2025 Best 40-Under-40 MBA Professors: Emmanouil Avgerinos, IE Business School

Emmanouil Avgerinos
IE Business School

“Professor Avgerinos (Manos) made the challenging subject of Data Analytics digestible and even fun. He has the patience and ability to teach students with all sorts of backgrounds and capabilities. I’m nominating him for this award because even today, nearly a year and a half post MBA graduation, I still use lessons from his class in my day to day work. Before Manos class, I never saw the relevance of data analytics to my career – now, I see it everywhere and in fact seek it out as a tool from my toolbox.” – Kathryn Sandridge

Emmanouil Avgerinos, 39, is an Associate Professor of Decision Sciences in the Operations and Technology area at IE Business School. 

His research focuses on how team, task and workforce dynamics affect performance in professional service operations and organizational decision making under uncertainty, and has been published in journals like Manufacturing and Service Operations Management, Production and Operations Management, Journal of Operations Management, Human Relations and Journal of Management. His work has been also featured in numerous practitioners’ journals like Forbes.

His paper “Team Familiarity and Productivity in Cardiac Surgery Operations: The Effect of Dispersion, Bottlenecks and Task Complexity” in Manufacturing and Service Operations Management was a Featured/Lead Article in the Winter 2017 Issue.

His paper “The Effect of Subcontracted Labor Mix on Financial Performance: Evidence from High-Tech Project Teams” in Manufacturing and Service Operations Management got the best student paper award of Operations and Supply Chain Management Division in the Academy of Management Annual Meeting 2020.

He is also the recipient of 6 teaching excellence awards at IE Business School and has successfully taught in other Schools like UCL, LSE, LBS and Trinity College Dublin.

He is the principal investigator of two research grants from the Spanish Ministry of Education. He has been the recipient of the MRes/PhD Scholarship in Analytics and Operations for five years at University College London, of a scholarship from the Education and European Culture Foundation, of the Gerondelis Foundation Scholarship and of the Great Moment for Education Eurobank Award.

 He is the cofounder of the company RevApp Dynamics and currently serves as COO of the company, having developed the product, which is a hotel room pricing algorithm. 

Finally, he is the elected vice chairman (and a city councilor) in the seventh district of Athens and serves as the vice chairman of the Athens city radio station Athina 9.84, as the chairman of Friendship Club of Ellinoroson, a club with open access for senior citizens seeking warmth, social contacts, interpersonal relationships or simply information & entertainment, as the chairman of the Secondary School Committee in the first district on the city of Athens and as consultant in digitalisation for the city of Athens, having the chance to apply part of his research. He has also given numerous interviews in Greek radio stations, newspapers and magazines promoting his policies.

BACKGROUND

At current institution since what year? 2016

Education: Bachelor and Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering at National Technical University of Athens; Master of Science in Operations Research at Columbia University, The Fu Foundation School of Engineering and Applied Science; PhD in Operations Management at University College London, UCL School of Management 

List of MBA courses you currently teach: Data Analytics for Managers (IMBA).

TELL US ABOUT LIFE AS A BUSINESS SCHOOL PROFESSOR

I knew I wanted to be a business school professor when… I taught my first seminar as Teaching Assistant at UCL as I loved every moment of it! 

What are you currently researching and what is the most significant discovery you’ve made from it? My most interesting current study is an investigation about how storytelling can affect cancer patients. We have run a pilot study with 30 patients and found some potentially exciting results, which indicate that storytelling can boost their positive thoughts and affect some hormones in a way that could potentially foster their therapy too. We are currently designing a more proper experiment with around 300 cancer patients. 

If I weren’t a business school professor… In the bad scenario I’d be a consultant, in the good one an entrepreneur.

What do you think makes you stand out as a professor? I try to help students both inside and outside the classroom by discussing their professional plans over a coffee, referring them to companies, etc. I have even offered advice to a student once about his/her marriage problems haha.

I also try to make every moment in class enjoyable by throwing short jokes when I explain something. I tend to say that I am an MBA stand-up comedian-tutor.

One word that describes my first time teaching:  Excitement with a pinch of nervousness too!

Here’s what I wish someone would’ve told me about being a business school professor: The challenges that come with keeping students happy and satisfied given the diverse but overall brilliant audience they are. It is not easy to gain their attention and interest.

Professor I most admire and why: I admire and highly appreciate many colleagues from all the universities that I have been to but if I had to choose, that would be my PhD supervisors Bert De Reyck and Bilal Gokpinar, since everything started for me thanks to them. Both are brilliant researchers, great tutors, remarkable individuals and very good people in general that helped (and keep helping) me from the beginning of my academic career. 

TEACHING MBA STUDENTS

What do you enjoy most about teaching business students? I really enjoy my time in class. The interaction with all my amazing students, exchanging insights from the industry and trying to affect their way of thinking as much as I can. Call me an optimist but I always feel that I am shaping future industry leaders, which is an incredibly fulfilling feeling. 

What is most challenging? In general, I think it is hard to make one’s sessions interesting for all the students given their diversified backgrounds and extensive experience in the industry. Regarding my course (i.e., data analytics), many students are terrified by it. And I don’t blame them as it does sound hard, especially if one does not have a quantitative background. Hence, I try hard to make them overcome their fear and decide to give it a try!  

In one word, describe your favorite type of student: Curious.

In one word, describe your least favorite type of student: Nagger. 

When it comes to grading, I think students would describe me as… Consistent and Fair.

LIFE OUTSIDE OF THE CLASSROOM

What are your hobbies? Politics, screenwriting, going out with friends, movies and tv shows.

How will you spend your summer? Island hopping in Greece.

Favorite place(s) to vacation:  Several Greek islands like Patmos, Koufonisi, Paros and Spetses.

Favorite book(s): I recently read The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck. Nice reading and quite useful for everyday life. The Art of War is also very easy and nice to read, and very useful in many aspects of one’s professional life. I highly suggest them both.

What is currently your favorite movie and/or show and what is it about the film or program that you enjoy so much? I ‘ve watched way too many movies and shows but if I had to choose one it’d be Trainspotting I. Acting, shooting and soundtrack are all amazing!

What is your favorite type of music or artist(s) and why? I really like garage alternative rock bands from the 90s and 00s like Dandy Warhols and Brian Jonestown Massacre. I think mostly because they trigger a feeling of nostalgia for these times. From nowadays’ music I enjoy a lot listening to the rock band Portugal the Man and the electronic dj Purple Disco Machine.

THOUGHTS AND REFLECTIONS

If I had my way, the business school of the future would have much more of this… Courses about business ethics and sustainability with mandatory volunteering activities too.

In my opinion, companies and organizations today need to do a better job at…being less greedy and treating their employees more as human beings and not as tools for achieving the desired KPIs.

 I’m grateful for… my supportive family, friends and colleagues, and for feeling ok with myself.

DON’T MISS: THE ENTIRE 2025 ROSTER OF THE WORLD’S BEST 40-UNDER-40 MBA PROFESSORS