Faculty Directory
The Graduate School of Management at UC Davis brings together distinguished scholars and industry experts from all over the world. Alongside our students, they create a vibrant educational experience with real-world relevance and a culture of camaraderie.
Our instructors have both academic expertise and practical experience, giving you a well-rounded and relevant MBA education. Plus, with a low student-to-faculty ratio, these diverse, high-quality faculty get to know you by first name and serve as mentors as you grow your professional network after graduation.
They've trained at top schools, including Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, Carnegie Mellon University, Harvard University, The University of Chicago, Cornell University and Northwestern University.
Through a powerful combination of case studies, seminars, guest speakers, simulations and team projects, they turn complex concepts into actionable tools you can use throughout your career.
Mak Ahmad
Lecturer
Ph.D., Computer Science, UC Davis, In Progress
Master of Science (M.S.), Computer Science, Sonoma State University, 2017
Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Computer and Electrical Engineering, UC Davis, 2004
Research Expertise
Visualization and Human-Computer Interaction
Areas of Expertise
Technology Management
Shannon W. Anderson
Professor Emerita
Ph.D., Harvard University
Research Expertise
Empirical analysis of quantitative and qualitative field-based data as well as survey data to study performance management and cost accounting in and at the boundaries of the firm (e.g., lean production, supplier performance management, customer profitability and lean consumption), integration of strategy, operations management and management accounting practices, and design of cost accounting systems, cost allocation mechanisms, and cost-based transfer pricing policy
Charles Ansbach
Lecturer
Charles Ansbach has worked with major corporations nationally and internationally representing not only their interests in discussions as donors to major nonprofits/NGOs but also in appeals for support and partnership made by community groups. In those many interactions, he learned why most corporate CSR programs fail and how to fix them. Ansbach has learned what CSR directors must do to manage their programs inside corporate structures and the practical sides of serving effectively in that role.
Cyrus Aram
Lecturer
MBA, UC Davis Graduate School of Management
Lecturer Cyrus Aram brings over 20 years of private and public sector experience in the areas of customer strategy, business transformation, planning, program, change and quality management. He has domain level expertise in customer strategy, business process transformation, lean sigma, program and change management, performance management and business controls, and thought leadership. He is also an adjunct faculty at the Sacramento State College of Business Administration.
Richard Armstrong
Lecturer
MBA, University of California, Davis
B.S., Cornell
Teaching Expertise
Accounting
Ed Arnheiter
Lecturer
Ph.D., Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 1997
M.S., Engineering Management, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 1994
B.S., Mechanical Engineering, Union College (NY), 1983
Research Expertise
Manufacturing, Lean Six Sigma, Quality Control, Continuous Improvement
Areas of Expertise
Business Analytics, Operations Management, Statistics
Brad M. Barber
Distinguished Professor Emeritus
AAAS Fellow
Ph.D., University of Chicago, Booth School of Business
Ph.D., University of Maryland
Research Expertise
Behavioral finance, asset pricing, gender, and private equity.
Teaching Expertise
Financial Theory and Policy
Beth Bechky
Professor, Stephen G. Newberry Chair in Leadership
Ph.D., Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management, Stanford University, 1999
Master of Arts (M.A.), Sociology, Stanford University 1992
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) (with honors), Industrial and Labor Relations, Cornell University 1991
Research Expertise: Future of work, occupations and professions, collaboration.
Amber Beckler
Lecturer
Master of Business Administration (MBA), UC Davis Graduate School of Management
Hemant Bhargava
Distinguished Professor, Jerome and Elsie Suran Chair in Technology Management
Director, Center for Analytics and Technology in Society
Paul Bianchi
2019 & 2020 Robert A. Fox Executive in Residence
Masters in Management, University of Kent, Canterbury
B.S., Managerial Economics, UC Davis
Paul Bianchi is an experienced and successful human capital executive and consultant with over 25 years of high-technology leadership experience from innovative companies like NeXT, Apple, Ask Jeeves, PeopleSoft and Illumina.
Nicole Woolsey Biggart
Research Professor and Professor Emerita
Ph.D., University of California, Berkeley
Chair, Social, Political and Economic Sciences section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
Research Expertise
Economic and organizational sociology, firm networks, industrial change and social bases of technology adoption.
Course Taught
Strategic Innovations in Energy Efficiency
Fast Facts
Jörn Boehnke
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of Chicago
Research Expertise
Applied Microeconomics, Quantitative Marketing, Empirical Industrial Organization, Labor Economics, Online Market Platforms, Dynamics of Customer Behavior and Pricing
Nick Briscoe
Lecturer
Master of Science (M.S.), UC Davis
Nicholas Briscoe is Chief Economist at Briscoe Economics Group, Inc. He provides valuation consulting and expert witness testimony in a wide variety of economic and financial matters. He teaches as the UC Davis Graduate School of Management as part of the adjunct faculty. Briscoe’s prior positions include manager in the forensic services division of the accounting firm Crowe Horwath, LLP, as well as Senior Economist at Cohen | Volk Economic Consulting Group.
David S. Bunch
Professor Emeritus
Ph.D., Rice University
Research Expertise: Marketing research, marketing science, decision and management sciences, consumer choice behavior, choice modeling, new product development and introduction
Professor David Bunch is an internationally recognized expert on marketing research, marketing science and decision and management sciences. His research interests include consumer choice behavior, choice modeling, new product development and introduction, travel behavior, vehicle choice and alternative fuel vehicles.
