Nathan Pettit

Biography

Nate Pettit is Vice Dean for MBA and Graduate Programs and Professor of Management and Organizations at NYU Stern School of Business. In this role, he oversees Stern’s portfolio of MBA and specialized master’s programs, leading strategic initiatives in curriculum innovation, student experience, and cross-disciplinary partnerships. He previously served as Academic Director of the MBA Program and was the founding director of Stern’s Leadership Accelerator, an experiential hub that has shaped the leadership development journey of MBA students since 2019.

An award-winning teacher, Pettit is known for making the classroom experiential, engaging, and for asking: what justifies students’ physical co-location in class? His answer is to create learning through designed experiences. This philosophy has shaped a movement at Stern to increase active learning and update the technology and content in the MBA core. He has twice been voted “Professor of the Year” by Stern MBA students, seven-times voted “Great Professor” by Executive MBA cohorts, and is a recipient of Stern’s Distinguished Teaching Award, the school’s highest honor for pedagogy.

His research examines hierarchical dynamics, competition, and the psychology of status, with work published in leading outlets including Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Psychological Science, and Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. He serves on the editorial boards of Academy of Management Discoveries and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes.

Beyond the classroom, Pettit has helped design and deliver executive education programs for organizations such as Google, Goldman Sachs, ESPN, IBM, and Bayer. He has also played a central role in shaping Stern’s leadership education, from creating new orientation experiences for incoming MBAs to launching cross-industry leadership simulations in partnership with firms like Spencer Stuart.

Pettit’s leadership and service have been recognized with the George and Edythe Heyman Faculty Fellowship and Stern’s Leadership Excellence Award. He has also been named one of Poets & Quants’ “Top 40 Business School Professors Under 40” and proudly serves as the faculty advisor for the MBA student podcast, SternChats.

Research Interests

• Social hierarchy
• Underdogs and favorites
• Cross-cultural issues

Courses Taught

• Behavioral Leadership Skills (DC EMBA)
• Leadership (Full-time two year and focused one year MBA)
• Leadership in Organizations (NYC EMBA)

Academic Background

Ph.D., Management, 2011
Cornell University

M.A., Social-Organizational Psychology, 2006
Columbia University

M.P.S., Statistics, 2003
Cornell University

B.S., Statistics, 2002
Cornell University