Dr. Karen Crisonino founded and ran Crisonino Consulting, an accounting consulting business for 20 years. Karen has also held positions at other companies.

Karen has taught graduate and undergraduate courses at several universities. Karen has taught a wide variety of courses and has designed many courses.

She won the NISOD Award (National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development Teaching Excellence Award) and is listed in Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers.

Karen Crisonino has a BS in Accounting, an MBA in Accounting and Taxation and a DBA.

Publications:
George Repic, Karen Crisonino (2016) “Entrepreneurial Spirit in the United States: Attitudes towards entrepreneurship: Survey of Students” Inovacije i preduzetnisvo – pokretaci razvoja i zaposljavanja Zbornik Radova Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Launchers of Development and Employment Proceedings
ISBN: 978-99-938-46-65-9
COBISS.RS-5824280

Valentina Vukmirovic, George Repic, Karen Crisonino (2017)
“Comparative Analysis of Entrepreneurial Spirit of Students and Need for Marketing Support “
Innovations and Entrepreneurship – Launchers of development and employment Proceedings
Inovacije I Preduzetnistvo –Pokretaci razvoja I Zaposljavanja
Zbornik Radova
ISBN 978-99938-46-67-3 COBISS.RS-ID 6526232

George Repic, Karen Crisonino, Zeljko Kovacevic (2018)
“A Comparative Analysis of the Entrepreneurship, and Development Differences in the United States Relative to the Baltic Region States”
Innovations and Entrepreneurship – Launchers of development and employment Proceedings
Inovacije I Preduzetnistvo –Pokretaci razvoja I Zaposljavanja
Zbornik Radova
ISBN 978-99938-46-76-5 COBISS.RS-ID 7337496

Vukmirović, Е., Repic, G., & Crisonino, K. (2021). The role of international marketing in the improvement of economic cooperation between the countries of the Western Balkans in crisis period. New Economist, 15(30), 44–63.

Vukmirović, E., Repic, G., & Crisonino, K. (2021). Increasing the effects foreign direct investments through orientation into new forms of entrepreneurship in Bosnia and Herzegovina. (English) Business Consultant / Poslovni Konsultant, 13(110), 48–60.

Morris Friedmann is an Adjunct Professor at Drew with over 30 years of experience in the public and private sectors. He recently retired from state government in New Jersey, where, most recently, he was the CFO of the Economic Development Authority (NJEDA). Prior to that, he was the CFO of the New Jersey Division of Mental Health and Addiction Services, where he led and mentored a team of about 50 professionals through significant organizational and financing changes.

Earlier in his career, Morris held Financial Analysis roles of increasing responsibility for Merck, the global pharmaceutical company. He also has several years’ experience in public accounting, and is a CPA. Morris graduated summa cum laude from Boston University with a Bachelor’s in Business Administration, concentrating in Accounting. He received his MBA, with a concentration in Finance, from Columbia University.

In his free time, Morris enjoys playing piano, soccer and table tennis, attending as many rock concerts as he can, and rooting for the New York Rangers.

Peter Milligan is a seasoned finance executive with more than 30 years of leadership experience across the telecommunications, industrial, aerospace and defense, and pharmaceutical industries. He has served as CFO for a number of public and private companies, leading organizations through refinancing, restructuring, strategic transactions, and periods of significant growth and change.

He most recently served as Chief Financial Officer of Melinta Therapeutics and previously held CFO roles at G&W Laboratories and Exelis, Inc., where he helped lead major corporate transactions, including a public company spin-off and a large-scale acquisition. Earlier in his career, he held senior finance and investor relations positions at ITT and AT&T and began his professional career in public accounting at PwC and Arthur Andersen.

In addition to his corporate leadership experience, Peter advises on due diligence and early-stage finance matters, mentors nonprofit finance leaders, and is active in angel investing. He holds an MBA from New York University and a BBA from Hofstra University.