Sebastian Calonico
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. in Economics, University of Michigan, 2014
M.A. in Statistics, University of Michigan, 2012
Research Expertise
Program Evaluation, Causal Inference Methodology, Robust statistical inference, Nonparametric Methods, Data Science
Monica Camarena
Lecturer
Master of Business Administration (MBA), UC Davis Graduate School of Management, 2020
Richard P. Castanias II
Professor Emeritus
Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University
Research Expertise
Finance, capital market theory, monetary economics, management control systems, international finance and accounting
C. Janie Chang
Academic Executive Director, Master of Professional Accountancy Program
Ph.D., University of California, Irvine
Research Expertise
Human information processing in accounting settings, behavioral issues in managerial accounting and auditing, nature of expert judgments, group decision making, accounting information systems, audit analytics, and cross-cultural research.
Janie Chang is the academic executive director of the Master of Professional Accountancy (MPAc) program at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management.
Doy Charnsupharindr
Lecturer
Master of Business Administration (MBA), University of California Berkeley
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Stanford University
Joseph Chen
Associate Professor
Ph.D., Stanford University
Research Expertise: Empirical asset pricing, mutual funds, and foreign exchange
Olga Clasper
Lecturer
Master of Business Administration (MBA), UC Davis Graduate School of Management
Olga Clasper has a Bachelor's in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, a Master's in Computer Science from Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey, and an MBA from the University of California, Davis. She has worked at Intel in Folsom as a Software Engineer and Technical Program Manager since 2014.
William Leo Cron
Visiting Faculty
Research Expertise
Marketing, Sales & Sales Management, Channels of Distribution, Health Care
Naga Lakshmi Damaraju
Lecturer
Ph.D. in business administration, Fisher College of Business, The Ohio State University, 2008
Research Expertise
Investment and divestment strategies, corporate governance, entrepreneurship, cultural influences on strategy and entrepreneurship
Area of Expertise
Management & Organizations
Conrad M. Davis
Visiting Faculty
Master of Science (M.S.), Taxation, Golden Gate University, California
Conrad Davis is the Partner-in-Charge of the Firm’s Sacramento, CaliforniaTax Practice. He has more than 28 years of experience providing tax compliance and consulting services to closely held business, their owners in the food and food production related businesses. He works closely with his clients to understand their business and goals. He coordinates with Crowe auditors to effectively and efficiently provide tax services to jointly served clients.
Joe DiNunzio
Executive Director, Mike and Renee Child Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Assistant Adjunct Professor
Master of Business Administration (MBA), Stanford Graduate School of Business, 1988
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Psychology, Harvard University, 1984
Research Expertise
Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Management Consulting, Entertainment & Media, Technology
Areas of Expertise
Operations Management, Management & Organizations, Technology Management
Gina Dokko
Professor
Ph.D., Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Research Expertise
Careers, job mobility, organization theory, organizational behavior, social networks, technology and innovation
Eamonn Dolan
Lecturer and Former Robert A. Fox Executive-in-Residence
Master of Science (M.S.) in Management - Concentration in Finance, MIT, 1985
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in Managerial Economics, UC Davis, 1983
Research Expertise
Alternative investing, portfolio management, investment cycles, fixed income
Areas of Expertise
Finance
Kimberly Elsbach
Professor Emerita
Fellow, Academy of Management
Ph.D., Industrial Engineering, Stanford University
Research Expertise
Perceptions of individuals and organizations, including perceptions of legitimacy, creativity, and trustworthiness.
Horacio Enriquez
Lecturer
Master of Science (M.S.), Engineering Management and Leadership, Santa Clara University, 2004
Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Mechanical Engineering, Santa Clara University, 1997
Research Expertise
Supply chain digitalization, supply chain risk and resiliency, supplier relationship management, FDA, ISO 13485:2016, and MDSAP regulations
Areas of Expertise
Business analytics, operations management, management & organizations, technology management
Vanessa Errecarte
Lecturer
Master of Business Administration (MBA), Marketing Emphasis, UC Davis Graduate School of Management, 2014
Master of Arts (M.A.), Communication, Mass Communication Emphasis, University of the Pacific, 2007
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Communication, University of California, Davis, 2004
Doug Findlay
Lecturer
Master of Business Administration (MBA), UC Davis Graduate School of Management
Bachelor of Science (B.S.), California State University, Sacramento
Lecturer Douglas Findlay brings over 30 years of experience in the technology sector, building extensive expertise and practical knowledge in the areas of product marketing, product management, new market development, market strategy, channel strategy, sales management, and business operations.
Stephen Garcia
Professor
Stephen Garcia is a professor in the Graduate School of Management at the University of California, Davis. He was previously professor of psychology and professor of organizational studies at the University of Michigan, where he also held faculty appointments at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy and Stephen M. Ross School of Business.
Noah Gift
Lecturer
Master of Business Administration (MBA), University of California, Davis
Master of Science (M.S.), Cal State Los Angeles
Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Steven Gill
Visiting Professor
Ph.D., University of Massachusetts 2008
M.S., Taxation Northeastern University 1996
B.S., Accounting University of Florida 1989
Research Expertise
Individual taxation and tax compliance
Paul A. Griffin
Emeritus Distinguished Professor
Ph.D., The Ohio State University, 1974
Research Expertise
Accounting, accounting and financial theory, evaluation of accounting methods, financial information and disclosures
Areas of Expertise
Accounting, Finance
Professor Paul Griffin is a leading international expert in accounting, financial information, and corporate disclosure.
Sharad Gupta
Lecturer
Master of Business Administration (MBA), UC Davis Graduate School of Management
Sharad Gupta is an executive leader with large-scale strategy and execution background in driving modern data and analytics and technology transformations in the healthcare industry. He is a tech-savvy leader and is an industry-recognized thought-leader with focus on applying data science, artificial intelligence/machine learning, data science, digital technologies, and modern architectures for business growth and transformations.
