Charlene is a chaired professor in Organization Studies and Director of Entrepreneurship at the Schulich School of Business, York University, Canada. Her research interests focus on innovation, usually for social and environmental sustainability, using the lenses of institutional theory, social movement theory and entrepreneurship.

She has published in top journals, including the Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Organization Studies, Journal of Business Venturing, and others. She is a senior editor at Organization Studies, and guest editor of special issues of Strategic Organization (on Institutional Complexity) and Business and Society (on Social Innovation), and a special themed section of Organization Studies (on Emotions and Institutions), and she serves on several other editorial boards.