Olav Sorenson

Olav Sorenson is currently the Joseph Jacobs Chair in Entrepreneurial Studies, Faculty Research Director of the Price Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, and Professor of Strategy, at the University of California, Los Angeles. In 2018, he received the Global Award for Entrepreneurship Research — from the Swedish Entrepreneurship Forum (Entreprenörskapsforum), the Research Institute of Industrial Economics (IFN), and Vinnova — for his research on how social networks shape entrepreneurial opportunities and outcomes, and regional economies.

Prior to his current appointment, Olav held the Frederick Frank ’54 and Mary C. Tanner Professorship at Yale, the Jeffrey S. Skoll Chair in Technical Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Toronto, and a professorship in Strategic and International Management at London Business School. He grew up in South Dakota and received his bachelor’s degree from Harvard College and his master’s and doctoral degrees from Stanford University. He has also received an honorary doctorate from Aalborg University.