Maria Pilar Opazo Breton

Pilar Opazo is an Assistant Professor of the Practice at the Carroll School of Management, Boston College.

Prior to coming to Boston College, she was a Post-Doctoral Associate and Lecturer in the Work and Organization group at MIT Sloan School of Management. She was also at Columbia University Graduate School of Business as a Post-Doctoral Research Scholar and an Adjunct Assistant Professor.

Pilar’s research interests include organizational theory, innovation studies, negotiation and qualitative methods. Her research has been supported by Fulbright Commission and by a grant from Telefonica R&D, Spain’s major telecommunications company.

She is the author of Appetite for Innovation (Columbia University Press). The book uses ethnographic methods to examine the organization of creativity and the nature of radical innovation by examining the case of “elBulli,” the avant-garde restaurant directed by Chef Ferran Adria that has revolutionized the gastronomy industry.

Pilar’s other published works include two co-authored Spanish-language volumes, Communications in Organizations and Negotiation: Competing or Collaborating. Her work has also been published in Organization Studies, Sociological Theory and the International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science.

She received her PhD in Sociology from Columbia University and a BA from the Catholic University of Chile.

Education

• Post-Doctoral Researcher and Lecturer Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2017 — 2019)
• Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) Columbia University in the City of New York (2008 — 2014)
• M.A in Sociology Columbia University in the City of New York (2008 — 2010)
• Minor Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (2004 — 2005)
• Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (2001 — 2005)

Companies

• Assistant Professor of the Practice Boston College Carroll School of Management (2019)
• Postdoctoral Associate and Lecturer MIT Sloan School of Management (2017)
• Post-Doctoral Research Scholar and Adjunct Assistant Professor Columbia Business School (2014 — 2017)
• Centro de Estudios Infocap Infocap, "Universidad del Trabajador" (2006 — 2008)