Faculty

Fred Wellington is the program director of the energy systems management program where he also serves on the faculty. He has over 20 years of experience working on energy and environmental issues in the private, public and academic sectors. Prior to joining USF, Fred worked as a consultant to electric utilities, technology companies, and federal, state, and local governments on various issues related to clean energy. He's held senior consulting positions at NewGen Strategies, Leidos Engineering...

Dr. Jalel Sager is a globally recognized leader in distributed renewable energy technologies, and the historical evolution of economic and energy systems. His mission at USF centers on research and service that addresses linked climate change-equity challenges, and training the next generation of energy leaders.

In 2006 Dr. Sager began to focus his career on addressing sustainability and climate change, after years spent working as a writer. Also concerned with development and equity issues...

Professor J.P. Allen is a pioneering researcher and educator in the field of online/internet business, specializing in open technologies and the digital transformation of organizations and society. He is the author of Digital Entrepreneurship and Technology and Inequality: Concentrated Wealth in a Digital World.

As founding chair of the Technology, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship Department, Dr. Allen pioneered the development of internet business classes, which guide non-technical...

Associate Professor Zachary C. Burns specializes in managerial and organizational behavior with research in the psychology of morality and ethics, applications in law, and judgment and decision-making. His works surrounds behavioral patterns, intellectual property and intentionality. Dr. Burns previously taught as a Visiting Assistant Professor and Postdoctoral Fellow at Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University.

He has had articles on his research published in the Journal of...

Professor Mark V. Cannice is an internationally recognized scholar, teacher, and speaker on entrepreneurship and venture capital. He is a Professor with the University of San Francisco, School of Management.

Cannice writes the widely-followed quarterly Silicon Valley Venture Capitalist Confidence Index Report® which is published by ProQuest and EBSCO, indexed globally on Bloomberg Professional Services in 170 countries (Bloomberg ticker symbol: SVVCCI), and has been referenced in the...

Roger Chen brings to USF forward-thinking expertise in the fields of corporate innovation and growth, competition and global strategy - areas he views as entirely interdependent. By developing a balanced approach to his research endeavors - devoting equal time and effort between pure quantitative/academic research and case research methods - Dr. Chen embodies academic rigor, benefiting his students, fellow academics, global corporations and communities with his egalitarian work philosophy.

Pr...

Allegra Chen-Carrel is an Assistant Professor at the University of San Francisco School of Management. Before this, she worked as a Project Lead of a Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Antiracism, and Justice consulting team. She previously has taught courses at Columbia University's Teachers College, worked as a Program Manager for a research program centered around sustaining peace, and in community organizations in New York, the Dominican Republic, and San Francisco. Her research centers around...

Ludwig B. Chincarini, CFA, PhD, is Professor of Finance in the School of Management at the University of San Francisco as well as an advisor to United States Commodity Fund Investments with over fifteen years of experience in the financial industry specializing in portfolio management, quantitative equity management, and derivatives. He also works with an angel group to help start-up companies. Prior to that he was a member of the academic council of Index IQ which was bought by NY Life in 2015...

Assistant Professor Fernando Comiran brings to USF both an enthusiasm for accounting and a philosophy that attempts to integrate real-world application and leading-edge research in the classroom. His research areas of interest include Earnings Management, Accounting Fraud, Voluntary Disclosure, Financial Statement Analysis, and Security Valuation.

Currently, Professor Comiran is focusing his research on individual investor behavior and company incentives to better understand how disclosure...

Professor Tom Grossman likes to see non-technical people harness the power of analytics and technology to lead their organizations. His interests include business analytics, spreadsheet engineering, spreadsheet information systems, managerial communication of analytical work, and analysis-driven process improvement.

He spent the early years of his career at an analytics consulting firm working on large-scale systems for operations and planning in the United States and Scandinavia. His...

Keith Hunter's primary research interests revolve around organizational networks, power, and leadership. He is particularly interested in how social networks both influence and reflect active mental models and power dynamics within groups and organizations. His investigations of the patterns of interaction among people and their implications for human behavior and organizational outcomes are of critical significance to tomorrow's business leaders.

His rich background inspires his research and...

