Amid the Coronavirus pandemic, Professor Donald Palmer describes how dissonant messages from public leaders have further eroded trust in government during times of crisis that brings with it panic buying and stock market collapse.
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.
Kimberly D. Elsbach is a professor emerita of management and previously held the Stephen G. Newberry Chair in Leadership (2005-2021) at the Graduate School of Management, University of California, Davis. She is also an International Research Fellow at the Center for Corporate Reputation, Oxford University, Editor-in-Chief for Academy of Management Annals, and co-founder and organizer of the Davis Conference on
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.
Garcia is an expert on the psychology of competition and a scholar in the field of judgment and decision-making. He is the lead editor of The Oxford Handbook of the Psychology of Competition (2024), the first of its kind volume to organize the literature
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
Mak Ahmad has 20+ experience in the tech industry working as a software engineer and product manager for Instagram, Salesforce and Google. Among many products, he worked on Instagram Reels, Google partner platform, Istio and also co-founded aip.dev.
Ahmad is currently working on his Ph.D
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
Eamonn Dolan served as chief investment officer and managing director of CM Capital (CMC), managing diversified portfolios emphasizing alternative investments. He was responsible for asset allocation, strategy formulation, manager selection, process design, and leading the investment team. Currently, he serves on CMC’s
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
Lecturer
Ph.D., Organizational Behavior, Carnegie Mellon University/Tepper School of Business
Gary Katzenstein’s career interests span the intersection of three areas: leadership, design/innovation, and international business. Katzenstein teaches courses that include Leading People, Power and Politics, Applied Innovation, International Management/Strategy and International Business Development. Katzenstein has taught at the Haas School of Business/UC Berkeley, the UCLA Anderson School of Management, the NYU Stern School of Business, the Johnson School of Management at Cornell University, the Rady
Professor, Maurice J. and Marcia G. Gallagher Chair in Finance
Ph.D., Economics, Stanford University, 2001
Research Expertise
Venture Capital, Private Equity, Sustainable Finance, Institutional Investing, Entrepreneurial Finance, Technology Finance
Ayako Yasuda is a professor of finance at the Graduate School of Management, University of California, Davis, where she holds the Maurice J. and Marcia G. Gallagher Chair in Finance. She is a senior fellow of the Asian Bureau of Finance and Economic Research (ABFER) and a fellow of the Private Equity Research Consortium.
Yasuda is an applied financial economist whose research focuses on venture capital
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
Professor Emerita Shannon Anderson is an expert on the design and implementation of
Professor
Ph.D., University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
Research Expertise
Accounting, response of nonprofit organizations to economic incentives
Professor Robert Yetman is an expert on corporate tax, financial accounting, income tax, U.S. and international financial accounting, and nonprofit accounting and tax issues. His research concentrates on the effect of taxes on business decisions and the response of non-profit organizations to economic incentives. Yetman recently examined why some tax-exempt charities choose to be taxed on their unrelated business income, and how such behavior is not
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
Professor
Ph.D., Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania
Research Expertise
Careers, job mobility, organization theory, organizational behavior, social networks, technology and innovation
Professor Gina Dokko’s primary research focus on the consequences of job mobility and careers. She studies how portable experience is, and how peoples’ job mobility and career histories enable and constrain learning, innovation, performance and social capital for both themselves and their employers. She has found that people’s career backgrounds affect not only the knowledge and skills they bring to new opportunities
Professor Emeritus
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.
Professor Emeritus Donald Palmer studies why otherwise law-abiding, ethical and socially responsible people participate in wrongful courses of behavior. His conclusions are based on an understanding of basic psychological, social psychological, and sociological processes that shape human behavior.
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.
Since her retirement from IBM, Kavanagh changed her professional focus and became a Licensed
Emeritus Distinguished Professor | 2025-2026 Edward A. Dickson Emeriti 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.
He has published more than 80 articles in leading accounting and finance journals, five research monographs for the Financial Accounting Standards Board, and two case books on U.S. corporate financial reporting. His research has had a substantial impact on the
Continuing Lecturer
Master of Business Administration (MBA), UC Davis Graduate School of Management
Bachelor of Science (B.S.), Electronics Engineering, India
Lecturer Mehul Rangwala has nearly 20 years of experience in information technology and quantitative and qualitative data analysis. An information technology manager at the Sacramento Regional County Sanitation District, Rangwala researches, plans and provides insights to the executive management on IT strategy and the latest technology trends while providing leadership in IT investments, cost/benefit analysis, asset management, IT operations and support.
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.
He served as a board member for Ledger & Quill, DePaul University’s accounting alumni association from 2007-2011 and New Moms Inc., a Chicagoland nonprofit, from 2009-2011.
His
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.
Manashil first studied adaptive leadership while pursuing an MPA
Visiting Assistant Professor
Ph.D., University of California, Davis
Research Expertise
Executive coaching, performance management, leadership, teamwork, life planning, corporate culture and developing strategy
Robert L. Lorber is the CEO of The Lorber Kamai Consulting Group, a firm formed in 1976. The organization has implemented productivity improvement systems for companies on five continents. The Lorber Kamai Consulting Group’s client roster has included Kraft Foods, SantaFe International, Teichert Inc., Occidental Petroleum, Gillette, Sutter Health, American Express, Mattel, AlliedSignal, Raley’s, VSP, Teichert Inc
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.
Pontikes studies market categorization, innovation, and technological change. She