and Engineering Department at Stanford University, and subsequently worked at the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.
I study strategy and entrepreneurship in dynamic and ambiguous settings like cleantech, digital health, and pandemic-era supply chains. These settings are challenging because they require constant innovation as well as collaboration, but require actors to interact within the context of substantial competitive and technological uncertainty. As a result, it's often unclear where opportunities lie and what must be done to capture them. I ask questions such as how managers and entrepreneurs can identify opportunities, how they weave together the decisions that comprise an effective strategy, and how they reposition themselves as industries evolve. I draw on and contribute to research and theory in economics, sociology, and psychology, and employ a variety of research methods, including inductive field research and formal modeling.
I teach undergraduate and graduate courses in strategy, entrepreneurship, design, and innovation, and serve as the Innovation Curriculum Coordinator for Innovate@BU. I also coach student startups and consult early-stage ventures in multiple industries.
I hold a B.A. in Environmental Studies from Dartmouth College and an M.S. and Ph.D. in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford University. Prior to this life, I co-founded an environmental advocacy group that soared far higher than we had imagined (the Big Green Bus), worked as an analyst at the Cadmus Group in Boston and as a Fellow at the Natural Resources Defense Council, and enjoyed a stint on a wonderful farm in Lesotho. Feel free to drop me a line at dphannah [at] bu [dot] edu, or find me on LinkedIn.
My CV is available here.