Dr. Grichnik is a Professor of Entrepreneurship and Director of the Institute of Technology Management at the University of St. Gallen (HSG). As the founder and director of the Global Centre for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, he actively supports HSG spin-offs and contributes to strengthening the Swiss start-up ecosystem. He previously served as Dean of the HSG School of Management.
Since February 2024, he has held the position of Vice-Rector for Innovation and Quality in the new Rectorate of the University of St. Gallen. He takes pride in the development of start-up support at the University over the past 14 years through Startup@HSG. Empowering talents and inspiring leaders remain central to his mission.
His research and professional focus lie in corporate venturing, entrepreneurial finance, and the management of start-ups and scale-ups. Before his current role, he held professorial positions at WHU – Otto Beisheim School of Management and Witten/Herdecke University. He has also held visiting professorships at the University of Melbourne, ESADE Business School in Barcelona, and Luiss Business School in Rome, as well as visiting positions at Harvard Business School and Babson College in Boston. In addition, he has lectured at ETH Zurich. He is the co-author of several books and has published over 200 scholarly articles on entrepreneurship, finance, and management.
His passion lies in fostering entrepreneurial thinking, decision-making, and action across diverse contexts.
A former banker, he is also an investor in high-growth private companies, including First Stop Health, a telemedicine firm listed in America's Inc. 500, and CareerOS, an EduTech start-up based in the United States. He serves on the board of the Foundation Switzerland Innovation (Stiftungsrat) and the Switzerland Innovation Park Ost (Verwaltungsrat). In his role as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the HSG START Accelerator Foundation (Stiftungsratspräsident), he is committed to advancing interdisciplinary technology start-ups in collaboration with regional partners.
In his free time, he enjoys spending time with his family, practising CrossFit, and doing yoga.