Dimitri V. D'Arbeloff - MBA Class of 1955 Professor of Business
Administration
Senior Associate Dean for External Relations
William Sahlman is the Dimitri V. D'Arbeloff - Class of 1955 Professor of
Business Administration at Harvard Business School. The d'Arbeloff Chair was
established in 1986 to support teaching and research on the entrepreneurial
process.
Mr. Sahlman received an A.B. degree in Economics from Princeton University,
an M.B.A. from Harvard University, and a Ph.D. in Business Economics, also from
Harvard.
His research focuses on the investment and financing decisions made in
entrepreneurial ventures at all stages in their development. Mr. Sahlman has
written numerous articles on topics including entrepreneurial management,
venture capital and private equity, deal structuring, and the role of
entrepreneurship in the global economy.
In 1985, Mr. Sahlman introduced a new second-year elective course called
Entrepreneurial Finance. That course has been taken by over 8,000 students since
it was first offered. Mr. Sahlman and an HBS co-author, Paul Gompers, published
a casebook in 2002 entitled Entrepreneurial Finance (Wiley). In 2000,
he helped introduce and teach a new course in the first year called The
Entrepreneurial Manager. In 2006, he and HBS co-authors, Michael J. Roberts,
Howard H. Stevenson, Paul Marshall, and Richard G. Hamermesh, published a
casebook entitled New Business Ventures and the Entrepreneur (McGraw
Hill - Irwin). Mr. Sahlman has developed over 170 cases and notes for classroom
use.
Mr. Sahlman is Senior Associate Dean for External Relations. He was co-chair
of the Entrepreneurial Management Unit from 1999 to 2002. From 1991 to 1999, he
was Senior Associate Dean, Director of Publishing Activities, and chairman of
the board for Harvard Business School Publishing Corporation. From 1990 to 1991,
he was chairman of the Harvard University Advisory Committee on Shareholder
Responsibility. He is a member of the board of directors or board of advisors of
several private companies and not-for-profit organizations.
About the HBS Virtual Learning Series (VLS)
Each month (summer months excluded), HBS offers a one-hour audio-only conference call to HBS alumni who are paid members of all registered alumni clubs throughout the world. This unique series of events produced by HBS will feature business topics of exceptional importance and significant current interest to HBS alumni, with a selected HBS professor making a brief presentation. A Q&A session, with questions submitted to the moderator in real time (via email), will follow.
We supply the conference call number and professor, and you listen in! All you have to do is put your phone on "mute" and listen to the most up-to-date comments and insights regarding the topic at hand. Questions can be submitted via e-mail, either before-hand or in real time during the call. VLS events are exclusively available to paid members of the HBS Clubs only.
