New Faces Come from Wide Range of Academic Backgrounds

Manning School faculty members chat prior to a meeting Image by Ed Brennen
Manning School colleagues chat before November's faculty meeting at Lydon Library.

01/17/2017

The Manning School of Business was proud to welcome 10 new faculty members — including eight assistant professors — this fall. Meet the new faculty members that bring a diversity of academic experiences and innovative teaching ideas to all five academic departments:

Management

Asst. Prof. Karoline Evans received her Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from the Olin Business School, Washington University in St. Louis. Her research interests include team innovation, intragroup dynamics and social networks. Her recent work has focused on preparing teams in crisis situations to improvise solutions. Prior to completing her doctorate, Evans worked for Accenture’s R&D Lab where she developed innovation strategy and mobile technology, specializing in utilities industries.

Asst. Prof. José-Mauricio Galli Geleilate received his Ph.D. at Florida International University. His research has been published in academic journals such as Industrial and Corporate Change, Journal of Business Research and Journal of International Management. Prior to entering academia, Geleilate co-founded a business consulting firm in Brazil and worked with the Brazilian Stock Exchange BOVESPA. He teaches strategic management courses and his research is focused on innovation and knowledge management, internationalization process of emerging markets firms and institutions.

Asst. Prof. Erica Steckler received her Ph.D. from the Carroll School of Management at Boston College. She has served in visiting faculty roles in the D’Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University and the Center for Business Ethics at Bentley University. Her research focuses on stakeholder perceptions of organizational authenticity within the global domains of sustainability and corporate responsibility. She holds a B.A. in Russian and East European Studies from Middlebury College, an MBA from Simmons School of Management, and an M.S. in Organization Studies from Boston College.

Asst. Prof. Peter Tashman received his Ph.D. in strategy from George Washington University. His research focuses on the ecological and institutional drivers of corporate sustainability practices and strategies. He is currently teaching strategic management at the undergraduate level. He earned a B.S. in International Management from the University of Vermont. Prior to entering academia, he worked in the backcountry skiing industry in the Pacific Northwest.

Visiting instructor Elissa Magnant has been admitted to the bar since 1995. She worked in a consumer bankruptcy law firm, litigated for a larger insurance defense law firm, clerked for three Federal Judges, and ultimately owned her own law and mediation practice. Magnant held a major ownership interest in two family businesses, a $25 million-per-year distributorship of scientific equipment and a local franchise of an international chain.

Operations and Information Systems

Asst. Prof. Amit Deokar received his Ph.D. in MIS and MS in Industrial Engineering from the University of Arizona. His current interests include data analytics, business intelligence and process management. Deokar was recently recognized with the 2014 IBM Faculty Award. He currently serves as an editorial board member of DSS and BPMJ journals and Chair-Elect of the AIS SIG Decision Support and Analytics.

Asst. Prof. Nichalin Summerfield received her Ph.D. in Management (Operations Management emphasis) and a master’s degree in Management Information Systems from the University of Arizona. Her research interests are in the areas of game theoretical analysis and business analytics in operations and supply chain management. She has taught courses in statistics, quantitative analysis, operations management and business logistics. Before pursuing her doctorate, she worked at Accenture (Thailand) as a consultant for five years.

Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Innovation

Asst. Prof. Mark Yi-Cheon Yim received his Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Austin. His primary research interests include digital marketing with a focus on innovative technologies, shopper behavior/retailing and luxury branding. His current research investigates the effectiveness of augmented reality-based product presentations, the impact of brand placement in stereoscopic 3-D sports games, and the effectiveness of iPad-based interactive ordering system. His research has appeared in JAMS, IMR, JA, and JAR, among others.

Accounting

Asst. Prof. Heeick Choi earned his BBA from Sogang University, a Master’s in Accounting and Statistics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a Ph.D. in Management (Accounting) from SUNY Buffalo. Prior to joining academia, Choi worked for PricewaterhouseCoopers Korea for three years. He is a Certified Public Accountant of South Korea.

Finance

Visiting lecturer Iskandar Arifin obtained his Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Connecticut and his MBA from the University of Notre Dame. He was an assistant professor at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota and a visiting lecturer at University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Prior to academia, he was a software engineer. He is teaching Financial Management and is incorporating Bloomberg into the finance curriculum. He is originally from Jakarta, Indonesia.