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Faculty

The USC Marshall EMBA faculty is made up of leading scholars from a diverse array of business backgrounds and disciplines. Each is dedicated to building a truly unique experience for EMBA students. Although some EMBA professors teach in USC Marshall's other MBA programs, you'll find that each faculty member teaches classes within the distinct EMBA context, integrating material with that of other professors to create a cohesive learning experience in each theme. The program's faculty function as one team with a common objective - developing and refining your leadership skills. They meet regularly to coordinate materials, review content, and evaluate your progress.

Our faculty's work extends well beyond the case room and lecture hall. Many serve as consultants to a broad range of companies, both Fortune 500 and smaller. This is where much of our curriculum innovation comes from - our professors are in tune with what's really going in business. The inevitable intersection between practice and academia creates a learning environment that fosters both insight for innovative ways to improve business as it is practiced today and foresight for future curriculum changes.

To learn more about the USC Marshall EMBA faculty members, follow the links below:

Arvind Bhambri

Building
HOH
Room / Office
517
Associate Professor of Management and Organization

DBA, Harvard University; MM, Indian Institute of Management; BTech, Maharaja Sayajirao University

Arvind Bhambri specializes in strategic change, competitive strategy, business development, and leadership. He has twice received the Golden Apple Award for MBA teaching and the Management & Organization Outstanding Teacher Award four times. In 2008, a Wall Street Journal special report profiled him as one of the fourteen best EMBA professors worldwide. In 2009, he received the Evan C. Thompson Award for Learning and Teaching Innovation. Professor Bhambri has served on on the faculty of the Getty Museum Leadership Institute, Bocconi University, University of Hawaii's Advanced Management Program, and the Owner Managed Business Institute in Boston.
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Christopher Bresnahan

Building
HOH
Room / Office
417
Assistant Professor of Clinical of Management and Organization
Dr. Christopher Bresnahan is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Management and Organization department at the Marshall School of Business. Dr. Bresnahan teaches at the undergraduate and graduate level. His courses focus on organizational behavior, leadership, and understanding individual differences. His research interests focus on individual differences in the workplace.
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Tom Chang

Building
HOH
Room / Office
704
Associate Professor of Finance and Business Economics

PhD, BS, MIT

Tom Chang is an associate professor of Finance and Business Economics at the Marshall School of Business and a research fellow at both the Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics and the Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research. He received a BS in Physics (1998) and a PhD in economics (2009), both from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His current research focuses on better understanding individual decision-making and its implications for firm behavior.
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Baizhu Chen

Building
HOH
Room / Office
202
Professor of Clinical Finance and Business Economics

PhD, MA, University of Rochester; BS, Fudan University

Baizhu Chen studies macroeconomics and international economics, with an emphasis on China. His work has been published in the Journal of Peace Research, European Journal of Political Economy, China Economic Review, Applied Financial Economics, Social Choice and Welfare, and Journal of Macroeconomics. He is Senior Researcher at the Institute of Finance and Banking at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, chief economist of Sino-Century Capital, a VC firm in Shanghai, and former president of the Chinese Economists Society. He is academic director for Marshall's GEMBA program, and a recipient of the Golden Apple Award.
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James Cunningham

Building
HOH
Room / Office
215
Associate Professor of Clinical Finance and Business Economics

PhD, MBA, MA, University of Chicago; BA, University of Notre Dame

Jim Cunningham is an economist who specializes in macroeconomics and public finance, and has conducted research on taxes, interest rates, and health economics, among other topics. He teaches in the undergraduate, full-time MBA, PM.MBA, and EMBA programs. In 2010, he received Marshall's Golden Apple award for MBA instruction, and the "Par for the Course" award from the San Diego EMBA program. In addition to his extensive teaching experience, Professor Cunningham has worked as a financial analyst and consulted extensively on antitrust issues.
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Mark DeFond

Building
HOH
Room / Office
816
A. N. Mosich Chair in Accounting and Professor of Accounting

PhD, University of Washington; BA, San Francisco State University

Professor DeFond is the A. N. Mosich Chair of Accounting, Leventhal School of Accounting, University of Southern California. His research investigates issues in auditing, international financial reporting, and earnings management. He is a former Senior Editor of The Accounting Review and has served on the editorial boards of several leading academic journals, including the Journal of Accounting Research and the Journal of Accounting and Economics. He is a recipient of the AAA’s Notable Contribution to the Auditing Literature Award, and a four-time MBA Golden Apple teaching award winner. Professor DeFond has held visiting professorships in Hong Kong and Singapore, and is currently the Associate Dean of Faculty at the Leventhal School of Accounting. He received his PhD at the University of Washington and prior to that worked for several years as an auditor with Deloitte (formerly Touche Ross) and is a California CPA (inactive).
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Gene Del Vecchio