Joy Palmer is a finance and accounting professional with over 30 years of experience, primarily in the financial services industry. She recently served on the Board of Directors of Dynex Capital, Inc. (DX) as the Audit Chair. She retired from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC)) in 2020, where she was the Deputy Chief Accountant. While at the OCC, Joy served in various positions over her 17+ years including as the Senior Accounting Policy Advisor to Large Banks and the Western District Accountant. At the OCC, Joy became a subject matter expert in GAAP and regulatory policies. Prior to that time, Joy was a Director in Equity Research at Merrill Lynch, where she was responsible for analyzing the financial statements and making investment recommendations to institutional investors in the specialty finance sector. Joy has also been a Controller and Director of Finance at other public companies during her career.

Joy also taught accounting and personal finance courses at Diablo Valley College in California.

Joy holds an MBA, concentration in Finance from New York University, Stern School of Business as well as her Bachelor of Science from Montclair State University.

Kenneth Abbott retired from the position as America’s Chief Risk Officer at Barclays Bank in 2018. Prior to that he was Chief Operating Officer (COO) for all Firm Risk at Morgan Stanley, a position he held for over nine years. While at Morgan Stanley he covered Commodities, Rates, FX, Retail and Emerging Markets businesses, and was CRO for Morgan Stanley’s buy-side activity.

He also spent 14 years at Bankers Trust in a number of trading, research and risk management roles. He spent over 5 years at Bank of America in several senior Market Risk Management roles. Abbott currently sits on the Boards of the New Jersey Scholars Program, the Harvard Club of New Jersey, and CGU’s Financial Engineering Program, where he has recently been appointed as a Senior Fellow.

Ken Abbott has a Bachelor of Arts in Economics from Harvard University; a Master of Arts in Economics and Master of Science in Statistics and Operations Research from New York University. He is an avid musician, playing clarinet, saxophone, oboe, English horn, and tuba.

Steve Firestone is an Associate Teaching Professor of Finance, and of the Department of Business at Drew University. Steve previously served as a U.S. Treasury official in the Office of The Comptroller of the Currency, providing effective oversight of institutional trading and commercial and retail credit activities at some of the world’s largest banks. His tenure in government service followed a twenty-year career in the financial markets as a fixed income trader, portfolio manager, and investment banker.

Steve has also been committed to public service and currently serves as a City Council Member At Large in Hoboken, N.J. Previously, Steve served on the Site Plan Review Advisory Board in Princeton, N.J., the Zoning Board of Adjustment in Hoboken, N.J. and both the Planning Commission and Zoning Board in Charlotte, N.C.

Steve received a B.A. in Economics from Bucknell University, an M.B.A in Finance and Public Policy from Indiana University, and is working towards his Doctorate of Business Administration at Drexel University. Steve completed his Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation in 2009 and is active in the CAIA Association. He also gets involved in the International Association for Quantitative Finance and served on the Education Committee of the Commercial Real Estate Finance Council. Steve is also an avid runner, completing two TCS NYC Marathons.

Michael Hussain is an Adjunct Professor at Drew University. Michael has 30 years of experience across a variety of roles in the Financial Services industry. After graduating from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in 1992 with a degree in Economics, he began his career with Dean Witter Reynolds as an Account Executive specializing in investments, retirement, and estate planning. After 6 years he sold a $100MM book of business and went on to earn his MBA in Finance at the Indiana University Kelley School of Business in 2000. Michael served on the institutional sales and trading desks in New York for 12 years delivering research insights and corporate C-level access to hedge funds and mutual funds across the country for firms such as UBS, Janney Montgomery and ended his Institutional Sales & Trading career investing in with a start up research, sales and trading firm, Soleil Securities. He has re-established and re-built multiple regions, established a middle markets desk and was last in charge of the West Coast Region for sales and trading. He has extensive experience in sell side research, investments, trading, banking operations, IPO’s, secondary offerings in equity, preferred and fixed income securities, derivatives investing, risk and portfolio management. His extensive time on the institutional sales desks working with portfolio managers and hedge fund managers has given him insight into the inner workings of our modern financial markets. Having worked with firms private, public, having gone public and merged/acquired give him an added unique viewpoint on the management and leadership in and around such events and across organizations.

