Faculty Directory

Learn from faculty who bridge theory and practice

At UC Davis, you learn from world-class scholars and industry leaders who bring global perspectives and real-world insights into every class. They create a collaborative, high-impact learning environment that combines academic rigor with professional relevance.

Our faculty are more than instructors. They are mentors who know your name, challenge your thinking and support your success. With a low student-to-faculty ratio, you'll build strong, personal connections that continue long after graduation.

Trained at top institutions including Stanford, MIT, Wharton, Carnegie Mellon, Harvard, Chicago Booth, Cornell and Northwestern, our faculty combine academic expertise with real business experience. Many consult with Fortune 500 firms, lead influential research and advise on public policy.

You’ll engage with complex business problems through case studies, simulations, guest lectures and team projects. This immersive approach turns big ideas into practical tools you can use throughout your career.

10:1

student: faculty ratio

ACCESSIBLE

40%

female faculty

DIVERSE

Top 15%

globally for research impact

HIGH QUALITY

(QS, 2025)

Glossary
OR
Mak Ahmad

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

Beth Bechky

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. 

Headshot of Nicole Woolsey Biggart

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

(530) 752-7378

540 Alumni Lane 3419 Gallagher Hall Davis, CA 95616

Portrait of Joe DiNunzio

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

(530) 746-8657

540 Alumni Lane 3411 Gallagher Hall Davis, CA 95616

Headshot of Doug Findlay

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.

Andrew B. Hargadon

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.

(530) 752-2277

540 Alumni Lane 3316 Gallagher Hall Davis, CA 95616

Greta Hsu

Greta Hsu

Professor
Associate Dean of Undergraduate Programs
Robert W. Glock and Miriam R. Glock Endowed Chair in Management

Ph.D., Stanford University, Graduate School of Business

Greta Hsu is a 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. In July 2025, she was named the Robert W. Glock and Miriam R. Glock Endowed Chair in Management.

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 and 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.

540 Alumni Lane 3414 Gallagher Hall Davis, CA 95616

Gareth Keeves

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.

Catherine Kendall headshot

Catherine Kendall

Lecturer

Doctor of Education (EdD) in Education Policy, Drexel University, 2014
Master of Business Administration (MBA) in Management Information Systems, University of California, Davis, Graduate School of Management, 1999
Bachelor of Science (BS) in Agricultural and Managerial Economics, University of California, Davis, 1993

Research Expertise
Macroeconomic history and trends, Domestic violence and marginalized populations, Intersectionality, Socio-ecological framework

(916) 293-2498

Eric Liederman

Eric Liederman

Lecturer

M.D., Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, 1989
M.P.H, Health Policy and Management, University of Massachusetts Amherst, 1996
B.A., Classical Archaeology, Dartmouth College, 1984

Research Expertise
Health Economics, Clinical Informatics, Medical Operations, Privacy and Security, Patient messaging

Areas of Expertise
Business Analytics, Management & Organizations, Technology Management

(510) 368-4319

Headshot of Elizabeth Pontikes

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.

540 Alumni Lane 3212 Gallagher Hall Davis, CA 95616

Headshot of James Stevens

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.

Mary Kay Vona

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).