David Oliver is a Professor of Strategic Management at Monash Business School, where he is the Head of the Department of Management. Prior to joining Monash in 2024, David was Head of the Discipline of Strategy, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Sydney Business School, where he led the expansion of this new and multidisciplinary discipline focused on innovation, entrepreneurship, sustainability, and Indigenous success. He was previously an Associate Professor at HEC Montreal, and a Research Fellow at the Swiss-based Imagination Lab Foundation, where he researched and refined the “serious play’ strategy-making technique.

David is an authority on identity and its links to strategy processes and practices in organisations. He studies the conditions under which identity, on individual and collective levels, impacts coherence and innovation in organisational strategy work. His more recent work also addresses how identity and strategy processes can effectively engage external stakeholders, both in established organisations and start-ups.

David has published 20 peer-reviewed journal articles, eight book chapters, one book, and has received 12 research grants. Recently, his publications have appeared in Academy of Management Journal, Strategic Management Journal, Academy of Management Discoveries and Strategic Organization, as well as contributions to volumes such as the Cambridge Handbook of Strategy as Practice and the Oxford Handbook of Identities in Organizations. David is award-winning teacher of strategic management to students in MBA and Executive MBA, postgraduate, and executive education programs. He is a regular presenter, panellist, mentor and convenor at international conferences, and sits on the Editorial Board of European Management Journal.