Bita Hajihashemi
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. in Quantitative Marketing, Foster School of Business, University of Washington, 2023
B.Sc. in Chemical Engineering, Sharif University of Technology, 2016
Research Expertise
Personalized and Targeted Marketing, CRM, Complaint Management, Loyalty Programs
Bita Hajihashemi's research interests span two major domains:
John D. Hancock
Lecturer
Lecturer John D. Hancock provides valuation consulting services in civil and business litigation through economic and financial analysis. He also teaches at the UC Davis Graduate School of Management as a visiting professor.
Andrew B. Hargadon
Professor
Ph.D., Stanford University
Research Expertise
The effective management of innovation and entrepreneurship, particularly in the development and commercialization of sustainable technologies
Professor Andrew B. Hargadon has written extensively on innovation and entrepreneurship, particularly the commercialization science and technology and the management of research and development. He has published numerous articles and chapters in leading scholarly and applied publications.
Hargadon is at the forefront of teaching, research and practice in cross-disciplinary entrepreneurship, and is founding director of two key centers at UC Davis—the Mike and Renee Child Institute for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and the Energy Efficiency Center. These centers are dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship and innovation through educational programs bridging science, engineering and business. They provide a successful framework for university scientists and engineers to move their ideas out of the lab and into the world.
Hargadon received the 2009 Olympus Emerging Educational Leader Award in recognition for his strong entrepreneurship curriculum and success with the two centers.
Prior to his academic appointment, Hargadon worked as a product designer at Apple Computer and taught in the Product Design program at Stanford University.
A senior fellow at the Kauffman Foundation, Hargadon is the author of How Breakthroughs Happen: The Surprising Truth About How Companies Innovate (Harvard Business School Press, 2003).
His most recent book is Sustainable Innovation: Build Your Company’s Capacity to Change the World (Stanford University Press, 2015).
Hargadon received his Ph.D. from Stanford University’s School of Engineering, where he was named Boeing Fellow and Sloan Foundation Future Professor of Manufacturing. He received his M.S. in mechanical engineering and B.S. in engineering from Stanford University’s Product Design Program.
- AlwaysOn 2012 Power Players in Greentech: The University Players.
- Charles M. Soderquist Chair in Entrepreneurship, UC Davis Graduate School of Management, 2010-present.
- Olympus Emerging Educational Leader Award, National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance, 2009.
- Chancellor’s Fellow, UC Davis, 2005-present.
- Vanguard Award for the Energy Efficiency Center, Comstock’s Magazine, 2006.
- Professors of Manufacturing Fellow, Stanford Integrated Manufacturing Association.
- Boeing Fellow, Future Professors of Manufacturing, Stanford Integrated Manufacturing Association.
Jane Harrington
Lecturer
J.D., U.C. Davis, 2007
Master of Arts (M.A.) Organization Development, Sonoma State University, 2013
Master of Arts (M.A.) Educational Technology, 2002
Andrea Haviley
Lecturer
Master of Business Administration (MBA), UC Davis Graduate School of Management, 2008
Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Business Administration with Concentration in Accounting, California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo, 1993
Committed to focusing on disruptive innovation to improve the human condition and a future that people and nature can thrive together, Andrea Haviley is a successful financial executive in Silicon Valley for 25 years as a key contributor at growth companies with strong forward-thinking missions.
Michelle Higgins
Professor
Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Research Expertise
Accounting, financial reporting and valuation
Professor Michelle Higgins' (fna Yetman) research interests are in financial reporting quality, governance and taxation. She expands beyond the boundaries of the commonly investigated U.S. for-profit corporation by investigating international and nonprofit settings. Her research has been published in the Journal of Accounting Research, the Accounting Review, National Tax Journal, Management Science, Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly, and the Journal of Accounting and Public Policy. She teaches the core MBA and MPAc course in financial accounting, as well as an accounting for non-financial managers course in the Wine Executive Program.
Higgins received her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She earned her Master of Accounting Science from the University of Illinois, Champaign, and her MBA from Texas A&M University. She earned her Bachelor of Business Administration from Stephen F. Austin State University. She is a certified public accountant in Texas and a member of the American Accounting Association.
Awards
- Best Paper Award 2013, American Accounting Association Annual Meeting, Government and Nonprofit Section Annual Meeting.
- Dean’s Faculty Research Scholar, UC Davis Graduate School of Management, 2009-10.
- Small Grant in Aid of Research, UC Davis, 2007-09.
- New Faculty Research Grant, UC Davis, 2005.
- Faculty Research Fellow, University of Iowa McGladrey Institute, 2002-03.
- Scholarship, Educational Foundation for Women in Accounting, 1999.
Greta Hsu
Professor
Ph.D., Stanford University, Graduate School of Business
Greta Hsu is Professor of Management at the Graduate School of Management at University of California, Davis. She received her Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior, M.S. in Statistics, and M.A. and B.A. Sociology from Stanford University.
Through her research, Hsu develops understanding of how market categories are socially constructed, how they are used and strategically manipulated by market actors, and how they shape market evolution and competitive dynamics. Her work includes studies of industry dynamics in the cannabis, e-cigarette, wine, film, book publishing, global fashion, and high-tech industries. She has published in journals such as Administrative Science Quarterly, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, American Sociological Review, and the British Medical Journal.
Hsu is an associate editor at Administrative Science Quarterly and co-editor of Research in Organizational Behavior. She was formerly a department editor and associate editor at Management Science, senior editor at Organization Science, and co-editor of the Culture and Economic Life book series at Stanford University Press.
Courses Taught
The Individual & Group dynamics, Managing People in High-Performance Organizations, Strategy and Structure, People Analytics
Fast Facts
- Expert in market categorization processes, organizational identity, and industry evolutionary dynamics
Awards
- One of the Top Three Best Paper Awards for "The Impact of Mandated Pay Gap Transparency on Firms’ Reputations as Employers,” 2022, Saïd School of Business, Oxford University Center for Corporate Reputation's Annual Symposium, 2024
- Seeman Faculty Term Fellowship, UC Davis, 2011.
