Andrea Larson, PhD, Founder
Committed to do well by doing good.
Andrea (Andy) Larson PhD, a founder of Sudoc LLC, advises the company on its fundamental mission to achieve financial return while delivering social and environmental benefits. Throughout her career, she has focused on the conditions under which organizations innovate in the service of positive social change.
As a professor at The Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia for more than twenty years, Andy pioneered the study of how sustainable development principles can be successfully designed into products, technologies, processes, supply chains, and strategies. In 2011 she published the first online textbook that explores how entrepreneurial innovation can contribute to an economy that prioritizes health, equity, robust ecosystems, and clean energy generation
Andy led the integration of entrepreneurship/sustainability materials into Darden’s MBA core curriculum. She offered her course Sustainability, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship in the MBA program at Darden and as guest faculty at Stanford Graduate School of Business. Now Professor Emerita at Darden, Andy has published extensively in books and journals, identifying opportunities for business innovators to address energy, pollution, environmental, health, economic, and equity challenges.
Prior to her academic career, Andy served in state and federal regulatory agencies, focusing on policy creation, product design safety, renewable energy, electric utilities, and water supply issues. Her work in Washington, DC non-profits exposed her to the positive influence of community activist groups and their participation challenges in national policy making.
Andy’s doctoral program combined studies at the Harvard Business School and in the Graduate Program in Sociology, Harvard Graduate School of Arts and Sciences (research emphasis on economic development and innovation). She earned a BA in political science from George Washington University.
Born in New Zealand, Andy grew up in Ohio. The mother of two adult children, she has played tennis professionally and achieved a black belt in Tae kwon do. She makes her home in Charlottesville, Virginia, where she has served on the boards of educational institutions and NGOs.