For the last 9 years he has been employed with IHS Markit (under proposed Merger with S&P Global; expected to close in Q2’22) covering a variety of roles including Quantitative Models, Factors and Research Product Specialist, IHS Markit PMI Product Specialist, built out the vendor community for a new compliance and due diligence software solution (KY3P), and has most recently served as an Executive Director leading a US Client Success team for the Enterprise Data Management (EDM) software application & now serves as the Global Head of Private Capital Markets for the iLevel, Qval, Credit, and Full Service Valuations product lines within the Financial Services Solutions division.

Michael has previously co-founded a non-profit foundation raising funds for local cancer related charities and causes in San Diego and continues to volunteer his time and give to causes serving to alleviate children’s illnesses, promote animal welfare, and support for post action military related issues.  

Dr. Qiqi Liang earned her Ph.D. in Finance at Old Dominion University. Before that, she received her Master of Science degree in Financial Risk Management from the University of Connecticut and her Bachelor of Economics with a concentration in Finance from the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, China. Her research interests are in behavioral finance, asset pricing, retail investors, risk management, FinTech, and Market Data. She spends her free time immersed in yoga, skiing, travel, and savoring Chinese cuisine.

Selected Publications:

“Maxing Out Short-term Reversals in Weekly Stock Returns” (with Chen Chen, Andrew Cohen and Licheng Sun) Journal of Empirical Finance – 2025

“Short selling and the pricing of PIN information risk.” (with Chen Chen, Chris Stivers and Licheng Sun) Journal of Financial Markets, – 2024

“A closer look at the substitution effects between retail trading and national lotteries.” (with Licheng Sun) Finance Research Letters – 2024

“Retail Trading Around Earnings Announcements: Evidence from Robinhood Traders.” (with Mohammad Najand, David Selover and Licheng Sun) Journal of Behavioral Finance – 2024

Sidney Matti is an Adjunct Professor at both Drew University and Monmouth University in New Jersey. He presently serves as Head of Credit Risk for Transamerica Corporation and previously worked at Corebridge Financial for 17 years as the Head of Credit Risk Oversight with prior leadership roles as Deputy Chief Credit Officer, and Chief Operating Officer. Prior to Corebridge, Sidney spent 4 years as an Analyst at Moody’s, 8 years in credit risk and sales roles at PNC Financial and 2 years as an Associate at Brown, Brothers Harriman. Sidney graduated from Drew University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Political Science (1994) and received his MBA from Rutgers University in Finance (2004).

Mr. Nolan is a co-founder of Octaviant Financial and currently serves as the firm’s Chief Investment & Science Officer. Before his charge with Octaviant, he was a Managing Director and Portfolio Manager of the WBB Life Sciences Long/Short portfolio—a fund dedicated to investing in early-stage life science companies—at WBB Asset Management, a division of WBB Securities, LLC.

Prior to WBB, Mr. Nolan led a quantitative investment research team at JPMorgan Asset Management and worked in fund research at Barclays Wealth. In addition to his time on Wall Street, Mr. Nolan spent several years as a researcher and epidemiologist at various medical institutions including the University of Pennsylvania and New York University. He has been published in peer reviewed journals on topics ranging from environmental toxicology to hepatitis B infection in children.

Mr. Nolan holds a MPH degree from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, a bachelor’s degree in Physics from Cornell University and is an Adjunct Professor of Finance at the Drew University Caspersen School of Graduate Studies. He is Series 7, 63, and 65 licensed.

Dr. Kerem Yaman is currently the COO, CDO, and the head of Portfolio Risk Management at Morgan Stanley’s Market Risk department. He has previously served as global head of market risk for various areas including credit trading, rates trading, emerging markets, municipal markets, prime brokerage and clearing at top US investment banks. Kerem was in charge of Regulatory Management for market risk in the past, and is now leading major regulatory/capital implementation initiatives at Morgan Stanley’s market risk department.

Kerem started his career in Wall Street in 1997 as a derivatives trader in emerging markets, and became the head of the emerging markets derivatives desk at Citigroup, Prior to switching to risk management, he spent time on the buy side trading an emerging markets strategy,

Kerem has a BA in physics and mathematics from the University of Pennsylvania, and a PhD in theoretical physics from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He is an avid practitioner of Aikido, plays guitar, and enjoys skiing.

