Tom Byers

At Stanford University since 1995, Professor Tom Byers focuses on education regarding high-growth entrepreneurship and technology innovation. He is the first holder of the Entrepreneurship Professorship endowed chair in the School of Engineering and also a Bass University Fellow in Undergraduate Education. He has been a faculty director since the inception of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program (STVP), which serves as the entrepreneurship center for the School of Engineering. His current activities at STVP include its Principled Entrepreneurial Action and Knowledge (PEAK) project, its Mayfield Fellows work/study program in entrepreneurial leadership, and its Stanford eCorner collection of thought leader videos and podcasts. He was the director and PI of the Epicenter, funded by the National Science Foundation to stimulate entrepreneurship education at all US engineering and science colleges. Tom is a co-author of the Technology Ventures: From Idea to Enterprise textbook from McGraw-Hill, now in its 5th edition.

Tom is a Keohane Distinguished Visiting Professor at UNC-Chapel Hill and Duke University. He has been a recipient of the prestigious Gordon Prize by the National Academy of Engineering in the USA and Stanford University's Gores Award, which is its highest honor for excellence in teaching. He is a member of the board of trustees at Menlo College and advisory boards at Harvard Business School and Conservation International. Tom was executive vice president and general manager of Symantec Corporation during its formation, and started his career at Accenture. Tom holds a BS in Industrial Engineering and Operations Research and an MBA from UC Berkeley. He also earned a PhD in Business Administration (Management Science) at UC Berkeley.