Building
ACC
Room / Office
B1D
Adjunct Professor of Marketing

MBA, University of Southern California; BA, University of California, Los Angeles

Gene Del Vecchio is an adjunct professor of marketing with emphasis in consumer behavior, research, youth marketing and entertainment. He conducted roughly a thousand research studies in his consulting practice that provided strategic and tactical marketing direction for industry giants across film, television, packaged goods, toy, and technology industries. He has written four business books and two novels. For many years Del Vecchio was the SVP, Director of Planning & Research at advertising giant Ogilvy & Mather in Los Angeles where he led strategic and research efforts on a variety of businesses. He began his career at General Mills.
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David Logan

Building
HOH
Room / Office
431
Lecturer in Management and Organization
Dave Logan is co-founder and president of CultureSync, a Senior Lecturer at University of Southern California (USC) Marshall School of Business, and New York Times bestselling author. He is co-founder and president of CultureSync, a management consulting firm focused on the intersection of strategy and culture. CultureSync has consulted dozens of Fortune 500 companies, major nonprofits, and governments around the world. He has been on the USC faculty since 1996 and has a Ph.D. in Organizational Communication from the Annenberg School at USC. Dave authored or co-authored six books, including the bestseller Tribal Leadership and The Three Laws of Performance.
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Amy Luca

Adjunct Professor of Marketing

Amy is currently the CEO of theAmplify part of the You & Mr Jones Group which is the world first global brand technology group. Prior to her role at theAmplify she’s held a number of roles in the advertising and digital marketing industry at GPY&R (Sydney, AU), Y&R (Shanghai, China) TBWA\Chiat\Day, Grey Global Group and American Golf.

Amy Luca is Adjunct Professor of Digital Marketing at the USC Marshall School of Business EMBA Programs. She is a graduate of the Marshall School of Business Global EMBA Program (GEMBA), Class IV 2007-2009.
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Gregory Nahass

Building
HOH
Room / Office
431
Adjunct Professor of Management and Organization
• Adjunct Professor at USC Marshall; M&A Management and Corporate Governance • Partner at PwC, leading practice focused on M&A Integration and Divestiture Separation • US and Global leader for PwC’s M&A Integration service offering • Delivered on client projects and PwC firm practice building in 24 countries, completing over 275 transactions • Delivered M&A Management and Operations training in 10 countries to over 500 PwC practitioners from 35 different countries • Published 40+ thought leadership papers on M&A topics; frequently quoted in business publications • MBA from USC, MS in Business Taxation from Golden Gate University, and BS in Accounting from CSU, Northridge • CPA in California
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Steven Mednick

Building
JFF
Room / Office
518
Associate Professor of Clinical Entrepreneurship

JD, MPA, University of Southern California; BA, UCLA

Steven Mednick is an expert in entrepreneurship, corporate entrepreneurship, strategic alliances and angel funding. He is the past Associate Director of Marshall’s Center for Global Innovation and is an author and frequent speaker in the field. Professor Mednick currently teaches in the Marshall MBA, EMBA and Master of Medical Management programs and is a two-time winner of the Marshall Golden Apple teaching award. Outside of USC, he has advised over 500 early stage companies through his ten-year relationship with the Small Business Administration. Steve’s clients have reported over $620 million in economic impact to the SBA, and he has been awarded the SBA’s State Star for outstanding performance.
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Steve Moyer

Building
ACC
Room / Office
301D
Lecturer of Finance and Business Economics

JD, Stanford University School of Law; MBA, University of Chicago School of Business; BA, Grinnell College.

