Scott Galloway

Scott Galloway was born on November 3, 1964, in Los Angeles, California. His father, a Scottish immigrant, worked as a sales executive, and his mother, a Jewish immigrant from London, worked as a secretary. He earned a BA in Economics from UCLA in 1987 and an MBA in Marketing from UC Berkeley in 1992. Following his graduation from UCLA, Galloway worked as a fixed income analyst at Morgan Stanley. His academic career began at NYU Stern School of Business, where he joined in 2002 as a Professor of Marketing, teaching Brand Strategy and Digital Marketing to MBA students. In 2012, Poets & Quants recognized him as “One of the World’s 50 Best Business School Professors.”

Galloway has founded several companies. In 1992, he established Prophet, a global brand strategy consultancy that grew to over 250 professionals. He also founded Red Envelope, an e-commerce firm that achieved $100 million in revenue by 2007. In 2010, he founded L2, a subscription business intelligence firm serving prestige brands, which Gartner acquired for $155 million in March 2017. Additionally, he founded Firebrand Partners in 2005, an activist hedge fund focused on U.S. consumer and media companies. In 2019, Galloway launched Section4, an executive-education startup that raised over $37 million in funding through 2021.

His research primarily focuses on the influence of large technology companies, often referred to as “The Four” (Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google). This focus led to his first book, “The Four: The Hidden DNA of Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Google,” published in 2017. Galloway is also known for his public speaking engagements, including TED-style talks called “Winners & Losers,” where he analyzes global brands’ digital competence through L2’s Digital IQ Index. He was named to the World Economic Forum’s “Global Leaders of Tomorrow,” acknowledging his global impact. He has served on the boards of directors for companies such as Eddie Bauer, The New York Times Company, and Urban Outfitters, and has made significant philanthropic contributions, including a $12 million donation to UCLA and UC Berkeley for immigrant student fellowships and the UC Excelerator program.