The Best 40-Under-40 MBA Professors Of 2023

Krlev’s course “not only covers the role of corporate responsibility but also deals with entrepreneurial approaches, civic engagement and policies — all of which are indispensable for a sustainable transformation,” he tells P&Q.

Krlev, 38, is an assistant professor of sustainability at ESCP. He knew he wanted to be a business professor when he realized that in order to move society from injustice to equity, from exclusion to cohesion, we need better research. His work has been honored with numerous awards including a First Prize from the Roman Herzog Institute for social impact research that matters to society.

“I have extensively studied social innovation and societal impact. One of my core arguments is that we fail to support either effectively if we try to understand them by way of their commercial counterparts. Instead, we need to remodel our mindsets, norms, and resources to cope with their inherent complexity and collaborative nature,” he says.

Krlev, one of Poets&Quants’ 40-Under-40 Best MBA Professors of the Year, likes that he has a direct influence on the minds, deeds, and souls of future leaders. But, if he wasn’t a business professor, he likes to think he’d be running the Eagle and Child pub in Oxford, England, which has been closed since 2020.

“I would do it to preserve a place where academics can invest substantial amounts of time to think about their masterpiece. Just as the 12 years Tolkien spent working on the Lord of the Rings,” he says. “And undoubtedly, it would be great fun.”

THE LIST FEATURES 16 EXCEPTIONAL WOMEN

Today, Poets&Quants is proud to announce our collection of the 40-Under-40 Best MBA Professors for 2023.

This is the 11th edition of our annual recognition, and our goal remains unchanged: To identify and celebrate the most talented young professors currently teaching in MBA programs around the world. We’ve highlighted 440 exceptional MBA professors to date.

Professors on this year’s list come from 36 different schools – the most of any year prior – including 11 international schools outside of the United States. Four schools have two professors each: UC-Berkeley Haas School of Business, Emory University Goizueta Business School, London Business School, and The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

We also honor 16 exceptional women including, 36, from in Barcelona. She compares B–school to being part of a superhero mega group.

“I was pleasantly surprised to find myself surrounded by a diverse group of extremely talented nerds from every discipline under the sun, including ones from fields not traditionally associated with business such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, and even physics,” she says. “I realized that B-school is a great place for interdisciplinary collaboration. It’s kind of like the Avengers, but instead of saving the world, we are collaborating on scientific research!”

HOW WE PICKED THEM

Overall, we received more than 1,500 nominations from students, colleagues, business schools, and professors themselves. P&Q’s editorial staff evaluated each nominee on teaching (given a 70% weight) and research (given the remaining 30% weight).

For teaching, we considered the nominations received — both quality and quantity. For example, if we received a hundred or more nominations for a professor but there was little substance to the nominations, they weren’t as likely to score as highly as the professor that received a dozen in-depth and thoughtful nominations. We also considered any teaching-related awards the professors have won.

For research, we looked at the volume and impact of the professor’s scholarly work. To do this we examined Google Citation numbers as well as major media attention received by the professor and his or her research work. Lastly, akin to teaching, we considered research awards and grants the professors have received.

We reviewed the Top 60 and consulted each editorial staff member before finalizing our Top 40.