- Invited Speaker, Cornell University Johnson Graduate School of Management, 2011.
- Invited Speaker, The 13th Organizational Ecology Conference, Helsinki, Finland, 2010.
- Research Grant, National Science Foundation, Co-Primary Investigator on “SoD-TEAM: Longitudinal effects of design in open source projects,” ($750,000), 2006-09.
- Industry Studies Program Travel Grant, Sloan Foundation, (with S. Grodal), 2008.
- Small Grant in Aid of Research, UC Davis.
Gary Katzenstein
Lecturer
Ph.D., Organizational Behavior, Carnegie Mellon University/Tepper School of Business
Marybeth Kavanagh
Lecturer
Marybeth Kavanagh joined the Graduate School of Management as a lecturer in 2018 after spending 30 years with IBM Corporation leading numerous software development and technical consulting engagements. Kavanagh’s extensive experience working with clients to achieve critical business goals through technological improvement and organizational change strategies gives her an excellent foundation for advising MBA student teams’ Integrated Management Project consulting projects for client organizations.
Gareth Keeves
Lecturer
Ph.D. Strategic Management, Stephen M. Ross School of Business, University of Michigan
Gareth Keeves' research interests include impression management and impression formation in the context of corporate leadership. His first stream of research draws from social and psychological theories to examine interpersonal interactions between top managers. The second stream of research examines the linguistics of organizational communications, using computational linguistics to characterize the nature of company filings.
Brian Kennedy
Lecturer
J.D., McGeorge Law School
Teaching Expertise
The development of persuasive, professional speaking and writing skills for business, and critical thinking protocols to optimize decision making
Lecturer Brian Kennedy is an attorney, focusing on criminal defense. He has his own law practice in San Diego.
Daniel Kennedy
Lecturer
Master of Arts (M.A.), University of Toronto
Research Expertise
The development of persuasive, professional speaking and writing skills for business, and the use of critical thinking protocols that optimize decision making.
Judith Kjelstrom
Lecturer
Ph.D. in Microbiology, University of California, Davis
Judy Kjelstrom (aka Dr. Judy) has a rich background in health science and biotechnology education and training, clinical laboratory science, microbiology, program administration, mentoring and leadership. From 2004 to 2018 she directed the UC Davis Biotechnology Program (est. 1986), a novel program that partners effectively across the campus and with the life sciences industry. Although the program is small in the number of personnel, it is involved in a large number of cross-disciplinary projects:
Srinivas (Srini) Koushik
2021 Robert A. Fox Executive in Residence
Srini Koushik is an innovative and dynamic executive with a track record of leading organizations of all sizes to deliver business results through the use of digital technologies, design thinking, agile methods, lean processes, and unique data-driven insights.
This winter, Koushnik joins IBM as the executive leader for the Global Hybrid Cloud Applications Services Platform
Chi-Yi Kuan
Business Mentor, MSBA
Chi-Yi Kuan is a vice president of data science at Outdoorsy where he is responsible for all machine learning efforts across the company. Kuan is a seasoned data science leader and career mentor with 20+ years of extensive industry experience in building high performing teams in Silicon Valley and applying big data and technology across various business domains (social network, e-commerce, marketplace, SaaS, and consulting) at both Fortune 500 firms and startups. Kuan is dedicated to helping organizations become more data driven and profitable.
Gary Lew
Lecturer
Gary Lew is currently lecturing in finance, management and accounting at the University of California Davis, Graduate School of Management; St. Mary's College and Holy Names University and advises and consults in the aviation finance industry as the founder of Capitola Partners.
Xinlei Li
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Columbia University
M.Phil., Columbia University
Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Tsinghua University
Research Expertise
Corporate disclosure, Accounting information, Debt contracting
Sophie Linnett
Lecturer
Sophie Linnett received her MBA from UC Davis Graduate School of Management with a focus in operations and strategy. After graduating from Columbia University with a B.A. in Classics, Linnett founded an educational services company that helps students access opportunities in higher education. Students of Linnet's program have earned over three million dollars in scholarship funds. For fun, Sophie enjoys hiking in her hometown of Oakland and playing pub trivia.
Robert Lorber
Visiting Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of California, Davis
Research Expertise
Executive coaching, performance management, leadership, teamwork, life planning, corporate culture and developing strategy
Dickson Louie
Lecturer
Master of Business Administration (MBA), University of Chicago
Lecturer Dickson Louie is principal of Louie & Associates, a boutique San Francisco Bay Area consultancy that provides strategic planning, competitive analysis, and executive development services to start-ups, nonprofits and Fortune 500 companies.
Pantelis Loupos
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
Research Expertise
Social Customer Relationship Management, Digital Platforms, Business Analytics
Pantelis Loupos' research interests focus on understanding consumer behavior in digital platforms and in particular networked services. In particular, services whose value is a function of the number of customers they have and their underlying network topology.
Marc Lowe
Continuing Lecturer
Master of Business Administration (MBA), University of California, Los Angeles
Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Genetics, UC Davis
Research Expertise
Product Management, New and Small Business Ventures, Business Planning
Michael W. Maher
Professor Emeritus
Ph.D., University of Washington
Research Expertise
Accounting, cost-effectiveness of online education, healthcare costs, corporate crime and misconduct
A recognized expert on managerial accounting, Professor Emeritus Michael Maher is also an authority on corporate crime (e.g., fraud, bribery, antitrust). He develops profiles on companies and managers that commit corporate misconduct, and studies and lectures on corporate ethics and the responsibilities of business and auditors to stakeholders.