Dr. Hamed Yousefi is Assistant Professor of Finance at Drew University. His research interests lie in the area of empirical asset pricing and Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs). Specifically, he studies the information embedded in the flow of ETFs, and also the interaction between the corporate risk-taking activities and various aspects of its industrial environment, such as pricing frictions.

Dr. Yousefi’s research has been published in multiple finance journals including International Review of Financial Analysis, Journal of Corporate Accounting & Finance, and International Review of Economics & Finance. Prior to joining Drew, Dr. Yousefi served as Visiting professor at Old Dominion University. He holds a Ph.D. in finance and a M.S. in Economics from Old Dominion University in Virginia, an MBA from University of Economic Sciences Tehran, Iran.

Dr. Yousefi is also involved in several professional finance associations including CFA society New York, and Financial Management Association (FMA) and continuously seeks to bridge the gap between academic finance and industry practices.

Outside the university, he is an avid angler and enjoys exploring the latest developments in digital technologies.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

•  “From low resource slack to inflexibility: The share price effect of operational efficiency”
  (with Kenneth Yung, Mohammad Najand)   International Review of Financial Analysis – 2023
•  “Geographical Diversification Using ETFs: Multinational Evidence from COVID-19 Pandemic”
  (with M. Najand)  International Review of Financial Analysis – 2022
• “An ocean apart? The effects of US business cycles on Chinese business cycles”
  (With J. Shen, D. Selover)   International Review of Economics and Finance – 2022
• “Financial flexibility and economic policy uncertainty: Evidence from firm behavior and value”
  (with K. Yung)   Journal of Corporate Accounting and Finance – 2021
• “Strong alien or weak acquaintance?  The effect of perceived institutional distance and cross-national uncertainty on ownership level in foreign acquisitions” 
  (With F. Askarzadeh, and M. Forghani)   Review of International Business and Strategy  –  2020

Alex de Voogt is a full Professor at Drew University. He is a former curator of African Ethnology at the American Museum of Natural History, New York. Alex does research mainly in Organizational Psychology, Archaeology and Linguistics.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Go-arounds accidents and General Aviation safety Journal of Safety Research, doi: 10.1016/j.jsr.2022.06.008 with Hilary Kalagher, Brianna Santiago and Jonas Lang

Safety of twin-engine helicopters: risks and operational specificity Safety Science 136, 105169. doi: 10.1016/j.ssci.2021.105169 with Elena St. Amour

Modeling consensus emergence in groups using longitudinal multilevel methods Personnel Psychology 71(2): 255–281 with Jonas Lang and Paul Bliese

Work Ethic in a Japanese Museum Environment. A Case Study of the National Museum of Ethnology Bulletin of the National Museum of Ethnology 42(4): 435–448 with Shimpei Ota

The role of graffiti game boards in the understanding of an archaeological site: The Gebel-el-Silsila quarries Journal of Egyptian Archaeology 106(1-2): 123–132. doi: 10.1177/0307513320971302 with Maria Nilsson and John Ward

Cultural transmission in the Ancient Near East: Twenty squares and fifty-eight holes Journal of Archaeological Science 40:1715–1730 with Anne-Elisabeth Dunn-Vaturi and Jelmer Eerkens

Sikujua’s writing of Muyaka’s poetry in Arabic script: versatility and creativity Journal of Islamic Manuscripts 15(1): 5–20.

See also:

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Alex-de-Voogt

www.DariusatDrew.com

www.EgyptandSudanatdrew.com

Vincent is a global executive with extensive experience in finance, human resources, general management, mergers & acquisitions and not-for-profit boards. Vincent has worked as an auditor at a “Big 8” accounting firm, on corporate staff, for multi-sales units, in CPG manufacturing operations as well as retail services. He has worked on the ground in geographies across Europe, Africa, the Middle East and North America for both developed and emerging markets.

As of April 2025, Vincent is a “rewired Martian” as he shifts more of his time towards giving space to his family, serving his community, investing in his faith and working in different capacities than he has the last 40 years including partnering with for-profit boards, consulting, coaching and volunteering.

