Peter Belmi

Education: Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior, Graduate School of Business at Stanford University.

Peter Belmi is the Scott C. Beardsley Associate Professor of Business Administration at the Darden School of Business and a Shannon Fellow at the University of Virginia. He also holds a courtesy appointment at the School of Engineering and Applied Science. Belmi earned his Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business. He serves on the editorial boards of Organization Science, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, and Academy of Management Discoveries.

Belmi’s research seeks to understand the socioeconomic divide in the United States and the role organizations can play in supporting upward mobility. He examines power and politics in organizations, the cultural dynamics of mainstream and elite firms, and the experiences of upwardly mobile individuals, people in lower socioeconomic contexts, and members of historically underrepresented groups. Drawing on psychology, sociology, and cultural anthropology, Belmi investigates the mindsets, behaviors, interactions, processes, and cultural ideals that create and reinforce social disparities.

Belmi’s work has been published in leading psychology and management journals, including the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Psychological Science, Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, Journal of Applied Psychology, Journal of Management, Organization Science, and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. His research has received numerous awards, including the Outstanding Research Award from the Society of Personality and Social Psychology, the Best Paper Award from the Excellence in Ethics Research Conference, the Best Article Award from the Academy of Management, and the Wells Fargo Award for Most Outstanding Research Publication. Thinkers50 named Belmi one of the “30 management thinkers most likely to shape the future.” His work has also been featured in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, Fortune, Forbes, NPR, Huffington Post, Newsweek, Financial Times, MarketWatch, The Boston Globe, Medium, Harvard Business Review, and Inside Higher Ed. 

At Darden, Belmi teaches courses on power, leadership, and organizational behavior. He is the course head for the FY Leading Organizations Core Course and the instructor of a popular SY MBA elective called "Paths to Power.” Beyond academia, he works with executives, managers, and professionals across a wide range of industries. He has been recognized multiple times for his impact in the classroom. In 2018, Poets & Quants named him one of the ‘40 Best Business Professors Under 40.’ That same year, he received the University of Virginia’s Mead-Colley Award, a distinction given to a Darden professor who embodies the Jeffersonian ideal of teaching. In 2020, he was honored with the Faculty Diversity Award for his exceptional contributions to diversity, equity, and inclusion within the Darden community. In 2023, 2024, and 2025, the graduating class voted Belmi as Faculty Marshal for the Residential MBA Program, the highest honor bestowed by graduating students. Most recently, in 2025, he received the All-University Teaching Award, which recognizes the University of Virginia’s most dedicated, passionate, and creative instructors.