Natarajan Balasubramanian named Whitman School’s inaugural Albert & Betty Hill Professor

Indian American professor gets endowed professorship celebrating the outstanding accomplishments of the school’s best scholars and world-class thinkers

Indian American Professor Natarajan Balasubramanian has become the inaugural Albert & Betty Hill Professor at Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management, effective July 1.

With a PhD from the University of California, Los Angeles, Balasubramanian joined the Whitman School in 2009, according to a media release.

His research focuses on understanding economic value creation by new and existing firms, using large-scale data to uncover generalizable facts and how competition, innovation and learning affect the entry and performance of firms.

Balasubramanian’s teaching includes areas of strategic management, firm performance, technological change and industry evolution to undergraduate and graduate students at the Whitman School.

Balasubramanian has an impressive list of publications in leading journals, including Management Science, Review of Economics and Statistics and Strategic Management Journal.

He has received a number of awards, including the prestigious Kauffman Junior Faculty Fellowship, finalist at the Outstanding Dissertation Award Competition of the Business Policy and Strategy Division of the Academy of Management, and several from the Whitman School, including the Edward Pettinella Associate Professorship of Business, and the Whitman Research Fellow. Balasubramanian was recently named associate editor of Strategic Management Journal.

The professorship was established through a $1 million bequest from the late Robert S. Hill, a graduate of the School of Management, in memory of his parents, Albert and Betty (Grossman) Hill, and in thanks for the personal attention he received from the University and his desire to continue to “elevate the stature and quality of the institution,” the release stated.

“It is quite rare that a school installs a new endowed professorship, but when we do it’s to celebrate the outstanding accomplishments of our best scholars and world-class thinkers who are significantly influencing their field,” says Interim Dean Alex McKelvie. “Professor Balasubramanian is very deserving of this achievement, and this professorship will provide him resources to further his research and positively impact the reputation of the Whitman School.”