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Rich Lyons
Lyons in 2010
12th Chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley
Incumbent
Assumed office July 1, 2024
Preceded by	Carol T. Christ
Personal details
Born	Richard Kent Lyons (1961-02-10) February 10, 1961 (age 65) Palo Alto, California, U.S.
Education	University of California, Berkeley (BS) Massachusetts Institute of Technology (PhD)
Scientific career
Fields	Economics
Thesis	Three essays on exchange rate determination (1988)
Doctoral advisor	Rudiger Dornbusch

Richard Kent Lyons (born February 10, 1961)^[1][2][3] is an American economist who has been the 12th chancellor of the University of California, Berkeley, since July 2024.

At UC Berkeley, he served as chief innovation and entrepreneurship officer from 2020 to 2024 and as dean of its Haas School of Business from 2008 to 2018.^[4][5] He joined the UC Berkeley business faculty in 1993 after earning a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and teaching at Columbia University for six years.

Early life and education

Lyons was born on February 10, 1961,^[6] in Palo Alto, California. He received a Bachelor of Science in business from the University of California, Berkeley, and was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity there. He then received a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1988 under the supervision of Rudiger Dornbusch.^[7] He is married and has two children.^[3]

Career

Before joining Haas in 1993, Lyons spent six years on the faculty at Columbia Business School. In addition to teaching, he has been acting dean (2004–05), executive associate dean (2005–08), and dean (2008–18) at Haas School of Business. Lyons also served as the chief learning officer at Goldman Sachs in New York City from 2006 to 2008.

References