Ioana Popescu

Ioana Popescu is a Professor of Decision Sciences and the Strategy& Chaired Professor of Revenue Management at INSEAD. She holds a dual PhD in Operations Research and in Applied Mathematics from MIT, and a BA (summa cum laude) in Mathematics and Computer Science from Wellesley College.

Ioana’s research is at the interface of decision analytics and behavioural operations. An expert in revenue management and pricing analytics, she is currently researching new revenue models for the bottom of the pyramid, with the aim to improve access to finance and energy for unserved markets.

Featured in leading academic journals, including Management Science, Operations Research, Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, Mathematics of Operations Research, her work has been honoured with several research excellence awards, including the M&SOM Best Paper Award (2012), the INFORMS Decision Analysis Best Student Paper Award (2010, finalist 2008), the INFORMS Junior Faculty Best Paper Award (2003, finalist 2005) and a Nicholson prize finalist (2000).

At INSEAD, Professor Popescu has received numerous accolades for her teaching, including the Best Teacher Award for MBA core courses and the Dean’s Commendation for Teaching Excellence every year since instated. Ioana developed the first business course on revenue management and pricing analytics for the MBA and Executive Education programmes, and she teaches the Uncertainty, Data and Judgment core course in the MBA programme, Executive Education modules on decision making, and a PhD course on dynamic programming.

A regular speaker at academic and professional conferences and events, Professor Popescu has held Associate Editor positions at Management Science, Operations Research and Manufacturing & Service Operations Management. She served as guest editor for Informs Transactions on Education, as well as on the boards of the Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management and the Revenue Management and Pricing Section of INFORMS. Currently based in Singapore, Ioana has lived on four continents and was honoured as a YGL (2009) by the World Economic Forum.

Education

• PhD Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1995 — 1999)
• BA Wellesley College (1993 — 1995)
• University of Bucharest (1991 — 1993)
• Global Leadership and Public Policy Harvard University, John F. Kennedy School of Government (2014)

Companies

• Professor of Decision Sciences INSEAD (1999)
• Young Global Leader World Economic Forum (2009 — 2014)

RESEARCH AREAS

Pricing and Revenue Management, Behavioural Pricing, Dynamic Optimisation, Decision Making Under Uncertainty, Moment Problems

TEACHING AREAS

Dynamic Pricing and Revenue Management, Uncertainty, Data and Judgment, Decision Making, Dynamic Programming

INDUSTRY SECTORS

Information Technology, Leisure, Entertainment & Hotels, Retailing, Transport