Woody Powell

Woody Powell is Jacks Family Professor of Education, and Professor of Sociology, Organizational Behavior, Management Science and Engineering, and Communication at Stanford University, and a faculty fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences. He was a founding co-director of the Stanford Center on Philanthropy and Civil Society in 2006, and currently shares the Marc and Laura Andreessen Co-Directorship with Rob Reich and Robb Willer. He is the 2018 -19 recipient of the Dean’s Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching in the School of Humanities and Sciences. Prior to moving to Stanford in 1999, he taught at Yale, MIT, and the University of Arizona. He has received honorary degrees from Uppsala University, Copenhagen Business School, and Aalto University, and is a foreign member of the Swedish Royal Academy of Science. He served as an external faculty member of the Santa Fe Institute from 2001-13, and continues his involvement with SFI today. His most recent books include The Emergence of Organizations and Markets, with John F. Padgett (Princeton University Press) and The Nonprofit Sector, co-edited with Patricia Bromley (forthcoming from Stanford University Press). His interests focus on the processes through which ideas and practices are transferred across organizations, and the role of networks in facilitating or hindering innovation.