Corey Phelps, Ph.D.

John and Karen Arnold Dean and Professor of Strategy at the Smeal College of Business

Pennsylvania State University

Corey Phelps is the John and Karen Arnold Dean and Professor of Strategy at the Pennsylvania State University Smeal College of Business, one of the country’s leading public business schools. As Dean, Professor Phelps is the chief academic and executive officer of Penn State’s second-largest college, with over 8,000 students and nearly 400 full-time faculty and staff. Professor Phelps has lived and worked in the U.S., France and Canada and has taught or consulted in over 30 countries.

Before Penn State, Professor Phelps was the Dean and Fred E. Brown Chair of Business at the University of Oklahoma Price College of Business. Prior to OU, he was Associate Dean of Executive Programs and Education, Professor of Strategy and Organization, and Marcel Desautels Faculty Fellow at the Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University. He previously served on the faculties of HEC Paris and the University of Washington and holds a Ph.D. from New York University’s Stern School of Business.

Professor Phelps’s research, published in leading management journals, explores how organizations innovate, grow and adapt to changing competitive conditions and has been cited over 9,500 times according to Google Scholar. His book – Cracked It! How to Solve Big Problems and Sell Solutions Like Top Strategy Consultants (co-authored with Bernard Garrette and Olivier Sibony) – was published in 2018 by Palgrave Macmillan and has garnered considerable media attention.

In addition to his undergraduate, MBA and Executive MBA teaching, Professor Phelps has delivered keynote presentations, executive training programs and consulting engagements to over 80 organizations in Europe, North America, Asia-Pacific and the Middle East. In recognition of his teaching excellence, he received the Pierre Vernimmen BNP Paribas Award at HEC Paris and undergraduate and MBA professor of the year awards at the University of Washington.