Jacquelyn Pless

Jacquelyn Pless is the Fred Kayne (1960) Career Development Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship and an Assistant Professor in the Technological Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Strategic Management Group at MIT Sloan School of Management. She holds additional affiliations as an Honorary Research Associate at the University of Oxford, Research Affiliate at CESifo, and Invited Researcher with J-PAL’s Science for Progress Initiative. Her academic journey began at the University of Vermont (Honors College, BA in Economics and Political Science, 2009), followed by MS and PhD degrees in Mineral and Energy Economics from the Colorado School of Mines (2016).

Her research focuses on innovation economics, energy and environmental economics, strategic management, and climate finance. She investigates mechanisms to foster socially beneficial innovation, particularly addressing climate change and environmental protection. Notable themes include externality interdependencies shaping innovation incentives, policy volatility impacts on corporate investment, and the effectiveness of technology-neutral subsidies versus carbon pricing strategies. She emphasizes bridging firm strategies with policy objectives to drive sustainable outcomes.

Jacquelyn teaches innovation strategy and entrepreneurship courses, including climate and energy ventures. She was recognized as a 2024 Best 40-Under-40 Business School Professor by Poets & Quants and served as a Distinguished Fellow on Stakeholder Capitalism and ESG Investing (Kenan Institute, 2022). She collaborates with leading institutions like the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and MIT’s interdisciplinary initiatives.

In advising and grants, she has engaged with high-growth tech firms on reorganization strategies prior to academia. Her work prioritizes actionable insights for policymakers and businesses, aiming to align long-term social progress with economic incentives. Current projects include developing a theoretical framework for interdependent externalities in innovation and exploring how ESG initiatives reshape corporate behavior.

Labs/Teams: Active in MIT Sloan’s Technological Innovation Group and J-PAL’s Science for Progress Initiative, focusing on empirical and policy-oriented research collaborations.