Faculty

An associate professor in the Department of Environmental Science since 2016, Dr. Amalia Kokkinaki holds a PhD degree from the University of Toronto in Canada and joined USF after completing her postdoctoral research at Stanford University. She is an environmental engineer with expertise in groundwater flow, fate and transport of contaminants, and biological treatment of organic pollutants. Her research is in the nexus of mathematical and statistical modeling of the physical, chemical and...

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...

Professor Benning received her PhD from the University of Colorado, Boulder in Environmental, Population and Organismic Biology. Her research interests include landscape ecology, urban ecology and resource conservation and management. Her most recent research focuses on remote sensing and GIS technologies in the study of tropical rainforest dynamics in Hawaii and riparian corridors in southern African savannas.

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...

Professor Karentz is a marine biologist with expertise in plankton ecology and ultraviolet photobiology. Her work has focused on investigating the ecological implications of Antarctic ozone depletion, specifically identifying strategies for protection from UV exposure and understanding mechanisms for repair of UV–induced damage. She has over 30 years of field experience in Antarctica.

In addition to research, Deneb mentors early-career scientists through the US National Science Foundation...

William Karney received his BA from Haverford College and his PhD in organic chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles. Prior to his position at USF he did postdoctoral work at the University of Washington and the University of California, Berkeley.

At USF, William teaches organic chemistry and environmental chemistry. His research, performed in collaboration with Professor Claire Castro, involves the use of computational chemistry to understand the structures, energetics, and...

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...

John M. (Jack) Lendvay was born and raised near Cleveland, Ohio. Since an early age, he has been interested in environmental issues as one of his childhood memories is the Cuyahoga River Fire of 1969. This interest and his love of science led him to study Chemistry as an undergraduate student at Hiram College, where he graduated in 1983. After college, he joined the US Navy as a Nuclear Submarine Officer and served predominantly on USS Simon Bolivar until 1988. After working in industry for a...

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.

Allison Luengen received her MS in Marine Sciences from the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). She then completed her PhD in Environmental Toxicology, also at UCSC. Following her PhD, she moved to the East Coast for postdoctoral research with Dr. Nicholas Fisher in the School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences at Stony Brook University. As a postdoc, Professor Luengen worked with radioisotopes to look at how methylmercury bioavailability to phytoplankton was affected by dissolved...

Tom MacDonald received his PhD from Stanford University. Professor MacDonald's research focuses on designing computer simulations of problems of pollution migration and using the results to engineer systems to contain pollutants and prevent further spreading. He has also published his research on the neural network application for bioremediation. Recently he has co-authored papers dealing with environmental risk and the precautionary principle.

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.

Paul is from southern California and earned his PhD from the University of Calgary after completing an MA in Geography from Cal State University - Long Beach (CSULB). His research is at the intersection of modern digital geospatial technologies and geologic mapping, aimed at the assessment, documentation, and application of complete geospatial workflows to analyze and better understand fundamental environmental, geologic, and geomorphologic challenges. His current focus implements drone-based...

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...

April Randle's research is broadly focused on how ecological factors shape the behavioral and morphological traits of species and influence species' distributions and interactions. She has conducted research on a range of taxa including: tropical trees (forest restoration), primates (foraging behavior), temperate flora (plant ecology, mating system evolution, plant-pollinator interactions), marine mammals (population size estimation of large cetaceans), tropical freshwater fish (adaptations to...

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...

Diane Roberts, Professor of Accounting, is motivated by a deep concern for unethical financial reporting and non-transparent corporate accounting, considering the potential for catastrophic effects on the environment, community trust, and the global economy.

Having long been interested in environmental issues and professional accounting, Roberts engages her students in discussions that address both honorable and unlawful corporate practices, as well as historical cases that will naturally...

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...

Tanu Sankalia is a tenured full professor in the Department of Art + Architecture, and coordinates the Urban Studies Concentration within the Environmental Studies Program. He teaches courses in urban planning and design, architectural and urban history, and architectural design. He was trained in urban design at UC Berkeley, and in architecture at the School of Architecture, Ahmedabad, from where he graduated with a gold medal for the best diploma thesis.

Professor Sankalia's research and...