Steve Moyer is an Adjunct Professor. Prior to joining the faculty at USC, he was a Portfolio Manager with PIMCO where he managed the PIMCO Distressed Credit Fund. In his over 30 years of experience in the investment industry he has also been affiliated with Tennenbaum Capital, Imperial Capital, BAML, Drexel Burnham Lambert and First Boston. Mr. Moyer began his career as a lawyer. Mr. Moyer received his B.A. from Grinnell College, an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago and a J.D. from Stanford. Steve is the author of Distressed Debt Analysis and several other publications in the field.
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Chris Parsons

Building
ACC
Room / Office
301G
Professor of Finance and Business Economics
Chris holds a BS in Chemical Engineering (1997) and a PhD in finance (2007), both at the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to teaching at Marshall, Chris has served on the faculties of McGill University, UNC Chapel Hill, UCSD, Harvard Business School, and University of Washington. He teaches corporate finance, investments, real estate, and labor economics. His research interests include behavioral finance – which seeks to understand the psychological foundations of investor’s (sometimes incorrect) decision making. Another research interest is the intersection of urban economics and corporate finance, such as geographical patterns of white collar crime.
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Greg Patton

Building
ACC
Room / Office
402
Professor of Clinical Business Communication

PhD, University of Southern California

Greg Patton is an expert in communication, interpersonal and leadership effectiveness. He has received numerous teaching awards, been ranked as one of the top teaching faculty at USC and helped USC Marshall achieve numerous #1 worldwide rankings for Communication and Leadership skill development. Professor Patton has extensive international experience, has trained, coached and mentored thousands of leaders worldwide, and created scores of successful leadership programs. He has advised on several hundred consulting engagements throughout the Pacific Rim, serves as a keynote speaker and has held more than twenty leadership positions in national and international organizations.
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Dawn Porter

Building
BRI
Room / Office
401S
Professor of Clinical Data Sciences and Operations Management

PhD, MPhil, MS, New York University; BA, Cornell University

Dawn Porter is a statistician who has published in Management Science and is the coauthor of Basic Econometrics (fifth edition). Prior to joining USC, she served on the faculty at Georgetown University. Professor Porter has consulted for KPMG Consulting, Ginnie Mae, Inc., and Toys R Us.
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Sampath Rajagopalan

Building
BRI
Room / Office
400D
Professor of Data Sciences and Operations

PhD, MS, Carnegie Mellon University; MBA, Indian Institute of Management - Ahmedabad; BTech, Indian Institute of Technology - Madras

Raj Rajagopalan's research covers capacity and technology acquisition, supply chain management, and product variety and its impact on operations performance. He has published in journals such as Management Science, Production and Operations Management, and Operations Research. He served as a Department Editor at IIE Transactions, Senior Editor at Production and Operations Management, and as an Associate Editor at Management Science and Operations Research. Professor Rajagopalan has consulted for Johnson and Johnson, Fidelity Investments, and Hewlett Packard. He has taught courses in operations and supply chain management in the MBA and Executive MBA programs.
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Arvind Ramakrishnan

Building
HOH
Room / Office
431
Adjunct Professor of Management Organization

EdD USC Rossier; MBA, USC Marshall, BA, University of Michigan

Arvind is an Adjunct Professor of Management and Organization. He teaches Strategy courses at Marshall in both the Undergraduate and Graduate level. Arvind has over 15 years of global business experience working for Fortune 500 companies across Strategy, Operations, and Finance roles. He is currently a Management Consultant at EY. His areas of focus include the Technology, Media, and Telecom industry. Arvind’s global experience spans across Europe, Asia, South America, Mexico, and the Middle East. Ed. D in Organizational Change and Leadership, MBA in Strategy and Entrepreneurship from USC, and BA in Economics and Asian Studies from University of Michigan.
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S. Mark Young

Building
ACC
Room / Office
123
George Bozanic and Holman G. Hurt Chair in Sports Entertainment Business & Professor of Accounting

PhD, University of Pittsburgh; MAcc, The Ohio State University; BA, Oberlin College

S. Mark Young studies management control system design and has conducted research in the automobile, airline, high tech, and entertainment industries. He has published in Journal of Accounting Research, The Accounting Review, and Academy of Management Review, and served as associate editor of The Accounting Review. His book with Dr. Drew Pinsky, The Mirror Effect, was a New York Times Best Seller. Professor Young received the Notable Contributions to the Accounting Literature Award and the Notable Contributions to the Management Accounting Literature Award. He is a distinguished fellow of the Center for Excellence in Teaching at USC.
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Scott Porter, Partner Ernst and Young
 - "The Faculty are first rate, top notch, and experts in their field."

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“When you think about the faculty at USC [Marshall], I think that’s really what separates this program from the others. These are people that are incredibly intelligent, have had great careers, have traveled all over the world, and these are the people that you’re learning from.”

James Naviaux
Director Global Partnerships & Commercial Strategy
ESS, Inc.

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