Lynda M. Applegate

Lynda M. Applegate is the Sarofim-Rock Professor of Business Administration at HBS and serves as the Head of the Entrepreneurial Management Unit. Lynda also serves as the Faculty Chair of the HBS Business Owner Portfolio of executive programs, which includes the Owner President Management and Key Executive programs and its newly-launched Global Immersions for Business Owners. Also included in Business Owner Portfolio are a series of focused executive programs, including Aligning Strategy to Sales, Families in Business, Launching New Ventures and Private Equity and Venture Capital. These programs attract over 700 global entrepreneurs and business owners each year. Since joining the HBS faculty over 25 years ago, Lynda has held a variety of leadership positions, including serving as the head of Field Based Learning and as Cohort Chair of the MBA program. Between 1995 and 2003, she served as Co-Chair of the Harvard Policy Group on Networked Government Services and she also served on the Harvard University Technology Advisory Council. Prior to joining the HBS faculty, Lynda was on the faculty of the University of Michigan, University of Washington and University of Arizona. In addition to her academic positions, Lynda also launched a series of entrepreneurial ventures and held a variety of leadership positions in the health care industry during the 1970s.

Lynda’s current research and recent publications focus on the challenges of building new ventures and leading radical business innovation in the face of significant industry, technological, capital market, and regulatory turbulence. A second stream of research examines emerging governance models to support inter-firm collaborative innovation. She is the author of over 40 articles, books, and book chapters, and over 350 published case studies, online learning DVDs, and course materials.

Lynda is the recipient of numerous HBS awards for her research, teaching, and service to the school. Most recently, she was awarded the Robert F. Greenhill award for her outstanding contributions to HBS. She has also received Harvard Business School’s Berol Award for Research Excellence and its Apgar Award for Innovation in Teaching. In addition, she has also won numerous “Best Paper” awards for her academic research on 21st century business models and on executive team decision making and collaboration during innovation processes.

Lynda is an active international consultant and has served on the board of directors of both public and venture-backed companies. She is an advisor and advisory board member for entrepreneurs launching new ventures and for senior executives launching new business initiatives in established companies. She has also served on the Board of Trustees of the Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council and as a member of the Industry Advisory Board for NASDAQ and the GAO’s Executive Council for Information Management and Technology. Lynda has also served as a policy advisor on a Blue-Ribbon Panel to define a National Research Agenda on the development of the Network Economy and as a member of a roundtable panel for President Clinton's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection.