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09/10/2025 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 09/10/2025 17:04

Karsten Theil Hansen Named Duane A. Nelles Jr. Endowed Chair in Corporate Governance

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September 10, 2025

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The University of California San Diego has announced that Karsten Theil Hansenhas been named the inaugural recipient of the Duane A. Nelles Jr. Endowed Chair in Corporate Governance.

The chair was established with funding from a testamentary pledge from Ernest and Evelyn Rady, through the Rady Foundation, together with a gift from Qualcomm Inc., and additional funds from the Rady School of ManagementDean's Discretionary Fund. Named in honor of Duane A. Nelles Jr.'s service on the executive board at Qualcomm, the chair was established to recruit and retain exceptional faculty at the Rady School of Management with support for their teaching and research. Endowed chairs are among the most prestigious honors bestowed upon faculty, recognizing professors whose innovative work leads their field, impacts our dynamic campus community and transforms our world.

"Endowed chairs are a powerful way to recognize excellence and invest in the future of academic leadership," said Lisa Ordóñez, dean of the Rady School. "I am proud to see Professor Hansen named the inaugural holder of the Duane A. Nelles Jr. Endowed Chair in Corporate Governance. His groundbreaking work in machine learning and artificial intelligence exemplifies the innovative, interdisciplinary research we champion at the Rady School of Management. We are grateful to the Rady Family Foundation and Qualcomm for their support in honoring Duane Nelles' legacy through this meaningful appointment."

Karsten Theil Hansen Duane A. Nelles Jr. Endowed Chair in Corporate Governance, Professor of Marketing. Credit: Rady School of Management

Hansen is a professor of marketing within the UC San Diego Rady School of Management's Master of Business Analytics program. His research focuses on applying Bayesian learning (updating beliefs as new evidence comes in), machine learning and AI frameworks to advance understanding of human behavior and markets.

"I am grateful to Qualcomm and the Rady Family Foundation for their visionary support of this chair, established in honor of Duane Nelles," said Hansen. "This endowed chair supports a more responsible future when it comes to the use of emerging technology in business. It enables us to explore how we can meet the fundamental ethical and socioeconomic challenges society faces due to technological innovation."

Nelles served as a director for Qualcomm from 1988 to 2015. He also served as a director of numerous public and private companies. Nelles is a certified public accountant and holds a B.A. degree from Albion College and an MBA from the University of Michigan.

The announcement of the new chair comes after several recent appointments of Rady faculty to existing chairs. Those include: Craig McKenzie, Professor of Management and Psychology with a joint appointment at the Rady School and School of Social Sciences - Jerome Katzin Chair in Corporate Governance Sally Sadoff, Professor of Economics and Strategy - Arthur Brody Chair in Management Leadership Marta Serra-Garcia, Associate Professor of Economics and Strategy - Phyllis and Daniel Epstein Chancellor's Endowed Faculty Fellowship "The continued investment in endowed faculty chairs reflects the growing stature of the Rady School and the exceptional caliber of our faculty," Ordóñez added. "These gifts are vital to advancing our mission of shaping the future of business through world-class research and education. We are deeply grateful to our donors for their vision and generosity in empowering Rady's academic leadership for generations to come." Learn more about giving at UC San Diego at https://giving.ucsd.edu/. Learn more about research and education at UC San Diego in: Artificial Intelligence LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW YOU CAN SUPPORT UC SAN DIEGO »
The continued investment in endowed faculty chairs reflects the growing stature of the Rady School and the exceptional caliber of our faculty. Lisa Ordóñez, dean of the Rady School Management at UC San Diego

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