Professor Stephen J. Huxley is recognized by his fellow colleagues, students and a number of professional organizations for his achievements in academia, having been a teacher and researcher at USF since 1973. Most notably, he is the recipient of the Franz Edelman Outstanding Management Science Award, the highest award given in the profession and the Sarlo Prize, the highest award bestowed to a faculty member for teaching that exemplifies USF's mission and values.

With research...

Assistant Professor Ryan Langan’s research area lies in branding and corporate social responsibility with a focus on understanding how consumers perceive and respond to firms who engage in corporate philanthropy.  His current projects explore the potential for corporate giving to elicit feelings of gratitude on the part of consumers. Langan’s research has been published in the Journal of Brand Management, Journal of Business Research and the Encyclopedia of Public Administration and Public...

Kevin Lo is a professor at the University of San Francisco, School of Management. He is also a graduate of the USF joint Master of Business Administration (MBA) - Master of Arts in Asia Pacific Studies (MAPS) program. His scholarly work and teaching focus on emotional and cultural intelligence.

Thomas Maier serves as the Associate Vice Provost of Professional Education and Business Partnerships at the University of San Francisco. Dr. Maier has served as a faculty member in the School of Management (SOM) since 2013 and as Director of Executive Education for SOM, overseeing strategic initiatives to enhance the professional development of students and executives. His commitment to advancing organizational science and management practices was further demonstrated through his executive...

Dr. Courtney Masterson teaches undergraduate and graduate courses on topics including diversity and inclusion; work and well-being; research methods; and community-engaged learning. As a teacher, she strives to create an engaging learning environment that enables students to cultivate knowledge and develop personally and professionally. This includes providing students opportunities to partner in meaningful ways with the University’s surrounding community. 

Courtney is also an active...

Robert Mefford, Professor of Finance, brings a breadth of international experience to USF, with research emphasis on global supply chains, lean production systems, behavioral finance, and the productivity of global enterprises. Professor Mefford's business acumen is founded on senior management positions with leading health care providers including Blue Cross and Kaiser Foundation Health Plan.

In studying the productivity of off-shore operations, Professor Mefford has explored how management...

Professor Vijay Mehrotra serves as a professor of Business Analytics at the University of San Francisco, where he has recently developed an innovative module for his MBA students that is focused on Customer Success Management (the first such academic program in the world). He also leads the Business Analytics concentration within USF's MBA program and teaches courses in Business Analytics, Predictive Modeling, and Data Mining.

Since 1992, he has been active in the world of analytics...

Michelle Millar researches sustainability and corporate social responsibility in the lodging, meeting, and event management industries. She studies the choices travelers make when choosing sustainable travel products and what factors are most important to them when it comes to sustainable hospitality products and services.

She developed a framework used by hospitality educators and industry professionals to identify the sustainable skills most needed by students when entering the industry.

Frank Ohara is recognized for his dedication to teaching excellence by the School of Management as the eight-time recipient of the Outstanding Teaching Award. Establishing the USF National Honor Society Chapter of the International Financial Management Association, Ohara continues to serve as faculty advisor for the organization today. With over fifteen years' financial management and administrative experience in the computer manufacturing and financial services industries, he brings extensive...

Professor Jennifer Parlamis's academic career has centered on pioneering social-psychological research in the areas of negotiation, conflict resolution, communication, and organization dynamics. Specifically, she studies the impact of technology on negotiation outcomes and the role of anger and incompetency emotions in negotiation and conflict contexts. In addition, she has written on ageism in organizations as well as negotiation pedagogy.

She employs the latest scholarly research to help...

Anthony Patino is a renowned expert in entertainment, advertising, and promotion, consumer behavior, public policy and marketing analytics. He holds degrees in marketing, business administration, planning and social policy from Duke University, Harvard University, and Temple University. His widely-published research takes him to conferences all over the U.S.

During his career in entertainment, Patino worked in marketing, sales and research at leading entertainment firms like Sony Picture...

William (Billy) Riggs, Ph.D., AICP, LEED AP is a professor at the University of San Francisco School of Management and the Director of the Autonomous Vehicles and the City Initiative. He has worked in venture capital and management consulting and been an advisor to multiple companies and start-ups on technology, engineering, smart mobility and urban development. His experience also extends to academic administration, curriculum design, and finance having held academic appointments in city...

