Bruce Paton teaches courses on sustainable business, business models for poverty alleviation, and innovation for sustainability. He was named the Teaching Professor of the Year for the College of Business in 2005.
He currently serves as Chair of the Management Department. He returned to SF State in August 2011, after serving at the Monterey Institute of International Studies for two years as a visiting associate professor and as Chair of the Fisher International MBA Program.
His research focuses on business strategies for sustainability. A major emphasis in this research is development of methods for designing and evaluating collaborative initiatives to address social and environmental issues.
Dr. Paton was one of the founding members of the Sustainable Business MBA concentration and is currently helping to launch a new MBA emphasis in Social Innovation.
His teaching and research draws on more than 20 years of decision-making experience in industry, government and higher education.
His experience includes:
- Serving on the senior management team for a Silicon Valley startup,
- Managing manufacturing, quality, and environmental projects at Hewlett-Packard,
- Consulting for Fortune 500 companies, startup companies, government agencies, and not-for-profit organizations,
- Helping launch Sustainable Silicon Valley, a collaboration of more than 200 businesses, government agencies, and NGOs, and
- Serving as Director of Admissions for Stanford University's MBA program
He currently serves on the editorial boards for two journals - Academy of Management Learning and Education, and Business Strategy and Environment.
- PhD (2001), University of California, Santa Cruz
- MBA (1986), Stanford University
- BA (1976), Wesleyan University
- Academy of Management
- Greening of Industry Network
- International Association for Business and Society
