Oana Branzei

Oana held a 2012-2014 visiting appointment with the Center for Positive Organizational Scholarship and the Erb Institute for Global Sustainable Enterprise at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. She was the inaugural Larry & Eris Field Family Visiting Scholar at the Lawrence N. Field Center for Entrepreneurship at Baruch College, City University of New York in 2019. Dr. Branzei also held a 2020 Visiting Professorship with the Centre for Research in Sustainability (CRIS) at Royal Holloway, the University of London. Oana maintains additional affiliations and has supervised students at the Stellenbosch University, the University of Liverpool, the University of Cape Town, and the University of Waterloo.

Since joining Ivey in 2007, Oana has taught in the HBA, MBA, MSc, EMBA and PhD programs. She developed and delivered multiple curricular and extracurricular innovations, including indigenous co-led programming, Hult Prize competitions, World’s Challenge-Challenge, and designed signature events such as the Social Innovation Forum, Ivey Impact Day, and worldchangers. Before joining Ivey, Oana started her academic career at the Schulich School of Business, York University where she served as Deputy Director of the Erivan K. Haub Program in Business and Sustainability (2005-2007) and taught the sustainability curriculum for all Kellogg affiliates and global executives enrolled in the world-first Sustainable Enterprise Academy (SEA). Previously, Oana had been a research associate with FEPA (Forest Economics and Policy Analysis), one of the world’s first think-tanks on sustainability issues, where she engaged with several of Canada’s research initiatives in fisheries, food, and forestry, documenting the collapse, collaboration, and conservation of endangered natural commons.

Oana’s research interests, at the intersection of strategy and sustainability, focus on novel forms and functions of business that purposefully address environmental, social, and governance (ESG) grand challenges. Professor Branzei leads major research initiatives on prosocial, circular, place-based, regenerative, and restorative organizing. She has convened communities of inquiry that actively promote positive social change through social innovation, social enterprise, sustainable communities, and cross-sector partnerships, such as the Sustainability, Entrepreneurship & Ethics annual conference and the Cross-Sector Social Interactions (CSSI) conference and their dedicated doctoral and faculty development consortia.

Oana pursues problem driven research and builds inclusive programs and platforms that engage critically and constructively with grand challenges. She has published more than 130 works to date (37 peer-review journal articles, 14 book chapters, 24 proceedings, 36 case studies, 7 technical reports and 3 conversation pieces). Professor Branzei’s contributions were published in several top research journals including the Academy of Management Discoveries, Business & Society, Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of World Business, Journal of International Business Studies, Organization, Organization Science, and Strategic Management Journal. Her first co-edited book introduced cross-sector collaborations (now SDG#17). She is currently finalizing her second and third edited books, both forthcoming with Routledge in 2023. Dr. Branzei’s research was also featured in the popular press, including Ashoka, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC), Forbes, Harvard Deusto, MIT Sloan, and The Globe and Mail.

Dr. Oana Branzei guest-edited special issues of the Journal of Business Venturing, Journal of Business Ethics (2), and Organizations and Environment. Oana currently serves her second term as a Field Editor for the Journal of Business Venturing, commenced her first term as an Associate Editor for Business & Society. Professor Branzei completed full terms on the Editorial Review Boards of the Academy of Management Review, Academy of Management Learning and Education, Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Management, and Journal of Trust Research.

Since obtaining her doctorate from the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business in 2005, Oana has raised CAN$3.5 million in external funding by collaborating with, and impacting, more than 1000 organizations worldwide. Oana is a founding board member of Academia B and the Global Minds Collective