Vincent’s final roles with Mars, Incorporated included leadership positions in the Integration Management Office for the $36B transaction to acquire Kellanova and 5+ years as the Global VP of People & Organization (P&O) for Mars Veterinary Health, a collection of acquired service businesses adding up to 70K Associates across 20+ markets and 3K locations.

Prior to this, Vincent led Mars’ People Centers of Expertise for 5+ years developing strategy, business process and tools at scale spanning Talent Development & Acquisition, Organization Development & Change, Associate Engagement & Recognition as well as the deployment of Mars University. Vincent also globally led P&O for Mars Food & Drinks segments, in addition to European Multi-sales, where his focus was on building organizational capabilities, developing the unique cultures and stewarding the people agenda.

For 6+ years, Vincent had P&L responsibility for the North American Mars Food business leading a cross-functional management team that turned around profitability, reinvigorated the iconic UNCLE BEN’S® and SEEDS OF CHANGE® brands and launched several new business platforms.

For 8+ years in the 1990’s, Vincent developed global perspective and business acumen not only in Mars’ corporate office but also as part of the pioneering group that was opening up new geographies for Mars around the world. During this assignment, Vincent moved across multiple functions while developing new distribution routes, recruiting at scale, opening up legal entities, and building new manufacturing footprints.

Vincent is a retired member of the National Board of Directors for Feeding America™, the nation’s largest hunger relief organization as well as Spectrum360™, a New Jersey academic institution that develops life and career skills for children and young adults with autism. While continuing to volunteer with these organizations, Vincent also gives time today to multiple academic institutions and faith-based organizations providing support for capital campaigns, advisory boards, meeting facilitation, executive recruiting and strategy development.

David A. Johnson is currently the Principal, Portfolio Manager at Endurance Capital Management, LLC, based in Basking Ridge, NJ. The company invests in public and private alternative investments focused primarily on income. Before starting the business in 2013, Mr. Johnson worked for over 25 years in consumer marketing at public corporations, including 11 years at Church & Dwight Company (Arm & Hammer Brands). He also worked at Johnson & Johnson, Bayer Healthcare, and Valeant Pharmaceuticals (now Bausch Health) as a Director of Marketing.

Mr. Johnson holds a Master of Science degree in Finance (Investment Analysis concentration) from Boston University, Certificate in Financial Planning from Fairleigh Dickinson, and Master of Business Administration (Beta Gamma Sigma Honors) in Product Management (Marketing) from Fordham University. Mr. Johnson is currently working on the Chartered Alternative Investment Analyst (CAIA) designation.

Mr. Johnson currently resides in Madison, NJ with his wife Michele and two Scottish Deerhounds. Growing up, his mother Sylvia R. Johnson attended Drew in 1977 to 1978 while his father worked for Warner Lambert in Morris Plains. Mr. Johnson is also an endurance athlete, completing the Boston Marathon in under 3 hours and multiple ultra marathons, including: the JFK50, Vermont 100, Spartan races, and the Louisville IRONMAN triathlon.

Lyndsee Manna is a career entrepreneur, focused in strategic enterprise leadership and AI technology with over 20 years of experience driving multi-million-dollar revenue growth and building businesses from initial concept to IPO and beyond. As an Adjunct Professor and Alumni Board Member at Drew University, Lyndsee returns to her alma mater—where she graduated with a major in Economics—to mentor the next generation of innovators and business leaders.

Lyndsee’s career is fueled by a profound passion for business strategy and disruptive technology. She has a proven track record of taking complex, innovative software solutions and turning them into scalable, high-growth enterprises.

A recognized expert in the advanced technology sector, Lyndsee has spent her career operating at the cutting edge of Generative AI, Agentic AI, and Natural Language Technologies. She currently serves as a Senior Strategic Enterprise Account Executive at Kore.ai, delivering advanced Agentic AI solutions to Fortune 500 clients. Prior to this, she spent nearly a decade as the Executive Vice President of Business Development & Strategic Partnerships at Arria NLG, where she led global enterprise sales teams, spearheaded pre-IPO investor presentations, and orchestrated massive commercial partnerships with global system integrators and tech giants. Her thought leadership in data storytelling and humanizing technology has also been featured across several industry podcasts.

