Robin J. Ely

Robin Ely is Warren Alpert Professor of Business Administration and Senior Associate Dean for Culture and Community at Harvard Business School. She conducts research on race and gender relations in organizations with a focus on organizational change, group dynamics, learning, conflict, power, and identity. Her recent work includes a study of men and masculinity on offshore oil platforms, research on the impact of racial diversity on retail bank performance, and presently, a study of how professional women experience holding positions of power. In her role as Senior Associate Dean for Culture and Community, Professor Ely is heading a culture change initiative at Harvard Business School to ensure that all members of the HBS community are able to thrive and reach their potential for advancing the mission of the School. Professor Ely has taught MBA courses in leadership, diversity, teams, and statistics and doctoral courses in field research methods; she has also taught in HBS’s executive education programs, including leadership programs designed specifically for women.

For the past several years, Professor Ely has maintained an active faculty affiliation at the Center for Gender in Organizations, Simmons Graduate School of Management, in Boston. Prior to joining the HBS faculty, she taught at Columbia University and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Professor Ely received her Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from Yale University and her Bachelor’s degree from Smith College. She is a member of the Academy of Management, has served on numerous editorial boards of academic journals, and is a past associate editor of Administrative Science Quarterly.