Biography
Distinguished economist and academic leader Jonathan Levin became Stanford University's thirteenth president on August 1, 2024.
President Levin previously served as the Philip H. Knight Professor and Dean of Stanford Graduate School of Business. A leading economist, he is widely recognized for his scholarship in industrial organization and market design.
Jonathan Levin was born and raised in New Haven, Connecticut. He earned undergraduate degrees in English and Mathematics at Stanford in 1994, an M.Phil in Economics at Oxford University in 1996, and a PhD in Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1999. After joining the Stanford faculty in 2000, Levin rose through the ranks to become the Holbrook Working Professor of Price Theory in the Department of Economics. He served as department chair from 2011 to 2014, a period of rising stature for Stanford economics.
Levin’s scholarly work has spanned topics ranging from incentive contracts to game theory, e-commerce, and health insurance. He has conducted influential research on the organization and design of markets, subprime lending, and empirical methods to study imperfect competition.
In 2011, he received the John Bates Clark Medal as the economist under the age of 40 who has made the most significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge. Levin is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a former Guggenheim Fellow, and a recipient of department and school awards for distinguished teaching.
In September 2016, Levin became the tenth dean of the Stanford Graduate School of Business. Under his leadership, Stanford GSB strengthened its position as the preeminent institution of management research and education. The school invested in new research programs, reimagined and significantly increased financial aid, expanded online and global programs, introduced classes for Stanford undergraduates, and developed ambitious collaborations focused on technology, sustainability, and other critical issues for business and society.
Levin serves as a member of President Biden’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. He is a Trustee of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. He has consulted widely in industry and government. He was part of the international expert group that designed the first vaccine Advance Market Commitment for pneumococcal disease and participated in the design of the FCC’s noted broadcast spectrum incentive auction.
President Levin and his wife, Amy Levin, a practicing physician, have raised three children on the Stanford campus and enjoy spending as much time as possible adventuring in the outdoors.
