Colleagues

From faculty to students, there are many social impact and sustainability colleagues at Ross and the University of Michigan at large. Find like-minded impact advocates and resources in the sections below. Need another kind of resource? You may find it in our Careers section.

Search Ross Colleagues

SongHa Hailey Lee

MBA (’26)
songha@umich.edu

Aaron Slater

MBA (’26)
ajslater@umich.edu

Winter Brooks

MBA (’26)
winbrook@umich.edu

Natalie Ricklefs

MBA (’26)
ncrick@umich.edu

Jocelyn May

MBA (’26)
jocemay@umich.edu

Dominique F. Gill

MBA (’26)
dfgill@umich.edu

Alexandra Maxwell

MBA (’26)
alexmax@umich.edu

Hanyu Zhao

MBA (’26)
hanyz@umich.edu

Naya Whang

MBA (’26)
nwhang@umich.edu

Soha Vaziri

MBA (’26)
sohavaz@umich.edu

Amidat Sonekan

MBA ('26)
amidat@umich.edu

Pei-Hua Yu

MBA ('26)
peihuayu@umich.edu

Sudhanvi Konuthula

MBA ('26)
sudhanvi@umich.edu

Felipe Sahb Furtado

(MBA ' 26)
ffurtado@umich.edu

Apil Sanyashi

(BBA '26)
sanyashi@umich.edu

Ariana Almas

Senior Program Manager of Incubation and Research, Microsoft
arianana@umich.edu

Karen Biddle Andres

Director, Inclusive Saving and Investing - Aspen Institute Financial Security Program
karenbiddleandres@gmail.com

Sam Ashley

Strategy Consulting - BCG San Francisco
swashley@umich.edu

Ava Damri

Human Capital Manager - Deloitte Dallas/Fort Worth
avadamri@umich.edu

Ginamarie Gianandrea

Director of Transformation - Optum
gmarieg@umich.edu

Lily Hamburger

Director of Business Support Network - Invest Detroit
lilyham@umich.edu

Neesha Modi

Director of Programs and Social Investment - Kresge Foundation
nbmodi@umich.edu

Nate Rajpoot

Manager, Enterprise Strategy, IBM
nate.rajpoot@gmail.com

Paula Reinman

Franctional CMO - Marconi Society
preinman@impactful-marketing.com

Allie Schachter

Director of Development - The Flynn of Burlington, VT
schachtr@umich.edu

Charlene Franke

Analyst - Capital Innovation Lab of LISC Strategic Investments
cfranke@umich.edu

Matthew Muench

Head of Jobs and Skills - JPMorgan Chase
muench.matthew@gmail.com

Allan Afuah

Ross School of Business Professor of Strategy
afuah@umich.edu

Professor Allan Afuah has authored six books. His latest research focuses on how crowdsourcing, multi-sided platforms, and business model innovation can be used to explain how to create wealth, even in countries that have remained desperately poor despite being heavily endowed with natural resources.

Ravi Anupindi

Ross School of Business Colonel William G. and Ann C. Svetlich Professor of Operations Research and Management, Professor of Technology & Operations, Faculty Director, Center for Value Chain Innovation
anupindi@umich.edu

Professor Ravi Anupindi’s main research areas include supply chain management, strategic sourcing, supply chain risk, lean operations, supply chain sustainability, value chains for economic development and health care delivery in low and middle income countries. Under a USAID grant, he has assisted University of Johannesburg in South Africa develop a graduate degree program in Supply Chain Management.

Norm Bishara

Ross School of Business Associate Professor of Business Law and Business Ethics
nbishara@umich.edu

Norm Bishara teaches business law and business ethics at the Ross School, where his research is focused on human capital law and policy, corporate governance, and corruption issues. He has previously taught nonprofit management and presented on international nonprofit and social enterprise issues with the William Davidson Institute. Professor Bishara has coached the Ross BBA nonprofit case competition team and covered social entrepreneurship, base of the pyramid, CSR, and related issues in both his BBA and graduate-level business ethics classes. He volunteers with several local nonprofits, including Growing Hope, the Neutral Zone, and the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation.

