Dan Elfenbein is Vice Dean for Research and Professor of Organization and Strategy at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, where he has been a member of the faculty since 2005. His research examines entrepreneurial decision-making, the role of reputation and relationships in sustaining competitive advantage, industry self-regulation, and the governance and strategic management of nonprofit organizations. His work has appeared in journals including Management Science, Organization Science, the Strategic Management Journal, the Review of Economic Studies, the American Economic Journal (Applied Economics, Microeconomics, and Economic Policy), and the Academy of Management Review, and has received best-paper awards from the Academy of Management and INFORMS. He currently serves as Senior Editor of Strategy Science and on the editorial boards of Organization Science, the Academy of Management Review, and the Academy of Management Perspectives.

At Olin, Elfenbein has served as Area Chair for Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Academic Director of the MBA Consulting Industry Platform, and Associate Dean and Academic Director of the joint WashU-Fudan Executive MBA program in Shanghai. He teaches strategy and entrepreneurship to MBA, EMBA, and undergraduate students and has received multiple teaching awards, including Olin's Marcile and James Reid Chair for Teaching Excellence. He holds a Ph.D. and M.A. in Business Economics and a B.A. in Chemistry, summa cum laude, from Harvard University, and previously served as a staff economist for the President's Council of Economic Advisers.