Dr. Saah has been broadly trained as an environmental scientist with expertise in a number of areas including: landscape ecology, ecosystem ecology, hydrology, geomorphology, ecosystem modeling, natural hazard modeling, remote sensing, geographic information systems (GIS) and geospatial analysis. He has used these skills to conduct research primarily at the landscape level in a variety of systems. Dr. Saah has participated in research projects throughout the United States and Internationally...

Dr. Shivani Shukla teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the application of machine learning and AI to business. She is committed to creating a dynamic learning experience that equips students with the professional skills and personal growth needed to thrive in varied business roles.

Shivani is an active researcher in the fields of reinforcement learning, optimization, and computer vision applied to cybersecurity and intelligent systems. Her research has been published in prominent...

Oscar Jerome Stewart is an Assistant Professor of Management in USF’s School of Management. Professor Stewart considers himself a critical management scholar and is concerned with power within organizations and power of organizations, and how to create more equitable and cooperative power structures that bind members together in a beneficent mutuality. Currently, he is working on projects on corporate misconduct, discrimination in higher education, and critical business pedagogy. Outside of his...

Dr. Marco Tavanti is a professor of Leadership and Sustainability at the University of San Francisco’s Masagung Graduate School of Management. He serves as Program Director for the Master in Management - Sustainable Business Management (MIM-SBM) and Faculty Lead for the Sustainability in Management Education (SiME) Impact Area. With over 30 years of global experience, Dr. Tavanti has led programs across Europe, East Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, focusing on sustainable development...

Professor Nicholas Tay’s research focuses on building theoretical models and conducting empirical studies to understand how human behaviors and market frictions interplay to affect the pricing of financial assets and the stability of financial markets. He uncovers relationships and patterns through financial econometrics and non-economic concepts, including agent-based modeling, social network analysis, cellular automata, genetic programming, fuzzy logic, chaos theory, fractal analysis, wavelet...

Professor Ricardo Villarreal De Silva brings to USF years of experience in consumer behavior research and methodology. He was the lead researcher on two large consumer behavior studies that brought together experts in the advertising industry with his research expertise. That expertise started in multicultural marketing, where his theory of ethnicity provided great insight into understanding U.S. Hispanics’ consumer behavior. Recently, his work has focused on applying sophisticated statistical...

Neil's principle area of research is the role of virtue and morality (or the lack thereof) in organizations, specifically the presence of courage and cowardice within organizational life. His work explores the psychological mechanisms and consequences of virtuous behavior as part of expected occupational roles. By focusing on high-risk occupations such as ordnance disposal, private military contracting, and air-traffic control, Neil attempts to develop greater insight into how workers construct...

Richard D. Waters is an associate professor in the School of Management, where he teaches strategic communication and communication management courses. His primary research interests are fundraising, stakeholder loyalty and relationship cultivation, and the use of new technologies in organizational communication efforts.

He serves on the editorial review boards at Public Relations Review, Journal of Public Relations Research, Journal of Public and Nonprofit Sector Management, Journal of...

Dr. Jim Williams is a global thought leader in the area of low-carbon energy systems.  At USF his focus is on developing a new generation of energy professionals with the skills and knowledge needed to have rewarding careers in sustainably meeting society’s energy needs.  

Dr. Williams has written extensively about the transition from today’s energy system to one that emits no climate-altering greenhouse gases (“net zero”) and is involved in many research collaborations.  He is a senior...

Professor Xiaohua Yang teaches international business and is the founding director of the Center for Business Studies and Innovation in Asia-Pacific in the School of Management at the USF. She specializes in the internationalization of Chinese firms, MNE corporate social responsibility and sustainable development, international R&D strategic alliances, and foreign market entry strategies. She has taught and lectured in the USA, Australia, China, Taiwan, and Europe, and is a recipient of multiple...

Michele Chait is an electricity sector professional with nearly 30 years of experience.   Her expertise focuses on the nexus of asset valuation, finance, utility business models, and utility rate design.  This work integrates multi-disciplinary factors such as regulatory structure, policy, wholesale market operations, and asset techno-economic characteristics.  She is frequently engaged as an expert witness in utility rate case proceedings.   

Michele has consulted on electricity issues for...