Thomas Buchmueller

Ross School of Business Waldo O. Hildebrand Professor of Risk Management and Insurance, Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy, Chair of Business Economics and Public Policy
tbuch@umich.edu

Professor Buchmueller is a health economist who is an expert on the economics of health insurance and related public policies. He has done extensive research on the link between health insurance and the labor market in the U.S., consumer demand for health insurance, the interaction between public policies and private insurance markets, and health care reform. He is an expert affiliate of Poverty Solutions, University of Michigan’s major initiative dedicated to the prevention and alleviation of poverty.

Paul Clyde

Ross School of Business President, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan, Tom Lantos Professor of Business Administration, Movses and Maija Kaldjian Collegiate Lecturer of Business Economics and Public Policy
pclyde@umich.edu

Professor Clyde’s recent work in emerging markets has focused on health care delivery to the poor in emerging markets. Over the past fifteen years he has advised or run 70 health-care projects in twelve different low or middle-income countries. He has worked with faculty from the Medical School, Nursing School and Law School in developing a financially self-sustainable health care business model that serves the poor.

David Hess

Ross School of Business Associate Professor of Business Law
dwhess@umich.edu

David Hess’ research and teaching are in the areas of corporate social responsibility, business ethics, and related corporate governance issues. He has conducted research on the governance of public pensions in the United States and in developing countries. In the near future, he plans to investigate the issues surrounding the new legal structures for hybrid organizations (e.g., low-profit, limited liability companies, etc).

Andrew J. Hoffman

Ross School of Business; School of Natural Resources & Environment Holcim (US) Professor of Sustainable Enterprise; Professor of Management & Organizations; Professor of Natural Resources; Director of Global Sustainable Enterprise
ajhoff@umich.edu

Dr. Andrew (Andy) Hoffman is the Holcim (US) Professor of Sustainable Enterprise at the University of Michigan; a position that holds joint appointments at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business and the School of Natural Resources & Environment. Professor Hoffman’s research uses a sociological perspective to understand the cultural and institutional aspects of environmental issues for organizations. In particular, he focuses on the processes by which environmental issues both emerge and evolve as social, political and managerial issues.

Aneel Karnani

Ross School of Business Professor of Strategy
akarnani@umich.edu

Professor Karnani’s interests are focused on three topics: strategies for growth, global competition, and the role of business in society. He is interested in global competition, particularly in the context of emerging economies. Karnani researches poverty reduction and the appropriate roles for the private sector, the state and civil society. He is interested in how society can strike the appropriate balance between private profits and public welfare in tackling major societal problems.

Gautam Kaul

Ross School of Business John C. and Sally S. Morley Professor of Finance
kaul@umich.edu

Dr. Gautam Kaul is the founding Managing Director of the Social Venture Fund (SvF) housed in the Samuel Zell and Robert H. Lurie Institute of Entrepreneurial Studies. He has published extensively in the top journals on topics covering a wide spectrum of finance and is a leader in developing Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) on Coursera. He was awarded the Senior Faculty Research Award for sustained, exceptional, and continuing contributions to scholarly research in the field of business, and noteworthy contributions to building and maintaining a strong research environment at the Ross School of Business.

Aradhna Krishna

Ross School of Business Dwight F. Benton Professor of Marketing
aradhna@umich.edu

Professor Aradhna Krishna’s research focuses on how sensory inputs impact consumers’ perceptions, judgements and decisions. Dr. Krishna also studies how contextual factors and design interfaces affect behavior with a focus on food and health, corporation social responsibility and donation, and voting behaviors.

Jun Li

Ross School of Business Associate Professor of Technology and Operations, Michael R. and Mary Kay Hallman Fellow
junwli@umich.edu

Li conducts research in empirical operations management and business analytics spanning areas across revenue management and pricing, healthcare management, supply chain risks and corporate social responsibility, and public sector operations. Her current research centers around improving the wellbeing of children and young adults through better education and care.

