Lynda M. Applegate
Henry R. Byers Professor of Business Administration

Lynda M. Applegate is the Henry R. Byers Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School , teaching courses in entrepreneurial management and business innovation and serving as head of the school's Field-Based Learning program. Lynda currently chairs HBS' Owner/Presidents Executive Programs and its Building New Ventures executive education and alumni programs. She is also developing the HBS Global Entrepreneurship Knowledge Network and is currently chairing the Building Ventures in Latin America program. In addition to her academic positions, Dr. Applegate previously worked in the automotive industry in the 1960s and held management positions in the health care industry during the 1970s.

Dr. Applegate's research and recent publications focus on the challenges of building new ventures in the face of significant market, technological, and regulatory turbulence. She is the author of 4 books, over 40 articles and book chapters, and 300 published case studies on this subject. She is also an active international consultant and has served on the board of directors of both public and venture-backed companies. During the late 1990s, Lynda participated on a Blue-Ribbon Panel to define a National Research Agenda on the development of the Network Economy, and participated in a roundtable of advisors to President Clinton's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection.

Robert D. Austin
Associate Professor

Robert D. Austin joined the Harvard Business School faculty in 1997. He currently teaches first year Technology and Operations Management MBA course, the information technology (IT) module of an executive program for owner/managers, and chairs the school's executive program for Chief Information Officers (CIOs). Professor Austin has also served as a senior executive in a new business created by a major technology company, and as a technology manager at the Ford Motor Company.

Professor Austin's research focuses on information technology management, and more generally on management of knowledge intensive activities. He has written on these subjects in academic and trade journals, and books including The Broadband Explosion: Leading Thinkers on the Promise of a Truly Interactive World and Artful Making: What Managers Need to Know About How Artists Work .

F. Warren McFarlan, the Albert H. Gordon Professor of Business Administration Emeritus, played a significant role in introducing Management Information Systems to the Harvard Business School in 1962. He is a long-time teacher in several advanced and executive management programs, as well as a second-year Information Systems course.

In addition to teaching, Professor McFarlan has served as Chairman of the Advanced Management Program (1975-78) , and Chairman of all Executive Education Programs (1979-1980). He has also held several Dean positions—most recently, Senior Associate Dean and Director of the Asia-Pacific initiative from 2000-2004.

Professor McFarlan's published work includes Connecting the Dots, and Seizing Strategic IT Advantage in China . He previously served a three-year term as Senior Editor of the MIS Quarterly (1986-1988) and is presently a member of several corporate and non-profit boards.