Reginald Chatman is an advisor to Venture Capital firms, an active Angel Investor, Entrepreneur, and DBA candidate. When not teaching, he spends most of his time mountain biking, traveling with family, and collecting vinyl records.

Adjunct Professor Anand Durvasula currently serves as a Senior Attorney in the Legal Division of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). Mr. Durvasula has been at the CPUC for over 10 years. Mr. Durvasula serves as counsel in proceedings before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and Federal appellate courts on matters including utility ratemaking, energy procurement and market design and associated...

Horacio Enriquez is a dynamic and innovative Operations Management expert, inventor, entrepreneur, speaker, advisor, and executive with over 25 years of semiconductor, telecommunications, consumer electronics, life sciences, and integrated facilities management industry experience, including roles of progressive and increasing leadership in supply chain management, supplier quality & compliance management, and business systems integration organizations.

He’s passionate about building, leading...

Adjunct Professor John Gonzales is internationally recognized for his service work as an economist focusing on transition economies, emerging market economics, and monetary policy. With the aim of helping his students develop a more comprehensive understanding of the intricate and interdependent network of variables that affect our global economy, Gonzales teaches courses in capital market theory, corporate finance, investment and analysis, micro and macroeconomics, monetary economics, equity...

Chris Greacen works on policy and hands-on implementation of renewable energy from village to government levels. As co-director of the non-profit organization Palang Thai he helped draft Thailand’s Very Small Power Producer (VSPP) policies and conduct studies in support of the country’s feed-in tariff program.

As a consultant to the World Bank, GIZ and ADB he assisted the Myanmar government in developing and implementing the off-grid component of Myanmar’s National Electrification Program...

Stephen Lanza is the Principal at Tri-Valley Advising LLC, focused on developing and driving strategies and organizational leadership for start-up and mid-size companies. He is also a Group Leader for Vistage International Peer Advisory Group for CEOs and Business Leaders, and has been a lecturer for the last twenty years on Business Strategy for MBA programs.

Stephen has over 20 years at the VP+ level, including: Functional Global Leadership experience for teams in operations, finance, sales...

Dr. Lee has completed in depth remarkable research and education on transitions in electric power systems and electricity markets, specifically microgrids and distributed energy resources,the role of new technologies in grid planning, and the effects of the physical structure of power systems on social equity. In 2012 as an intern for Blue Energy Dr. Lee created and developed electrification work in Nicaragua, Vietnam, and Uganda which entailed design, installation, and evaluation of off grid...

Adjunct Professor Frank Lindh, former general counsel of the California Public Utilities Commission and now a sole practitioner, has been a practicing lawyer in the field of energy law for nearly 40 years, initially in Washington, D.C., and since 1991 in San Francisco. Lindh is former president of the Western Chapter of the Energy Bar Association, and has also served on the Energy Bar Association's national board of directors. He also has been a member of the board of directors of the Conference...

Professor Rosidi comes to USF School of Management with a broad and deep experience in analytics and information systems. His career has given him experience across consulting, startups, and large organizations, but has always focused on building and leveraging technology and analytics to drive strategic decision-making.

In classes, Professor Rosidi uses real-world examples and problems found in industry. He applies business and analytical theory and concepts to problems found in the industry...

Amy Whittaker is an adjunct instructor for the University of San Francisco MBA Consulting Accelerator Program. Amy also leads Slalom's Nonprofit practice across North America for Slalom consulting. She is a consultant, coach, and facilitator with ~20 years of experience in organizational strategy and leadership. She has worked with hundreds of organizations on solving their business challenges across the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. She believes deeply in the power of systems-thinking...

Professor Wylie comes to the School of Management with over ten years of business and finance experience. He’s worked for both Fortune 100 organizations and small startups helping to drive P&L efficiencies through data and business analytics. Currently, Professor Wylie works for Amazon Web Services as a Finance Manager.

Professor Wylie loves to incorporate his professional experience with course content and lectures combining both the theoretical and practical application of data and data...

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Linda Henderson, Ph.D. has been a leader in departmental and program development at USF in her roles as department chair and director in project management and organizational behavior. She continues her programmatic leadership for the undergraduate management major. Her work as a senior level consultant for clients including Visa International, Hewlett-Packard, Dell Computers, Blue Shield of California, and Genentech informs her teaching and research on...