Michael Mazzeo

Michael Mazzeo is the Dean and Knight Family Professor at WashU Olin Business School. He joined Olin in 2023 after a 25-year career at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, where he served as a professor of strategy and faculty associate at the Institute for Policy Research. His research focuses on empirical industrial organization and has been cited thousands of times.

• Education: PhD in Economics (Stanford University, 1998); BA in Economics and Urban Studies (Stanford, 1991)

Research Interests: Mazzeo specializes in empirical industrial organization, developing statistical methodologies to analyze product differentiation and market competition. His work spans the airline, banking, healthcare, hospitality, retail, and telecommunications industries, with applications for business strategy and antitrust analysis. He co-authored Roadside MBA, a 2014 book derived from visits to over 250 small businesses.

Scientific Awards:

• Kellogg School of Management Teaching Awards
• Emmy Award Nominee (2021)
• “Key to the City” of Dothan, Alabama (2014)
• Samsung Patent Prize (2011)
• Dick Wittink Prize (2010)
• Excellence in Refereeing Award (2009)

Advising and Grants: Mazzeo directed Kellogg’s evening and weekend MBA programs and its Master of Science in management studies program. He served as senior associate dean for curriculum and teaching (2017–2020).

Labs and Teams: He serves on the editorial board of the Review of Industrial Organization and was involved in interdisciplinary collaborations, including the Roadside MBA project with Stanford and University of Utah faculty.