Simon Scarpetta is an evolutionary biologist, paleontologist, and herpetologist with a particular appreciation for lizards and salamanders. He received a PhD in Geosciences from The University of Texas at Austin in 2021, and recently finished an NSF Postdoctoral Research Fellowship in Biology at UC Berkeley. His research incorporates molecular and paleontological data to determine evolutionary relationships and timescales of the lizards of North America, in the context of climatic changes...

Calla Schmidt received a PhD in Earth Science from the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research spans physical hydrology and biogeochemistry and aims to understand the connection between hydrology and the biogeochemical cycling of nutrients. She has done research on nutrient cycling during groundwater recharge, nitrogen pollution in highway runoff and presently she is working on a project investigating the transfer of nutrients discharged by wastewater treatment plants into the base of...

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...

Professor Siehr works on energy–based solutions to multiple environmental problems–from local air pollution to global climate change–combining engineering with tools from political economy and organizational analysis. With a geographical focus on China, Japan, and the US, her research and teaching examine energy and carbon saving strategies; emissions inventories; city climate action; environmental and energy policy analysis; urban sustainability, international cooperation; and environmental...

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...

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...

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.

Cam is a cartographer, spatial data scientist, and educator. In various roles, Cam has applied GIS in the public, private, non-profit, and academic sectors. He currently works in map production and leads international GIS training programs for the World Health Organization. Cam sits on the board of BayGeo, where he organizes and instructs educational workshops.

Cam enjoys using cartography to transform data into visual stories. He has published maps about a variety of topics including housing...

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...

Aaron Frank's areas of interest include Environmental Law, Environmental Ethics, and Wildlife Policy. He is the Founder and President of the California Wildlife Center and sits on the Board of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies. In 2013, Aaron won a USF Distinguished Teaching Award.

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...

Susan Hopp is a strategist, educator, and practitioner of sustainable and regenerative management. Since 2007, she has applied her years of experience with technology companies, both startups and multinationals, to building sustainability momentum in business. She spotlights the business case for sustainability as a key integrated strategy informing culture and organizational practices and has worked with organizations across industries to help them formalize their sustainability strategy and...

Gordon Johnson is the manager of the environmental affairs regulatory department at the PBF Energy LLC Refinery in Martinez, California. Gordon has been teaching energy classes in the MSEM program since 1998 and is on the academic advisory board for the USF Energy Systems program.

He has extensive experience in wastewater treatment, groundwater and soil remediation, air regulatory compliance, hazardous waste minimization and elimination, new regulation advocacy, and environmental permitting...

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...

Fernanda Lopez Ornelas is a Mexican biologist and environmental manager who has always been passionate about nature and environmental phenomena. She earned her biology degree in Mexico and completed her Master of Science in Environmental Management at USF, where she developed a strong interest in geospatial technologies and GIS. She is proud to be part of the first group to obtain the GIS Certificate recently developed by USF’s Geospatial Analysis Lab (GsAL). Lopez Ornelas has a particular...

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...

Aviva Rossi's research interests include biogeography, natural history, mammalogy, climate change, and conservation. Her current work focuses on quantifying the natural history of small mammals, including the niche space, resource selection, and modeled distributions. The ultimate goal of her work is to better understand how species are likely to respond to climate change in a way that can inform management.

In addition to her research, Ms. Rossi has over 20 years of experience working in the...

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...

Raymond James (Jim) Brown joined the USF faculty in fall 1970 as an Assistant Professor in the Biology Department. Over his 37 years at USF, Jim taught General Biology, Organic Evolution, Comparative Anatomy, Vertebrate Embryology, and California Wildlife. Later in his career, he directed the Graduate Environmental Management Program and helped establish the Environmental Science Department. He was the first chair of the department and taught Environmental Science and Environmental Monitoring...

John Callaway received his PhD in Oceanography and Coastal Sciences from Louisiana State University in 1994. Prior to his position at USF, John was the Associate Director of the Pacific Estuarine Research Laboratory (PERL) at San Diego State University.

At USF, Professor teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in introductory environmental science, applied ecology, wetlands, and restoration ecology. His research expertise is in wetland restoration, specifically wetland plant ecology and...

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...