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I am a Professor of Strategic Management, hold the Earl P. Strong Professorship of Executive Education in Business Administration and serve as the Chair of the Management & Organization Department of the Smeal College of Business at the Pennsylvania State University.

My research generally takes a behavioral or perceptual approach to understanding: 1) the influence that top executives, particularly CEOs, have on various organizational constituencies and governance structures; and, 2) the influence that external societal forces, external constituencies, and governance structures have on top executive actions and organizational outcomes. I have also worked to advance the qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) and the set-theoretic approach of case research among strategy and management researchers.

I currently teach Power and Influence (an elective course in the Smeal resident MBA and EMBA programs; core course in the Smeal Strategic Management and Executive Leadership (SMExL) online Masters program), the Strategic Management core course in the Smeal EMBA program, and the doctoral seminar in Strategic Management in the M&O Department PhD program.

I have served as an Associate Editor at the Academy of Management Review, and continue to serve on its editorial review board.  I am or have been on the editorial review boards of the the Academy of Management Journal and the Strategic Management Journal, and serve as an ad hoc reviewer for the Administrative Science Quarterly, Organization Science, and several other journals.  I am a member of the Academy of Management and the Strategic Management Society.

I earned my Ph.D. in Strategic Management from the University of Florida (2002). Before deciding to pursue my Ph.D., I completed the core courses of the part-time MBA program at the University of Connecticut (1995-1997; West Hartford campus).  I hold a B.A. in Financial Administration from Michigan State University (1987).

Before joining PSU, I was on the faculty of the Business Administration Department in the Alfred Lerner College of Business and Economics at the University of Delaware. Prior to entering academia, I worked as the Director of Financial and Strategic Analysis for the Carvel Corporation (makers of ice cream and ice cream cakes), and in various financial and accounting management roles (Route Accounting Supervisor, Accounts Receivable Manager, and Cost Accounting Manager) at two manufacturing locations for the Continental Baking Company (the company that made Hostess Twinkies and Wonder Bread).