Ted London

Ross School of Business Ford Motor company clinical professor of business administration; Senior research fellow, William davidson institute; area chair of business administration
tlondon@umich.edu

Ted London is the Ford Motor Company Clinical Professor and Area Chair of Business Administration at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business and a senior research fellow at the William Davidson Institute. An internationally recognized expert on the intersection of business strategy and poverty alleviation, his research focuses on how organizations can achieve impact at scale, with a particular focus on building sustainable, scalable enterprises for low-income markets.

Thomas Lyon

Ross School of Business Dow Professor of Sustainable Science, Technology and Commerce, Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy, Professor of Natural Resources
tplyon@umich.edu

Professor Lyon is a leader in using economic analysis to understand corporate environmental strategy and how it is shaped by emerging government regulations, non-governmental organizations, and consumer demands. His current research focuses on corporate environmental information disclosure, greenwash, the causes and consequences of renewable energy policy, and voluntary programs for environmental improvement. His teaching experience includes energy economics and policy, environmental governance, non-market strategy, regulation, managerial economics, business and government, game theory, business strategy, and the management of innovation.

Dave Mayer

Ross School of Business Michael R. and Mary Kay Hallman Fellow, Associate Professor of Management and Organizations
dmmayer@umich.edu

Professor Mayer’s research interests concern social and ethical issues in organizations. Specifically, he conducts research in three major areas: (1) behavioral ethics, (2) organizational justice, and (3) workplace diversity. A hallmark of his research is a focus on the effects of the organizational context (e.g., leadership, coworkers, climate) on employees’ unethical and pro-social behavior.

Nigel Melville

Ross School of Business Associate Professor of Technology and Operation
npmelv@umich.edu

Professor Melville has over 20 years of experience researching, teaching, and consulting on the topic of organizational transformation enabled by digital information systems. His recent research examines how the information systems field could help society and business interests make the transition to a sustainable world.

Sarah Miller

Ross School of Business Assistant Professor, Business Economics and Public Policy
mille@umich.edu

Sarah Miller is an assistant professor of business economics and public policy at the Stephen M. Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. Miller’s research interests are in health economics and, in particular, the short-term and long-term effects of public policies that expand health insurance coverage. In addition to her work on health economics, she is also a principal investigator in the Open Research Lab Guaranteed Income Randomized Controlled Trial.

Dana Muir

Ross School of Business Robert L. Dixon Collegiate Professor of Business, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Business Law, Area Chair of Business Law
dmuir@umich.edu

Professor Muir is a nationally recognized expert on fiduciary and remedial issues especially in the fields of investments, pension plan funding, plan investment selection and investment policies, and investment advice. She is a passionate supporter of Ross School research showing that business can play a positive role in society and the way law supports business in playing that role. Her research reaches extensively into her peer academic community (both domestically and internationally), the legal community at-large, as well as the legislative, judicial and executive branches of the U.S. government. Her work has been cited by the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal courts. Professor Muir was the Editor-in-Chief of the annual supplements to Employee Benefits Law, the treatise for the employee benefits field and is a Fellow of the American College of Employee Benefits Counsel as well as a member of the College’s Board of Governors.

Amiyatosh Purnanandam

Ross School of Business Professor of Finance
amiyatos@umich.edu

Dr. Purnanandam’s research covers a wide range of topics in financial intermediation and corporate finance. His recent research work is mostly related to banking, the subprime crisis, and mortgage finance. He is especially interested in studying the role of financial regulation and markets in promoting financial inclusion and growth in minority and low income areas. He is an expert affiliate of Poverty Solutions, University of Michigan’s major initiative dedicated to the prevention and alleviation of poverty.

Cindy Schipani

Ross School of Business Merwin H. Waterman Collegiate Professor of Business Administration, Professor of Business Law
schipani@umich.edu

Much of Professor Schipani’s research has focused on women in business leadership positions. Her research has also included analysis of directors’ duties utilizing tools of financial economics, consideration of specific issues confronting directors of financial institutions, analysis of the corporate fiduciary duties of care and loyalty, issues of liability for environmental violations and ethical links between corporate governance and sustainable peace.