Rahul Makhijani
Lecturer
Ph.D. in Operations Research (MS&E), Stanford University, 2019
Master of Science (M.S.), Statistics, Stanford University, 2017
Bachelor of Science (B.S.),Technology (Honors) in Electrical Engineering, IIT - Bombay, 2013
Marc Ross Manashil
Lecturer
Master in Public Administration (MPA), Harvard Kennedy School
Master of Social Welfare, University of California, Berkeley
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Political Science, University of California, Santa Barbara
Marc Ross Manashil is a consultant and educator specializing in leadership and organizational development. His background is in global health and philanthropy, having served in director roles with an international grant-making foundation, a medical relief organization, and an NGO preventing child mortality in West Africa.
Robert Marquez
Professor
Ph.D., Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Research Expertise
Banking and corporate finance
A leading expert in banking and corporate finance, Professor Robert Marquez tries to uncover the mechanisms that underlie the behavior of financial institutions. One important focus of his research is the effect low interest rates have on banks and whether they encourage banks to take on more leverage. Marquez joined the Graduate School of Management faculty in July 2012.
Josue Martinez
Director of Analytics Projects, Master of Science in Business Analytics
Ph.D., University of Rhode Island
Sorin Maruster
Lecturer
Ph.D., Northwestern University
Sorin Maruster is a senior manager in KPMG’s Silicon Valley tax practice, with more than five years of experience in valuation of complex securities, including earnouts, convertible bonds, put/call arrangements and equity-based compensation, under ASC 718, ASC 805 and ASC 820.
Alexander F. McCalla
Professor Emeritus
Active efforts to organize the Graduate School of Administration, as it was known in 1981, were launched under the leadership of Professor Emeritus Alexander F. McCalla, professor of agricultural economics and former dean of the UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. McCalla was asked to serve as the founding dean of the nascent program from 1979 to 1981. Together with a 13-member planning committee, McCalla was responsible for the School’s initial organization and development.
Kevin Mello
Lecturer
Master of Education (M.Ed.), Johns Hopkins University, 2020
Master of Business Administration (MBA), Arizona State University, 2008
Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Accounting, Santa Clara University, 1996
Grace Mubako
Visiting Professor
Ph.D., Business Administration - Accounting, Southern Illinois University Carbondale, 2012
Research Expertise
Audit judgment, Internal audit
Grace Mubako has 15 years of teaching experience in the area of accounting and auditing. Her research focuses on audit judgment and decision making, professional skepticism, as well as internal auditing and corporate governance issues. She also volunteers in several roles with the Institute of internal auditors where she advocates for internal audit awareness and education among students.
Ashwin Aravindakshan Nair
Associate Professor
Associate Professor Ashwin Aravindakshan’s research interests center on learning how brands can better allocate their advertising resources (e.g., budgets, creatives, etc.) across different regions and/or multiple media over time. In addition to studying such dynamic advertising models, his research also investigates the dynamics of customer behavior and loyalty to help managers devise better communication and targeting policies in order to optimize their marketing mix at the individual level.
Emma O'Rourke-Powell
Lecturer
Master of Business Administration (MBA), UC Davis
Professional Coaching for Life & Work Certificate, UC Davis Extension
Jim Olson
Lecturer, Robert A. Fox Executive in Residence, 2013
Jim Olson founded the WestShore Management Group in April of 2007, continuing a distinguished career after leading several high technology businesses for two Fortune companies and serving for nine years as CEO of SkyStream Networks, the top rated IPTV video head-end provider worldwide. WestShore Management Group provides Interim CEO, corporate consulting, and executive development services for both public, and private, venture-financed companies.
Mike Palazzolo
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of Michigan
Research Expertise
Choice, causal inference, retail, nutrition
Mike Palazzolo's research lies at the intersection of marketing and policy. Recently he has been focused on consumer nutrition, in an effort to learn how marketers can encourage healthier food selection.
Palazzolo teaches courses on causal inference and marketing analytics for the GSM's MBA programs.
Donald A. Palmer
Professor
Ph.D., State University of New York, Stony Brook
Research Expertise
The causes, processes, and consequences of wrongdoing in and by organizations, and the role of power and politics in corporate decision making.
Consulting
Community health needs assessments, group decision-making facilitation.
Gregory Perelman
Lecturer
Ph.D., History, Russian State University for Humanities, 2006
Master of Business Administration (MBA), Yale School of Management, 1997
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Economics, UC Los Angeles, 1995
Jason Perez
Visiting Faculty
J.D., UC Davis
Master of Business Administration (MBA), UC Davis
Jason Perez began his career in the United States Navy as a military police officer. He served approximately one and a half years in Bahrain and two years in New Jersey leading teams of police officers responding to emergency 911 calls. Perez was also given the opportunity to attend military detainee operations school, where upon completion, he worked for approximately one and a half years at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba as a prison guard.
Kay Peters
Visiting Professor
Ph.D., Christian-Albrechts-University, Kiel, Germany
Courses Taught
New Product Development (Startups), Digital Marketing, International Marketing
Kay Peters is the SVI-endowed Chair of Dialog Marketing and Professor of Marketing at Hamburg University, Germany. He holds a visiting position at the University of California Davis since 2010.
Elizabeth Pontikes
Professor
Ph.D., Stanford Graduate School of Business
Research Expertise
Category strategy, market evolution, stigma in markets
Elizabeth Pontikes is a professor of management at the University of California, Davis, which she joined in 2019. She was formerly on the faculty of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business as an associate professor and was a visiting associate professor at the Kellogg School of Management. She is an associate editor at Management Science and a senior editor at Strategy Science.
