I am an Assistant Professor of Strategic Management in the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto. My research interests are in innovation economics, energy and environmental economics, strategic management, and public finance. My work explores how firms and policymakers can foster innovation for social progress — innovation that protects people and the planet — with a particular focus on energy and environmental innovation. One of my current obsessions is understanding how firms respond to externality interdependencies and the implications for the direction of innovation, investment, policy, and strategy. I also have a new research stream that is starting to explore the implications of AI for the energy sector and energy strategies of AI firms.
I teach courses on strategy in the energy economy, focusing on the economic foundations for understanding energy markets and the use of economic reasoning to inform decision-making in energy-intensive industries. I was selected as a “Best 40-Under-40 Business School Professor” by Poets & Quants in 2024, and in 2022, I was named a Distinguished Fellow on Stakeholder Capitalism and ESG Investing by the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise. I am also a Research Affiliate of CESifo and an Invited Researcher with J-PAL’s Science for Progress Initiative.
Before joining Rotman, I was an Assistant Professor at MIT Sloan, and I previously held various positions in the private and public sectors working on energy policy and public finance issues as well as helping high-growth technology companies design and manage their reorganizations.
Email: jacquelyn.pless@rotman.utoronto.ca