Eric Schwartz

Ross School of Business Assistant Professor of Marketing
ericmsch@umich.edu

Professor Eric Schwartz’s expertise focuses on predicting customer behavior, understanding its drivers, and examining how firms actively manage their customer relationships through interactive marketing. His research in customer analytics stretches managerial applications, including online display advertising, email marketing, video consumption, and word-of-mouth. His work has taken him to Detroit and to Flint for work in the water crisis.

Jagadeesh Sivadasan

Ross School of Business Buzz and Judy Newton Professor of Business Administration, Area Chair, Business Economics and Public Policy, Professor of Business Economics and Public Policy
jagadees@umich.edu

Jagadeesh Sivadasan is the Buzz and Judy Newton Professor of Business Administration in the Business Economics and Public Policy group of the Ross School of Business, and a faculty associate at the Institute of Social Research, at the University of Michigan. His recent research is focused on understanding the drivers of firm growth and productivity, and worker performance and mobility. Ongoing and recent work include analysis of the effect of commute improvement on worker performance, review of the recent evolution of the retail sector in the US, analysis of firm growth patterns using a novel decomposition and data on the universe of US employers, evaluation of frictions from acquisitions-related legal doctrine on firm dynamics, and examination of the effect of non-compete laws on worker mobility.

Jim Walsh

Ross School of Business A.F. Thurnau Professor, Gerald and Esther Carey Professor of Business Administration, Professor of Management & Organizations, Professor of Strategy
jpwalsh@umich.edu

Walsh examines cross-level relationships: the influences between and among individuals, organizations, and society. Additionally, his work looks at how business leaders can make the world a better place. Broadly, how organizations enhance or undermine well-being is the study of corporate governance. His research explores the purpose, accountability, and control of the firm (and even more generally, business itself) in society.

Gwen Yu

Professor of Accounting, Michael and Joan Sakkinen Faculty Fellow, Accounting Faculty Doctoral Coordinator
gwyu@umich.edu

Gwen Yu is a professor of Accounting and Michael and Joan Sakkinen Faculty Fellow at the Ross School of Business, University of Michigan. Prior to joining Ross, she was an Associate Professor at Harvard Business School in the Accounting and Management unit. Her research focuses on how accounting information affects various real economic outcomes, especially in an international setting. Professor Yu’s work has been published in top peer-reviewed journals such as The Accounting Review, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Accounting and Economics, and it has been cited and discussed in The New York Times, in The Financial Times, on CBS Money Watch, and in other outlets of the financial press.

Stefanie Barlow

Ross School of Business, Impact Career Services
slbarlow@umich.edu

Stefanie Barlow is an Associate Director of Career Coaching focused on guiding MBAs seeking career paths in Careers with Impact, General Management, Human Resources, Energy, and Off-Campus job search. She holds an MBA in Marketing from NYU Stern School of Business and a Bachelor’s degree in Spanish Language and Literature from SUNY Binghamton. Throughout her professional journey, Stefanie has gained valuable experience in marketing and finance roles at renowned entertainment giants such as Disney, Viacom, and Time Warner. Over the past ten years, she has been dedicated to coaching aspiring MBA candidates, assisting them with the admissions process.

Glenn Bugala

Associate Director of Marketing & Communications, Business+Impact
gbugala@umich.edu

Glenn manages the marketing and communications for the Center. He has worked with a variety of local and national nonprofits in member services, events and marketing roles. He worked for Michigan Ross in Executive Education and the Marketing Communications prior to coming to Business+Impact. His work with nonprofits like the Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence, Microsoft Healthcare Users Group, the Ann Arbor Symphony and Ann Arbor Civic Theatre has prepared him for the diverse offerings of the Center and the marketing channels utilized. Glenn has an MFA from Purdue and a BA from the University of Michigan.

