Faculty

Bonita Austin, MBA

Austin is a Professor (Lecturer) in the David Eccles School of Business. Since joining in August 2008, she has received five teaching awards. Prior to 2008, she was an equity analyst consultant for several hedge funds. She also was a Senior Vice President for Lehman Brothers, served on the Investment Committee for Prudential Securities, and was an Institutional Investor All-Star All-American Analyst. Austin was instrumental in the development and launch of the Goff Scholars course and now instructs the course annually.

Jay Barney, Ph.D.

Jay Barney is a Presidential Professor of Strategic Management and the Pierre Lassonde Chair of Social Entrepreneurship at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. He has received honorary doctorate degrees from the University of Lund (Sweden), the Copenhagen Business School, and Universidad Pontificia Comillas (Spain), and has had honorary visiting professor positions in New Zealand, the U.K. and China. He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Academy of Management Review. Barney contributes to our research, thought leadership, and strategic leadership training.

Stephanie Baugh, MA

Stephanie earned her bachelor’s in Business and Psychology from the University of Puget Sound, and her MA from Bowling Green State University. Stephanie is passionate about collaborating with partners to create sustainable and transformative learning experiences for college students. She has worked at several universities in program development and career services roles. In her current role, Stephanie coordinates initiatives with alumni and partners to create a community of lifelong leaders and learners. Outside of work, she loves being involved in her community, hiking, playing volleyball, and exploring as many new places as possible.

Allison Boxer, Ed.D., MBA

Tom Georgis

Managing Director, Energy Greenhouse
Tom Georgis has 24 years of experience in both the conventional and renewable energy sectors, most recently as the CEO of SolarReserve, a global concentrated solar with thermal energy storage company, He has extensive climate technology expertise derived from working with numerous renewable and sustainable energy companies, technologies and projects; including early stage investment capital sourcing and structuring, regulatory and legislative policy advocacy, clean technology development and commercialization, and utility scale project development and financing. Tom is also an Adjunct Instructor with the Department of Entrepreneurship and Strategy in the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah and an Adjunct Professor and Faculty Advisor at the Anderson School of Management at UCLA where he lectures on entrepreneurship, international business strategy, and sustainability. At Anderson, he is also on the board of the Price Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation. As an entrepreneur, operator, advisor, and investor, he has been involved with over 20 startups. He holds a degree in Political Science from Northwestern University and an MBA from UCLA.

Heidi Herrick, MBA, Ph.D.

Throughout her time as a Ph.D. student and now as an associate professor, Heidi Herrick has worked closely with faculty members and contributed greatly to the work of the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy and the Goff Strategic Leadership Center. She supports programs at the Goff Center, teaches various undergraduate strategy courses, and teaches Executive Education courses in strategic leadership.

Bill Hesterly, Ph.D.

Hesterly is Associate Chair and the Dumke Family Presidential Chair in Strategic Management at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. His most recent research focuses on appropriation and the locus of value creation. His research has appeared in top journals including the Academy of Management Review, Organization Science, Strategic Management Journal, and the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization. He served on the editorial boards of Strategic Organization, Journal of Management, and Organization Science. He is the co-author of Strategic Management and Competitive Advantage. He has been recognized several times with awards for teaching MBA and executive students. He also received the Western Academy of Management’s Ascendant Scholar Award. He was a founding member of the Strategic Human Capital Interest Group at SMS and was also a co-founder of the Utah-BYU Winter Strategy Conference.

Anna McKean, Ph.D.

Anna McKean received her Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 2022. As a nonmarket strategy scholar, her research focuses the interactions between corporations, government, and stakeholders, and the underlying power dynamics within these interactions. Her work explores how, when, and why firms use different types of nonmarket strategies; taking into account factors such as political polarization, values and ideology, media influence, perceived cultural expectations, and so on. Ultimately, her research seeks to better understand the role of corporations within a stakeholder-centered, societal framework.

Sean McKelvie

Ruchi M. Watson, MBA, Ed.D

Watson is thrilled to lead the team as Managing Director. She enters this position after nearly 8 years of experience as part of the Dean’s Team here at the David Eccles School of Business and almost 10 years prior to that in the corporate sector at Fortune 500 companies. She concurrently serves as faculty member in the Department of Entrepreneurship & Strategy.

Todd Zenger, PhD

Zenger is the Entrepreneurship & Strategy Department Chair and the N. Eldon Tanner Chair in Strategy and Strategic Leadership at the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. He also holds the University of Utah designation as a Presidential Professor. Zenger is a global expert in corporate strategy, organizational design and pay transparency. He is our Academic Director and leads the research and thought leadership arm of the Goff Strategic Leadership Center.