Faculty and Research

Mary Tripsas is an Associate Professor in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at the Harvard Business School where she currently teaches an elective, "Leading Innovative Ventures." She has also taught "The Entrepreneurial Manager,"  and "Technology and Competitive Strategy," and is active in executive education. Before coming to Harvard, Professor Tripsas was on the faculty of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

Professor Tripsas earned her Ph.D. from the Sloan School at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, her MBA from the Harvard Business School, and her B.S. from the University of Illinois at Urbana.

Professor Tripsas' research examines how radical technological change transforms industries, exploring both innovation in established firms, and entrepreneurial opportunities. Her recent work focuses on the socio-cognitive processes that actors engage in as they make sense of radically new technology. She explores these issues through in-depth, longitudinal industry studies and is currently studying technological change and industry evolution in the context of publishing and digital imaging. She served on the Board of Directors of Lexar Media, a leading producer of digital film and other solid state storage products, prior to its acquisition by Micron. She previously wrote a monthly column on innovation, Prototype, for the New York Times.

Before entering academia, Professor Tripsas was a strategy consultant in the Cambridge and Milan offices of Monitor Company where she served clients in a broad range of industries including telecommunications, defense electronics, financial services, retail, beer and frozen desserts. She also worked for IBM in the early 1980's as a software developer and as a member of the sales force.