Sarika Gupta

Managing Director, Zell Lurie Institute
sarikag@umich.edu

Sarika Gupta leads the development and execution of the Zell Lurie Institute’s student-oriented programs. In this role she also advises U-M student teams to help them advance their businesses. Sarika has extensive start-up experience as a manager, mentor, and coach. Sarika has extensive start-up experience as a manager, mentor, and coach. She served as President & CEO of Dance Telephone – a group party game, COO of V-teractive – an online gaming start-up, and Associate at MyBandStock.com – a site that delivers exclusive digital access to music fans. Additionally, she was a Senior Quantitative Research Associate at Cambridge Associates for 3 years.Sarika holds a BSE in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Michigan College of Engineering and an MBA from the University of Michigan Ross School of Business.

Dr. Neil C. Hawkins

B+I Executive-in-Residence, CEO & President, World Environment Center President, Michigan Sustainability Associates Research Advisor/Instructor, Harvard University

Neil Hawkins has spent a career collaborating to deﬁne a positive and impactful role for business in global sustainable development and public policy. For 31 years, he was a key leader at Dow, ultimately serving as Chief Sustainability Oﬃcer and CVP, Environment, Health, & Safety for the last twelve years – part of the top leadership of the company. After Dow, as President of Michigan’s Erb Family Foundation, a $350mm regional philanthropy, he focused over four years on improving regional arts, the Great Lakes ecosystem, promoting environmental justice, and founding the Sustainable Business Network of Detroit. Currently, he is interim CEO and President of the World Environment Center, a leading global sustainable business association in Washington, DC; President, Michigan Sustainability Associates; and Research Advisor/Instructor at Harvard University in the Master of Sustainability program. He graduated from Harvard University with a Doctor of Science in Public Health (Environmental Health Sciences) and is also an alumnus of Georgia Tech (Health Physics/Nuclear Engineering).

Michelle Hunt Bruner

Managing Director, Center for Positive Organizations
mhbruner@umich.edu

Michelle brings with her 21 years of professional service to the higher education community. Michelle earned her MA in Psychology from Wayne State University and a BA in Psychology with honors from Michigan State University. A frequent speaker on student success in higher education, she is a member of the Society for Human Resource Management, Executive Board Member of the Michigan American Council on Education (ACE) Women’s Network, Planning Committee Member of the Michigan ACE Senior-Level Leadership Shadow Program, a Member and Mentor of RISE Learning Community for Self-Identified Women of Color, and other roles.

Cat Johnson

Managing Director, Business+Impact
catjohn@umich.edu

In her role as managing director of the Business+Impact Initiative, Cat leads the team in their work across the school and the University to develop and support impact-related activities. Her career spans nonprofit, social enterprise, and higher education leadership, with a focus in workforce development. Prior to joining the Business+Impact team, Cat was Chief Operating Officer at Detroit-based social enterprise Empowerment Plan. She has also worked previously at the Ross School of Business on social enterprise and social innovation programming, and with social enterprises in the U.S. and around the world. Catherine earned a BA, MBA, and MSW from the University of Michigan.

Wendy Taylor

President and CEO, William Davidson Institute
wetaylor@umich.edu

Wendy Taylor is President and CEO of the William Davidson Institute, a non-profit affiliated with the University of Michigan dedicated to supporting businesses, entrepreneurship and market-based solutions in low- and middle-income countries. She is charged with leading the development of WDI’s strategy and steering the organization toward its next phase of growth. Taylor is an innovation leader and entrepreneur with over two decades of experience building and leading high-impact teams. Working at the intersection of public, private and not-for-profit sectors, she has founded multiple enterprises, catalyzed innovations to tackle some of the world’s toughest health challenges and leveraged market-based solutions for transformational impact. She received a Master of Public Policy from Harvard University and a Bachelor of Arts from Duke University.

Melissa Zaksek

Managing Director, Erb Institute
mzaksek@umich.edu

As Managing Director of the Erb Institute at the University of Michigan, Melissa leads efforts to advance sustainable business practices and innovation through the institute’s education, research and engagement programming. With extensive experience in sustainability strategy, organizational leadership, and stakeholder engagement, Melissa plays a pivotal role in driving the Institute’s mission to create a sustainable world through the power of business.