Olin Business School Leadership

Dean Michael J. Mazzeo

Mike Mazzeo is the Dean of WashU Olin Business School and the Knight Family Professor of Economics.

As Olin’s dean, he has developed the school’s strategic plan, All Together Now, which serves as a roadmap to amplify the school’s positive impact in its research, teaching, and partnerships across WashU and throughout the region.

Mazzeo joined Olin in 2023 after spending 25 years at Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management, where he worked as a researcher, scholar, and educator. In addition to his role as a professor of strategy, he served in a number of strategic leadership roles during his tenure, including Senior Associate Dean of Curriculum and Teaching.

A distinguished and prolific researcher and scholar in the field of empirical industrial organization, Mazzeo’s work has been cited thousands of times and published in leading journals in economics, marketing, and finance. Mazzeo is a coauthor of Roadside MBA: Back Road Lessons for Entrepreneurs, Executives and Small Business Owners, which uses storytelling to illustrate the important concepts taught in leading MBA programs through the lens of small and medium-sized enterprises across the United States.

Mazzeo earned his PhD in economics and his bachelor’s in economics and urban studies from Stanford University. During his time in Chicago, Mazzeo served as director and chair on the board of Howard Brown Health, the Midwest’s largest LGBTQ nonprofit organization. In 2025, he was named to St. Louis Magazine’s Business 500 list, which recognizes the most impactful, innovative, and inspirational leaders in the St. Louis region.

Markus Baer

Vice Dean for Degree and Nondegree Executive Education and Professor of Organizational Behavior

Markus Baer is a tenured, full professor of organizational behavior and has been on WashU Olin’s faculty since 2006. Baer oversees the academic aspects of Olin’s executive education portfolio, including three Executive MBA programs in St. Louis, Mumbai and Shanghai, as well as nondegree executive education in St. Louis and Washington, DC; in partnership with Brookings; and virtual formats. His research examines creativity and innovation and all its related activities—problem formulation, idea generation, idea selection and idea implementation. His research has been published in leading academic journals and has won multiple awards, including the “Olin Award Recognizing Research That Impacts Business.” Baer has been honored as one of the world's “Best 40 Business Professors Under 40.” He earned his PhD from the University of Illinois Urbana–Champaign and holds an MA from the University of Giessen in Germany.

Daniel Elfenbein

Vice Dean for Research and Professor of Strategy

Dan Elfenbein is Vice Dean for Research and Professor of Strategy at the Olin Business School, where he has been a faculty member since 2005. His current research focuses on entrepreneurial decision-making, the role of reputation and relationships in supporting competitive advantage, and the strategic management of nonprofits. He has published in leading journals in both economics and management and has received numerous research awards. He received undergraduate (Chemistry) and graduate degrees (including his PhD in Business Economics) from Harvard University. As Vice Dean, Dan oversees research funding and support at Olin, advancing the school’s research mission and fostering scholarly excellence.

Todd Gormley

Vice Dean for Education and Professor of Finance

Todd Gormley serves as Olin’s Vice Dean for Education. In this role, he has oversight of the academic administration portfolio, including undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as adjunct faculty members. His research focuses on why managers sometimes fail to act in the best interest of shareholders and what governance arrangements mitigate these conflicts. His most recent research has analyzed the growing impact of indexed investment products on firms and markets. Gormley earned his undergraduate degree in economics from Michigan State University and his PhD in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He originally joined Olin in 2006 before moving to The Wharton School in 2009, returning to Olin in 2016.

Brent Jenson

Senior Associate Dean of Finance and Operations

Brent Jenson is the school’s chief financial officer responsible for fiscal oversight of Olin, including financial planning, reporting and accounting. A key component of his role is aligning budgets with the strategic direction of the school. Jenson also directs the school’s operations, encompassing I/S, A/V, general services, faculty support and Knight Center/food service operations. He has been with WashU for more than 20 years and holds a WashU Olin MBA.

Robyn LeBoeuf

Vice Dean of Faculty and Joyce and Chauncy Buchheit Distinguished Professor in Marketing

Robyn LeBoeuf joined WashU Olin’s faculty in 2014. As vice dean of faculty, she oversees the school’s faculty and manages the promotion and tenure process. In her research, she strives to understand how people make decisions and to explore the subtle factors that bias those decisions. An award-winning teacher and researcher, LeBoeuf has taught marketing, decision-making and consumer behavior courses across WashU Olin’s undergraduate and graduate programs. She earned her undergraduate degree in psychology and statistics from American University and her PhD in psychology from Princeton University.

Jackie Lorrainne

Senior Associate Dean of People and Culture and Chief of Staff

Jackie Lorrainne oversees the dean’s administrative and executive support functions and ensures smooth operations and effective time, information and decision management. She oversees all HR and payroll operations, partnering with academic and administrative leadership to provide guidance on people issues, organizational structure, change management, employee engagement and performance management. Lorrainne has been with WashU for 15 years and previously served as a senior advisor to the vice provost and university librarian. She’s an Olin EMBA alumna with a doctorate in higher education leadership from Maryville University.

Joe MacDonald

Senior Associate Dean for Strategy and Innovation

Joe MacDonald leads school-wide strategic planning, advances university partnerships and initiatives, and leads the marketing and communications, business development and customer relationship management teams. Prior to joining Olin in March of 2024, MacDonald served in WashU’s office of the provost as the assistant provost and director of strategy, transformation and impact. In this capacity, he served as the executive director of the university’s strategic plan, Here and Next, and co-lead for its implementation. He earned his master’s and PhD in Classics from WashU and his bachelor’s from Middlebury College.

Gisele Marcus

Vice Dean and Professor of Practice

Gisele Marcus works closely with Dean Mazzeo on strategic initiatives to enhance Olin’s ongoing commitment to building and maintaining an inclusive and pluralistic environment. Her responsibilities include facilitating programs and policies to support the integration of diverse students, staff, and faculty into the Olin community. Throughout her 20+ year career, Marcus has been a five-time general manager at Fortune 250 companies, including Thermo Fisher Scientific, Johnson Controls, and Cushman & Wakefield, leading organizations with up to $800M in P&L and 1,200 employees globally across 40 countries and five continents. She earned her MBA from Harvard Business School, and her bachelor’s degree is from Syracuse University.