Guru Pundoor
Lecturer
Ph.D., Management Science, R.H. Smith School of Business (2005), University of Maryland, College Park
Master of Science (M.S.), Systems Engineering, Institute for Systems Research (2002), University of Maryland, College Park
Bachelor of Technology, Mechanical Engineering (2000), Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, India
Mehul Rangwala
Continuing Lecturer
Master of Business Administration (MBA), UC Davis Graduate School of Management
Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Electronics Engineering, India
Candice Reimers
Lecturer
Ph. D. Education, Work-Based Learning, University of Pennsylvania
Master of Education, Work-Based Learning, University of Pennsylvania
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Sociology, University of California, Irvine
Olivier Rubel
Professor
Professor Olivier Rubel is fascinated by two related questions: How can firms make better decisions in highly competitive environments? And what are the optimal strategies for implementing these decisions over time?
Rubel’s research examines how companies can best determine and allocate resources to marketing activities when facing a realistic chance of encountering a product harm crisis such as the SUV rollover controversy faced by Ford and Firestone in 2000 or the many product recalls Mattel was forced to make in 2007. His findings point to no single, simple answer to invest less or invest more. Rather, each firm’s best solution depends on the characteristics of the crisis, including its likelihood, its impacts on sales and on the effectiveness of marketing instruments.
Brett Saraniti
Lecturer
Ph.D., Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University
Brett Saraniti received his Ph.D. in managerial economics and decision sciences from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in 1997. His dissertation chair was Roger Myerson, Nobel Laureate 2007. Saraniti is currently a visiting professor of managerial economics and decision sciences at Kellogg and a lecturer at Stanford in the Department of Economics.
Harold Schmitz
Senior Scholar
Ph.D., North Carolina State University
A 20-year veteran at Mars, Visiting Professor Harold Schmitz has been chief science officer since 2005. His responsibilities include strategy development, program alignment and quality control of the company’s multidisciplinary scientific research programs. He has previously held various positions within Mars in scientific and regulatory affairs, fundamental research, analytical and applied sciences and corporate functions.
Justin B. Siegel, Ph.D.
Arthur and Carlyse Ciocca Visiting Professor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Justin Siegel is an associate professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine at the UC Davis Genome Center. He received his B.S. in Biochemistry from UC Davis in 2005 and his Ph.D. in Biomolecular Structure and Design from the University of Washington in 2011, after which he returned to UC Davis to begin his research lab.
Hollis Skaife
Professor
Ph.D., University of Iowa
Research Expertise
International financial reporting issues and corporate governance, including the role of internal control and auditing in the development of high-quality financial information.
Robert H. Smiley
Professor Emeritus
Ph.D., Stanford University
Research Expertise
Economics, strategy, public policy, competitive strategy, energy economics, public policy analysis, anti-trust policy, regulation
Consulting
Public utilities, telecommunications, wine industry, energy, strategy
Mark Smith
Lecturer
Mark Smith is a UC Davis Graduate School of Management alum and Director of Public Policy, Western Region for Ducks Unlimited (DU).
Smith’s primary responsibilities included managing federal and state government relations in 9 Western states (HI, AK, WA, OR, CA, AZ, NV, UT, ID).
Kayla Stajkovic
Visiting Professor
Ph.D., Organizational Behavior, University of Wisconsin - Madison, 2018
Areas of Expertise
Accounting, Management & Organizations
Victor Stango
Professor
Ph.D., University of California, Davis
Research Expertise
Consumer and firm behavior in banking markets, behavioral economics, industrial organization.
Professor Victor Stango’s research focuses on household financial decision making over both short- and long-term time horizons. His current work examines how behavioral influences on consumer decision-making are related to each other, to cognitive abilities and other demographics, and to financial decisions and outcomes. That work is supported by grants from the Michigan Retirement Research Center (MRRC), and by the Pension Research Council/TIAA Institute. Stango has also studied the credit card and ATM markets, and has a side interest in sports economics.
Stango’s work has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The New Yorker, Business Week, Newsweek and major online business news media. He has appeared on "Good Morning America," Fox News, CNBC, Bloomberg and many other news programs to discuss his work and provide expert commentary. His research has appeared in the American Economic Review, The Journal of Finance, The Review of Financial Studies and other leading academic journals. Stango is an associate editor of The International Journal of Industrial Organization. He is also an affiliate expert with Cornerstone Research, occasionally providing consulting in matters related to the financial service industry.
Before joining the Graduate School of Management in 2008, Stango gained experience at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College, the Federal Reserve Banks of Chicago and New York, and other academic institutions. He also served for several years on the board of Consumer Credit Research Foundation, a nonprofit research foundation supported by providers of short-term credit.
Stango holds a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in economics and political science from the University of Pennsylvania, and a Ph.D. in economics from UC Davis.
Awards
- Research Grant, Michigan Retirement Research Center (MRRC), “Behavioral Factors and Long-Run Financial Well-Being,” 2016-2017.
- Research Grant, Pension Research Council/TIAA Institute, “Behavioral Factors and Long-Run Financial Well-Being,” 2016-2017.
- Research Grant, Russell Sage Foundation, “Behavioral Biases in Household Financial Decision-making,” 2010-2012.
- Professor of the Year Finalist, UC Davis Graduate School of Management, 2010.
- Research Grant, National Science Foundation, “Information Technology, Outsourcing and Productivity,” 2008-10.
- Research Grant, Networks, Electronic Commerce, and Telecommunications Institute, Summer 2004, Summer 2006.
- Research Grant, Filene Institute, “Outsource or Die,” 2006-07.
- Research Grant, Filene Institute, “Payment Choices,” 2006-08.
- Research Grant, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), 2006.
- Allen H. Keally Teaching Award, University of Tennessee, 1999-00.
- Club 6 (High Teaching Evaluations), Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, 1998.
- Finalist, Allen H. Keally Teaching Award, University of Tennessee, 1997-98.
