Benjamin Esty

Benjamin Esty is the Roy and Elizabeth Simmons Professor of Business Administration. He served as Head of the Finance Unit (department) at Harvard Business School from 2009-2014. Before that, he was the founding faculty chairman of the General Management Program (GMP), a comprehensive leadership program designed to create outstanding business leaders. Professor Esty currently teaches the introductory finance course in the first year of the MBA program, but has taught a variety of elective courses including advanced corporate finance and project finance. The project finance course, called Large-Scale Investment (LSI), analyzed how firms structure, value, finance, and negotiate large capital investments. He also teaches in a variety of executive education programs and served as the faculty chairman for the Summer Venture in Management Program for 14 years (SVMP is a management training program for college students designed to promote educational diversity and opportunity--see the article describing the program). Professor Esty has received the Student Association Award for teaching excellence multiple times, the Charles M. Williams Award for contributions to student learning, the Apgar Award for teaching innovations, and the Greenhill Award for outstanding service to the school (twice). The more recent Greenhill Award recognized his leadership of the Conflicts of Interest Task Force, a committee responsible for writing policies governing the faculty's outside activities, and his service as the School's de facto co-Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) from 2011-14. Professor Esty received his Ph.D. in Business Economics with a concentration in finance from Harvard University; his MBA with high distinction (Baker Scholar) from Harvard Business School; and his BA degree in Economics with honors and distinction from Stanford University.