Faculty Mentors

MBA, University of Southern California; BA, Smith College

Jody Tolan specializes in leadership and organizational development. She has created programs to build leadership skills among emerging managers, middle managers, and senior executive teams to meet strategic and organizational goals. She has also led workshops on leading teams, management communications and strategy development. She has designed and facilitated programs in Marshall’s Office of Executive Education and consulted with Wescom Credit Union, Honda Financial Services, Allergan, BDO Seidman and Thailand Government Savings Bank. Professor Tolan began her career on Capitol Hill followed by positions in several boutique consulting firms in New York City.

Phil Rogers received a B.S. in Mathematics from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and both an M.S. and Ph.D. in Operations Research from the University of California at Berkeley, with minors in Statistics and Mathematical Economics. During a 33-year career at Exxon Corporation, Phil developed many sophisticated mathematical models that were used to optimize a wide variety of the Corporation's business operations. He then joined the University of Houston, where he taught courses in statistics, business modeling and decision making and was awarded a university-wide teaching excellence award. Following a year-and-a-half stay at Arizona State University, where he taught business modeling and optimization, Phil joined the Marshall School of Business, where he coordinates the undergraduate core statistics course and teaches in the MBA program.

PhD, Yale University; MBA, University of California, Los Angeles; BA, Stanford University

Dennis Schorr is an expert on strategic flexibility, marketing resources and capabilities, and competitive advantage. His research has been published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. He has consulted for a variety of organizations in Marketing Strategy, Marketing Research and Strategy, and Total Quality Management and Market Responsiveness.

MST, Golden Gate University; B.S., University of California at Berkeley

Greg was a partner at Kling & Pathak LLP prior to its acquisition by a Big 4 accounting firm. In addition to providing tax planning, tax compliance, and business consulting services during his career in public accounting, Greg also provided IRS and state tax audit representation for both his clients and clients of the other tax partners. Greg is a full-time professor who specializes in individual, real estate, and state/local tax issues. He is also the update author for the LexisNexis treatise, Federal Taxes Affecting Real Estate. Greg earned his B.S. in accounting from University of California, Berkeley and his M.S. in taxation from Golden Gate University.

MBA, BS, University of Southern California

Zivia Sweeney is an expert in strategic planning and budgeting, mergers and acquisitions, and accounting and finance operations for manufacturing, healthcare, service, and nonprofit organizations. She has served in senior management roles in public corporate and nonprofit arenas, and has held the of Chief Financial Officer, Vice President of Finance, and Corporate Controller. Professor Sweeney is a PriceWaterhouseCoopers alumnus. She has served for a number of years as a member of the USC Leventhal School’s Accounting Advisory Board.

PhD, University of Southern California; BA, University of California, Santa Cruz

Dr. Glenn Fox is the Head of Program Design, Strategy, and Outreach at the USC Performance Science Institute.  A neuroscientist by training, he began at USC working as a research assistant in the Brain and Creativity Institute, after which he went on to earn his PhD in the Neuroscience Graduate Program and complete a post-doctoral fellowship with Professors Hanna and Antonio Damasio. Glenn is at the forefront of research on gratitude and human performance.  Glenn teaches “The Science of Peak Performance” during the Spring Semester, leads trainings with leaders and groups, and conducts research on mindset and physiology.

Ph.D., MBA, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Sena Durguner research interests are in the area of Banking and Financial Institutions, Corporate Finance, Small Business Finance, and Financial Economics. Before joining the Marshall School of Business, she was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Northeastern University in Boston and she was also a Visiting Scholar at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in Washington DC. Professor Durguner presented several of her academic papers at governmental organizations such as Federal Reserve Board, Office of the Comptroller of Currency, FDIC, Bank of Canada, and also in national finance conferences. Professor Durguner also taught at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign where she was recognized numerous times for her teaching. Her teaching portfolio includes microeconomics, economics statistics, and corporate finance courses. Before her academic background, Professor Durguner worked several years as an analyst in the financial sector.

MBA, University of Southern California; BA, UCLA

Scott Abrams specializes in corporate finance, portfolio management, financial analysis and valuation, and microeconomics. He teaches these subjects in both the graduate and undergraduate programs at USC Marshall. In addition, Professor Abrams is the co-instructor for the MBA and Undergraduate Student Investment Fund classes. He is the 2016 Golden Apple Teaching Award Winner for the Full-Time MBA Core Program. Professor Abrams received his MBA from USC Marshall and is an alumnus of the SIF Program (2004). Prior to joining the faculty at USC Marshall, he worked in corporate finance at Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. In addition, he is an alumnus of Deloitte and is a licensed CPA.

Dr. Guo’s research focuses on organizational and intercultural communication in business. She is particularly interested and specialized in identity development and strategic negotiation in various international organizational contexts. Her research has appeared on top-tier journals that examined topics such as organizational culture, conflict management, emotion management, communication technology use in business (e.g., social media, mobile), and leadership communication. Professor’s pedagogical expertise in academia includes organizational communication, communication strategies in business, leadership communication, business and professional communication, communication in non-western culture, and persuasion. Prior to academia, Dr. Guo held program and event coordinator positions in Chinese and U.S. multinational companies, specializing intercultural business communication.

MBA, University of Southern Califorina; BA, Loyola Marymount University

Maria Colman is the owner and founder of handmadeMaria®. The original business plan was part of her MBA at the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business. Maria has over 30 years' experience in retail marketing, accounting management, direct sales, and education. Before joining USC, Maria taught at California State University, Los Angeles; Moorpark College; and Antelope Valley College. She brings her diverse business background, enthusiasm, and tangible experience to her classes. Her upcycled products and handmade art pieces are sold at brick and mortar and online stores.

PhD, University of Southern California

Dr. El Haddad specializes in business, corporate and global strategy and has taught these topics in Marshall’s MBA and undergraduate programs. She has received the Douglas Basil Award for Junior Faculty and is a three-time winner of Marshall’s Golden Apple Award for excellence in teaching. Her research interests lie in social entrepreneurship and corporate social responsibility. As a management consultant, she has advised various businesses and leading nonprofits including Habitat for Humanity.

PhD, University of Southern California; MA, University of San Diego; BA, Claremont McKenna College

Stephen Byars has received the Outstanding Assistant Lecturer Award from the Writing Program at USC as well as the Outstanding Teaching Assistant Award from the School of Religion at USC. He also nominated in May 2010 by the USC Parents Association for its Outstanding Teaching and Mentoring Award. Since joining USC full-time in 1997, Professor Byars has spent considerable time in the teaching and administration of different versions of Writing 340, including Advanced Writing for Business.