James Stevens
Lecturer
Master of Business Administration (MBA), University of Michigan Ross School of Business
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), American University
James Stevens is a lecturer in the UC Davis Graduate School of Management, teaching organizational behavior courses in the MBA program and leadership courses in Executive Education. He brings his more than two decades of leadership and senior management experience into the classroom. That experience includes leading diverse and successful teams, launching new programs and developing compelling curricula.
Jerome Suran
Senior Lecturer Emeritus
Research Expertise
Corporate strategy, technology management, global strategy, budget control models, strategic planning, ethics
Suzy Taherian
Lecturer
Master of Business Administration (MBA), Northwestern University, Kellogg School of Management
Suzy Taherian has over 20 years of experience as a senior executive for international industrial companies. She started her career with Exxon and Chevron and transitioned to CFO of a mid-size company.
Alan M. Taylor
Professor
Ph.D., Harvard University
Research Expertise
International trade, finance, macroeconomics and economic history
Huy Tran
Lecturer
Master of Business Administration (MBA), UC Davis Graduate School of Management
Huy Tran brings over 15 years of public and private sector experience in technology leadership, business transformation, continuous improvement, project management and data analytics. He has a career that spans higher education, healthcare and, most recently, Fortune 500 Technology.
Chih-Ling Tsai
Distinguished Professor of Management (Emeritus)
Ph.D., University of Minnesota
Research Expertise
Regression analysis, model selection, high-dimensional data, time series, biostatistics, application of statistics in business.
Teaching Field
Statistics
Professor Chih-Ling Tsai is a recognized expert in the practical application of statistics in business, including regression analysis, model selection, high-dimensional data, time series and biostatistics. He has had more than 100 research papers published in academic journals relating to statistics, marketing, finance and biostatistics. He teaches courses on forecasting and managerial research methods, and time series analysis and forecasting.
Tsai earned a Ph.D. in statistics from the University of Minnesota and an Master of Science (M.S.) in mathematics from the University of Illinois, Chicago Circle. He earned his Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in mathematics from Tamkang University.
Awards
- UC Davis Distinguished Teaching Award (2021)
- Elected Member, International Statistical Institute (2015)
- Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science AAAS 2015 Fellows (2015)
- Distinguished Professor in Management (2012)
- Robert W. Glock Chair Professor in Management (2005)
- Teacher of the Year, UC Davis, GSM, 1991, 1995, 1997-99, 2001-04, 2006-07, 2009-11, and 2016.
- Who's Who in the America and Who's Who in the World, Marquis Who's Who, 2000.
- 2000 Outstanding Intellectuals of the 20th Century, International Biographical Centre, 2000.
- Who's Who in the West and Who's Who in Science and Engineering, Marquis Who's Who, 1998.
- Fellow, American Statistical Association, 1996.
- 100 most prolific authors published in statistical journals (1988-93), National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.
Ayung Tseng
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Accounting, Columbia University, 2015
Master of Business Administration (MBA), Finance, Yale University, 2009
Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.), Accounting, National Taiwan University, 2003
Research Expertise
Company disclosure, accounting measurement issues, asset pricing, innovation, healthcare
Vasu Unnava
Adjunct Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Fisher College of Business, Ohio State University
Master of Arts (M.A.), Fisher College of Business, Ohio State University
H. Rao Unnava
Michael and Joelle Hurlston Dean and Professor of Marketing
Ph.D., The Ohio State University
Research Expertise
Advertising, brand management, promotions, international marketing and consumer behavior
Hemant Vaidya
Lecturer and Director of Biotechnology Industry Immersion
Ph.D. Microbiology, Sardar Patel University, India
Post Doctoral Fellowship in Clinical Chemistry, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis MO
Research Expertise
Healthcare, In Vitro Diagnostics, product development, executive management, Healthcare Biotechnology
Vince Vengapally
Lecturer
Master of Business Administration (MBA), Wharton School of Business
Vince Vengapally is currently working in Product Management for Google Workspace. Vince leads various Google efforts around digital whiteboarding and develops Google Meet Hardware for Meeting Rooms and Classrooms.
Justin Virrey
Lecturer
Master of Business Administration (MBA), UC Davis Graduate School of Management
Mary Kay Vona
Lecturer
Ph.D., Organizational Development and Executive Leadership, The George Washington University, 1997
Research Expertise
Research focused on Organizational Transformation, Learning & Development, DE&I and Talent Management (primarily technology enabled transformation).
Keith Weissglass
Lecturer
MBA, UC Davis Graduate School of Management, 2012
B.A., Psychology, Haverford College, 2005
Keith Weissglass joined the Graduate School of Management as a lecturer in 2018 to teach the Integrated Management Project capstone. He brings to the GSM a wide range of industry experience spanning the private, public, and nonprofit sectors.
John Werlhof
Lecturer
Master of Accountancy (MAcc), Brigham Young University
Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Brigham Young University, summa cum laude
Kelly Wilson
Lecturer
Master of Business Administration (MBA), Yale University
Wilson is a principal in EY’s strategy practice with more than 25 years of experience in the financial sector in both consulting and industry roles. Wilson's consulting background includes a broad spectrum of banking, payment and technology functional domains including strategy formulation, business assessment, marketing, performance improvement, operations and technology.
Paul A. Wong
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Texas A&M University
Research Expertise
Financial reporting, financial analysts, corporate disclosures, auditor/audit firm networks and the role of the audit committee
Assistant Professor Paul Wong joined the UC Davis Graduate School of Management in 2015 after having worked for Crowe Horwath (formerly Crowe Chizek) from 2007–2011 as a senior staff auditor in the not-for-profit and higher education group.