In the classroom, Lyndsee channels her deep-seated passion for building businesses into teaching Entrepreneurship I & II. She guides students through the end-to-end venture lifecycle, combining rigorous academic theory with real-world insights. Lyndsee’s courses empower students to master everything from initial ideation and business model canvas development to final pitch execution and investor readiness—equipping them with the practical skills and emotional intelligence needed to launch impactful ventures in today’s fast-paced economy.

Sean is an Assistant Professor of Practice at Drew and has over 30 years of experience building and leading Finance teams. Most recently, he served as CFO for Arcadia Consumer Healthcare, a private-equity-backed consumer products company. Prior to Arcadia, Sean’s career spanned 28 years at Merck & Co., Inc., where he held a variety of executive finance positions within both the pharmaceutical and consumer healthcare divisions. Prior to Merck, Sean was a database applications developer for AT&T Communications. Sean holds an M.B.A. in Finance and Information Systems from Cornell University and a B.S.B.A. in Computer Science from Seton Hall University. He also holds a Graduate Certification in Accounting and has completed the Certified Financial Planning curriculum at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Rob Roche is an Assistant Professor of Practice at Drew University, teaching sports, business, and law-related courses.

Rob has been a licensed NFL agent for the past 27 years. He is a member of the 1 Of 1 Agency, a sports agency that represents over 60 NFL players. His clients include players from the New York Jets, Washington Commanders, and Baltimore Ravens. Rob also represents NCAA Division I athletes in negotiations for their name, image, and likeness. He represents broadcasters who work for CBS Sports and the Milwaukee Brewers. He is the author of the textbook, A Practical Guide to Sports Management, published by Kendall Hunt. Additionally, Rob has served as an expert panelist for the New Jersey Bar Association on the topic of Name, Image, and Likeness.

As for his education, Rob earned his Bachelor of Arts in English from The College of New Jersey and his Juris Doctorate from Seton Hall University School of Law. He is a licensed attorney in the State of New Jersey.

Mr. Scansaroli specializes in finance, healthcare, and strategy with an emphasis on organizational development. He is CEO and MD of Elcat, a Private Equity firm, and the Vetrinox Equine Institute which specializes in the aggregation and arbitrage opportunities in select healthcare settings. Previous to his current role, Mr. Scansaroli was the creator and one of four principals of an initiative named “Motion is Medicine” which concentrated on the integration of various healthcare entities including turnaround situations, the continuum of care, and value creation leading to Blackstone divesting its longest-held portfolio company to Colfax for over $1B in a highly profitable transaction. He also held senior roles at Stryker Orthopedics where he was a worldwide speaker on various healthcare topics and was the recipient of numerous awards.

Mr. Scansaroli was named Valedictorian at New York University’s prestigious Stern School of Business for his MBA earning three majors: Finance, Strategy, and Healthcare. Additionally, he holds from the University of Scranton a MS in Human Resources and Organization Development including a thesis and dissertation entitled “Generation X and Their Effect on Business”, and a BA from Drew University with a concentration in Behavioral Science and Economics. He was awarded the Alan Ware Rodes Memorial Award at Drew for his academic performance.

Mr. Scansaroli is an active philanthropist in many areas but has a significant passion for assisting causes including women’s ice hockey, animal rights, and consulting with young entrepreneurs to help their dreams become a reality.

Lastly, Mr Scansaroli is also the Head Ice Hockey Coach at Drew University.

Doug Schneller is a partner in the New York City office of international law firm Rimon, P.C. His legal practice focuses on complex lending, finance, insolvency/bankruptcy and distressed investing transactional matters on behalf of US and international bank and non-bank lenders, hedge funds and financial institutions, as well as a variety of corporate clients.

Prior to joining Rimon in 2017, Doug was a partner at several prominent AmLaw 100 law firms in New York and in London. Doug is also a member of industry organizations, including The Loan Syndications and Trading Association and the American Bankruptcy Institute. He obtained his J.D. from New York University School of Law (Order of the Coif).

