Cheng Gao

Cheng Gao is an Assistant Professor of Strategy and Research Director of the Zell Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurship at Michigan Ross. His research focuses on innovation strategy, entrepreneurship, and nonmarket strategy in new technology industries and is published in leading academic journals. His work received the Academy of Management's Best Dissertation Award (Technology and Innovation Management Division) and the Heizer Doctoral Dissertation Award (Entrepreneurship Division). 

Gao teaches Advanced Strategy in the elective curriculum. He is a recipient of the Neary Teaching Excellence Award for the MBA, WMBA, and BBA programs, awarded to one faculty member at Ross by the graduating class. He also holds a Harvard University Certificate of Distinction in Teaching and was named by Poets & Quants as a “Top 50 Undergraduate Business Professor.”

Prior to academia, Gao was a management consultant at Oliver Wyman in New York and principal research assistant to a former deputy assistant secretary of state at CSIS, a Washington think tank. He holds a doctorate in strategy from Harvard Business School and a bachelor’s degree in economics from Harvard College, and is a recipient of the HBS Dean’s Award for Service to the School and Society. He serves on the board of directors of Barton Malow.