David Woodruff
Professor, Associate Dean for Faculty and Research
Ph.D., Northwestern University
Research Expertise
Business analytics, operations and management science, planning and scheduling under uncertainty, optimization
Professor David Woodruff's research concerns computational aspects of optimal decision making. He is particularly interested in problems with a mix of discrete and continuous choices with multiple time stages when there is significant uncertainty. His research includes solution algorithms, problem representation and modeling language support. He has worked on applications in operations, logistics, science, and has been involved recently in a number of applications in electrical energy planning and scheduling.
He is one of the developers of Pyomo, (www.pyomo.org) that won the INFORMS Computing Society prize in 2019 and an R&D 100 award in 2016.
From 2013 to 2019 he was editor-in-chief of the INFORMS Journal on Computing, which is a publication of the Institute for Operations Research and Management Science. His paper with Jean-Paul Watson titled “Progressive Hedging Innovations for a Class of Stochastic Mixed-integer Resource Allocation Problems” shared the best paper of 2011 award in the journal Computational Management Science. He was the UC Davis principal investigator for the ARPAe (Department of Energy) grant Improved Power System Operation Using Advanced Stochastic Optimization awarded in 2012. He is presently principal investigator for additional Department of Energy funded research on grid planning in the presence of uncertainty due to renewables.
Woodruff teaches the core course Data Analysis for Managers. He sometimes teaches Managing for Operational Excellence and the Management Science course.
Woodruff earned his Ph.D. in industrial engineering and management sciences from Northwestern University. He received both his Master of Science (M.S.) and Bachelor of Science (B.S.) in industrial engineering and engineering management from Stanford University.
He was appointed associate dean of academic affairs on July 1, 2023.
Awards
- 2019 INFORMS Computing Society Prize for Pyomo Annual award for the best English language paper or group of related papers dealing with the Operations Research/Computer Science interface
- Research Grant, Department of Energy Green Electricity Networks, "Improved Power System Operations Using Advanced Stochastic Optimization," Co-Principal Investigator, 2012-14.
- Electives Courses Teacher of the Year, UC Davis Graduate School of Management, 1994-95, 1996-97, 2000, 2001.
- Research Grant, National Science Foundation, "Identification of Outliers in Multivariate Data," 1996.
- Dissertation Competition Runner-up, Production and Operations Management Society (POMS), 1991.
- JD Scaife Award, Institution of Manufacturing Engineers, “CONWIP: A Pull Alternative to Kanban,” 1990.
- Doctoral Colloquium, Operations Research Society of America, 1988.
Jim Wunderman
Lecturer
Lecturer Jim Wunderman serves as the president and chief executive officer of the Bay Area Council, a business-backed public policy organization in the Silicon Valley. Led by its CEO members, the Bay Area Council is the strong, united voice of more than 275 of the largest Bay Area employers, representing more than 500,000 workers, or one of every six private sector employees. Since becoming CEO in 2004, Wunderman has led the 64-year-old public policy organization to become one of the most influential, effective institutions of its kind.
Catherine Yang
Professor
Ph.D. Operations and Information Management, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 2004
Master of Arts (M.A.), Operations and Information Management, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, 2001
Bachelor of Engineering (B.E.), Management Information Systems, School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, 1998
Research Expertise
Business analytics, big data analytics, predictive modeling, artificial intelligence and machine learning
Professor Yinghui (Catherine) Yang focuses her research on business intelligence, big data, machine learning, data mining methods for business applications, online shopping patterns analysis, user profiling, etc. Her research has been published in top-tier journals in Information Systems, Marketing and Computer Science, including Information Systems Research, Marketing Science, INFORMS Journal on Computing, IEEE Transactions on Knowledge and Data Engineering and ACM Transactions on Database Systems.
Keer Yang
Assistant Professor
Ph.D, Finance, University of Minnesota, 2022
Research Expertise: FinTech, Machine Learning, Financial Intermediaries, Corporate Finance
Keer Yang’s research interests in fintech and machine learning in finance are inspired by the recent revolution in new technologies that affect both financial markets and academic finance research. Through his research, he seeks to understand how financial technologies could contribute to more efficient, equitable, and inclusive financial markets.
Ayako Yasuda
Professor, Maurice J. and Marcia G. Gallagher Chair in Finance
Ph.D., Economics, Stanford University, 2001
Research Expertise
Technology Finance, Venture Capital, Private Equity, Entrepreneurial Finance, Sustainable and Responsible Finance.
Ayako Yasuda is a professor of finance at the Graduate School of Management, University of California, Davis, Fellow of the Muir Institute for the Environment, and Fellow of the Private Equity Research Consortium. In July 2024, she was named the Maurice J. and Marcia G. Gallagher Chair in Finance at UC Davis.
Robert Yetman
Professor
Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Research Expertise
Accounting, response of nonprofit organizations to economic incentives
Yuan Yuan
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Social & Engineering Systems, MIT
Bachelor, Computer Science & Economics, Tsinghua University
Matthew Zaragoza-Watkins
Adjunct Professor
Ph.D., UC Berkeley, 2014
B.S., Cornell University, 2009
Research Expertise
Industrial organization, environmental economics, applied econometrics
Areas of Expertise
Business Analytics, Economics, Statistics
540 Alumni Lane 3215 Gallagher Hall Davis, CA 95616
Helen Shuxuan Zeng
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Carnegie Mellon University
M.A., Columbia University
B.Sc., the University of Hong Kong
Research Expertise
Digital Economics, Technology and Policy
Areas of Expertise
Economics, Technology Management
Colleen O. Zern
Lecturer
J.D., Saint Louis University School of Law
Bachelor of Science (B.S.) Washington University in St. Louis
Chris Ziemba
Lecturer
Bachelor of Business Administration (B.B.A.), Finance, Georgia State University