During a career focused on business growth and sales & marketing leadership, Mark has had a portfolio of roles. After business school he spent eight years in brand management with roles at both Pepsi and Nabisco. Following that he became an early pioneer in online marketing at AOL, working in early day ad sales and monetization across CPG, auto and financial services. He expanded his media experience via roles at Time Warner and CNN, focusing on consumer marketing and client development. From media he moved to marketing analytics, spending five years leading a media effectiveness practice at Nielsen, where he introduced new products and services to financial services clients to optimize creative, spending and ROI. He also spent two years as SVP of brand and advertising for Discover Card just as the financial crisis was hitting.

For the last eight Mark worked at Accenture’s online agency, Accenture Interactive, helping establish and expand Accenture’s digital marketing services business around the globe. In that role he developed value propositions to appeal to key industries, created digital marketing programs working directly with clients, and developed large, integrated programs with key accounts. He worked in both North America and Europe, and during his last two years at Accenture was on assignment in Sydney Australia, helping build the practice in that market.

When Mark came back from Australia last July he shifted out of corporate America and into a boutique research and consulting firm, Magid Associates. He leads a practice focusing on primary research for mid-tier brands and businesses, delivering insights on customer journey, new products, brand health and advertising and communication effectiveness.

Mark has an undergraduate degree from Stanford University, and an MBA from Dartmouth’s Tuck School, and lives and works in the New York metro area.

Bob started his career as an engineer working in research and development for several CPG companies. After earning his MBA he moved into Brand Management roles at Nabisco and The Coca-Cola company. In 1999 Bob left The Coca-Cola Company to join the internet start-up TheGlobe.com. TheGlobe.com was an early community website that thrived during the peak of the internet bubble. 

After TheGlobe.com, Bob moved on to AOL where he held roles in client services, AOL Search and AOL Entertainment. With a deep background in digital and media, he moved to Food Network and became the SVP/General Manager of Food Network digital. Bob transformed a small TV companion website into the largest food property across the web, social media, and app ecosystem. The Food Network app earned a spot in the Apple App Hall of Fame.  

Having found success in digital, Bob’s responsibilities expanded to include marketing leadership roles for Travel Channel, Food Network and HGTV. Most recently, Bob was the head of marketing for Magnolia Network – a joint venture partnership between Warner Brothers Discovery and Chip and Joanna Gaines. Bob led a team to build the entertainment brand from scratch and launch the network across linear and streaming platforms.

Bob has an undergraduate degree from Rochester Institute of Technology and an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business. Bob resides in the New York metro area with his wife and two children.

Ann Mills is an Assistant Professor of Practice at Drew where she teaches digital marketing, brand strategy, and entrepreneurship.

She founded the Resourceful Business in 2010, a full-service digital marketing agency that works with clients in the United States and abroad. The agency services customers in the areas of website development, content strategy, social media, digital ads, and email management. In 2023, the firm was named a top social media management services company by MarTech Outlook.

Prior to her digital marketing career, Ann spent 13 years on Wall Street as an International Equity Trader at Morgan Stanley in New York and London, Head of International Equity Trading at Merrill Lynch in London, and Global Head of Trading for ABN Amro’s investment bank. She was also the owner of a retail business in Summit, NJ, where prior to its sale, she grew revenue by 30% over 5 ½ years.

While pursuing her MA in Econometrics from the University of Pittsburgh, Ann was named an H.B. Earhart Fellow for scholarly potential in the field of economics. She was also an undergraduate Chancellor Scholar while at the University of Pittsburgh, a designation given to approximately 15 incoming freshmen.

Josh Shapiro is an Adjunct Professor at Drew University, where he teaches Management and helps students connect business theory with real-world leadership experience. Josh brings more than 25 years of executive leadership experience in consumer packaged goods (CPG) marketing, brand management, and organizational leadership. Most recently, he served as Chief Marketing Officer for PIM Brands, where he led sustained growth across several leading snack and confection brands, including Welch’s Fruit Snacks. Prior to PIM, he held leadership roles at Reckitt, where he worked on building iconic brands including French’s Mustard, Lysol, and Airwick.

Throughout his career, Josh has focused on driving business results through effective organizational development, sound strategy and effective execution. Josh holds an MBA from Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business and a BA in economics from Colby College. Outside the classroom, he volunteers as a mentor for SCORE, helping entrepreneurs and early-stage businesses develop and grow.