Charles Eesley

Chuck Eesley is an associate professor and W.M. Keck Foundation Faculty Scholar in the department of management science and engineering at Stanford University. As part of the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, his research focuses on the role of the institutional and university environment in high-growth, technology entrepreneurship. 

Eesley was selected in 2015 as an Inaugural Schulze Distinguished Professor, and has been recognized by the National Science Foundation of China and the Kauffman Award. With this support, he has researched the effects of the educational and policy environment on the economic impact of university alumni. Over the past three years, Eesley has played a growing role in national and international meetings on fostering high-tech entrepreneurship, including advising the U.S. State Department in the Global Innovation through Science and Technology program, Chile (CORFO), Taiwan (ITRI), and the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology. He is also a member of the Editorial Board for the Strategic Management Journal. 

Before coming to Stanford, Eesley completed his Ph.D. at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he won BPS Division and Kauffman Dissertation Awards for his work on high-tech entrepreneurship in China.

King Center Supported Research

2024 - 2025 Academic Year | Global Development Research Funding Grant

Empowering Refugees Through Entrepreneurship: Training, Microfinance, and Market Access in Uganda

This project aims to improve refugee livelihoods in Uganda through a bundled intervention that combines entrepreneurship training, mentoring, and microloans. Building on prior pilots and new evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa, we test a scalable “graduation model” designed to enhance opportunity development among refugee entrepreneurs. The project will use a rigorous evaluation design with local partners to assess impacts on business outcomes and livelihoods. By bridging entrepreneurship theory with development practice, this research contributes to both academic literature and practical policymaking for economic inclusion in displacement settings. Results will inform future program design across similar low-resource contexts globally.