Marc van Essen is associate dean of international programs and partnerships as well as a professor of the Sonoco International Business Department, and director of the undergraduate and graduate international business program at the Moore School. He has previously worked as a professor of entrepreneurship and innovation at the School of Management at the University of St. Gallen.

His research interests include entrepreneurship, comparative corporate governance, international business, family business and meta-analytic research methods. The results of this research have been published in leading journals, including Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Banking and Finance, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Management, Journal of Management Studies, and Organization Science and others.

Additionally, he has received several research distinctions and awards, including the 2017 Family Firm Institute Best Unpublished Research Award, Coles College of Business Working Paper Series Best Paper Award 2017, the OMT Best International Paper Award 2011 and 2016, Jürgen Hauschildt Best Paper Award (2015) in Innovation Management (VHB), the 2012 APJM Best Paper Award, Richard Farmer Best Dissertation Award of the Academy of International Business (2012), the Erasmus Research Institute of Management Best dissertation award of 2012 and inclusion in the best paper proceedings in 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2016 annual meetings of the Academy of Management.

van Essen has developed and taught the course, Business in Europe, in the undergraduate and Professional MBA programs at the Darla Moore School of Business, in SIM Master at University of St. Gallen, Summer School of EDHEC Business School, and in CEMS Program at HEC Paris. He has also taught the Comparative Corporate Governance course for the Master of International Business (MIB) program, Global Management Practices at master level, international entrepreneurship in the MBA program, and Current Empirical Research in International Business and Meta-analysis at Ph.D. level. He has received the award for best professor of the semester from the Delta Zeta student organization nominating outstanding professors at the University of South Carolina.