Faculty
Tahmoures Afshar, PhD, has over 25 years experience as a university professor in the area of finance. He has numerous publications in the fields of Finance, Economics, and Pedagogy. His articles have been published in the Global Business and Economics Review, the Journal of Business and Economics Research, the Journal of College Teaching and Learning, the Journal of Global Business Management, The Chartered Accountants Journal, and Organization Development Journal. He has been awarded four times the “Best Paper Award” at the College Teaching & Learning Conference and the International Business and Economics Research Conference from 2003 to 2008. Dr. Afshar has been awarded “The Most Challenging Professor” Award by the Woodbury MBA Association for six consecutive years, 2004-2011.
Wendy K. Bendoni, MA, is the coordinator and an Assistant Professor of Fashion Marketing. She has been a Fashion Forecaster- European /Asia correspondent for the last 20 years and remains active in her area of expertise. Wendy also works as the developer for new digital resources for the software program, SnapFashun, which has over 35,000 Adobe Illustrator sketches in the world largest fashion library. As Assistant Professor of Fashion Marketing, Wendy focuses on new technology and how it relates to fashion marketing and trend analysis market research. Wendy holds a BA in Fashion Marketing / Minor in Computer Science from Woodbury University, and a Masters in Fine Arts, Specializing in Textiles and Clothing from CSULA
Robert Bjorklund, PhD, has taught at Woodbury University since 1999, first as an adjunct professor and in full-time service since 2004 as Associate Professor and Chair. He currently serves as Coordinator of the Management Department. He earned a PhD in Management at the University of Massachusetts, in Amherst MA and taught there, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, SUNY Utica, Rider University, and New York University before joining Woodbury University. Additionally, Dr. Bjorklund managed and owned commercial investment real estate firms in New Jersey and presently serves as a California Probate Referee. His specialty teaching area at Woodbury University is strategic management (MBA & BBA) with a growing emphasis on organizational structure and operations management.
Ashley Burrowes, PhD, FCA, an expat New Zealander, is a retread from the ‘real’ world. His experience includes auditing a large Australasian mutual insurance company. After moving to the USA he audited housing authorities. He has been CFO of companies in the Civil Engineering and Pharmaceuticals industries. He is member of the Ngā Kaitatau Māori o Aotearoa (New Zealand Maori Accountants Network) and a Director of the Association of Chartered Accountants in the United States. He is also a member of the California CPA Society. He has taught accounting in New Zealand, Australia, Sweden, USA, England and Wales.
Angelo A. Camillo, PhD, is Associate Professor of Strategic Management. He has over 35 years of international hospitality management experience and has worked and lived in ten countries and four continents. He holds an undergraduate degree from Heidelberg (Germany)School of Hotel Management, a MBA degree from San Francisco State University, and a Ph.D. degree from Oklahoma State University. He teaches courses in Strategy, Global Enterprise Management, Business Ethics, Organizational Behavior, and special topics in Hospitality Entrepreneurship and Business Development. His research encompasses three streams of interest that reflect his specializations and courses he teaches:Strategic Management (Mainstream), Industry Specific, and Cross-disciplinary. Research topics include Strategic and International Management, Food and Wine Business, Marketing Best Practice, Social Responsibility, and Ethics.
Emily Davis, MBA, is a Marketing and Fashion Marketing specialist with degrees in Economics and Business Marketing. Her career for the past 30 years has included extensive experiences in fashion modeling, acting, and fashion buying. This led to the launch of the fashion show production company, DFP Special Events in 1988. DFP specializes in individualized events tailored to meet the needs of each specific client, whether large multi-media extravaganzas or more intimate. Emily’s interest in international travel and cultural exchange led her family to host 17 international exchange students over the years. This culminated in the addition of a job that has become a true passion, Emily’s work connecting families and their international au pairs for Cultural Care Au Pair.
Satinder Dhiman, EdD, is Associate Dean; Chair & Director of the MBA Program, and Professor of Management. He holds an Ed.D. from Pepperdine University’s GSEP, and has completed advanced Executive Leadership Programs at Harvard, Stanford and Wharton. He also holds an AACSB Bridge to Business Post Doctoral Certificate from Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business. His teaching and research focus is on leadership and organizational behavior with specific focus on workplace spirituality. He is recipient of the 2004 ACBSP International Teacher of the year Award, Steve Allen Excellence in Education Award, 2006, and Excellence in Management Education Award, 2008, 2011, IPCSI, India. His work has been published in multiple journals and he has authored/co-authored seven books on management, accounting, and leadership.
Nathan Garrett, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Information Technology. His research focuses on educational technology and assessment. While primarily teaching the “Management of IT” courses for the business school, he also is deeply interested in entrepreneurship and Internet startups. He earned his PhD and MS from Claremont Graduate University, and BS from LeTourneau University.
Virginia Green, PhD, has more than 20 years of leadership experience running businesses, building global brands and guiding other growth-oriented companies. An accomplished corporate CEO strategist and marketer, her vision and expertise in business performance have driven notable enterprise growth in the retail, manufacturing, and general consumer goods sectors. Her achievements have been featured in New York Stern Business columns, as well as other business media. Virginia’s exceptional record of accomplishment of business improvement is based on her philosophy of total enterprise engagement in change. Virginia received her PhD, MA, MBA and MA from New York University, New York Institute of Technology and Capella University.
Svetlana Holt, EdD, has fifteen years’ experience in corporate training for performance improvement, quality control, small business administration, database management, student support, and new curricula design and evaluation. She is a registered practitioner for Mayer-Salovey Caruso emotional intelligence model of organizational development. Her research and publications topics include leadership in multicultural settings, emotional intelligence as it relates to organizational performance, and academic achievement in higher education. Dr. Holt holds a Bachelor’s degree in Germanic Philology, a Master’s degree in Business Administration, and a Doctorate in Organizational Leadership. She holds memberships in Delta Mu Delta National Honor Society in Business Administration, Phi Delta Kappa International Honor Society for Educators, and the International Society for Performance Improvement.
Mine Üçok Hughes, PhD, graduated from Ankara University, Faculty of Political Science in Ankara Turkey with an undergraduate degree in economics, received her Master’s Degree in Marketing Communications and Advertising from Emerson College, Boston, Massachusetts, and her Ph.D. from University of Southern Denmark in Odense with a dissertation titled “Consumption Practices of Transmigrants: A Multi-Sited Ethnographic Study of Turkish Immigrants in Denmark”. Mine teaches courses in marketing and consumer behavior at undergraduate and MBA levels. She aligns her academic work with Consumer Culture Theory and her research interests include globalization, transnationalism, and transnational immigrants in relation to consumption.
Robert Jinkens, PhD, earned his post doctoral AACSB certification in accounting from the University of Florida at Gainesville. His PhD is from the University of Hawai’i at Mânoa in accounting education. He holds an MSBA in Finance from the University of Southern California, an MBA from the University of California at Irvine, and a BA in math and a BS in business both from the University of Southern California. He has active CPA licenses in California and Hawaii and is a California Real Estate Broker. He has taught accounting, finance and other related subjects at the undergraduate and graduate levels since 1974. His research interests include financial accounting, managerial accounting, and accounting education.
Karen Kaigler-Walker, PhD, Assistant Dean, School of Business, is a Professor of Marketing in consumer behavior who specializes in the social, psychological, and cultural meaning of appearance. She is most known for her research and publications on the impact of socio-cultural changes in the People’s Republic of China on women’s appearance and use of appearance products. She has authored numerous journal articles and has presented her research at conferences both nationally and internationally in North America, Europe, and Asia. She has served as a consultant in the area of fashion and appearance to industry and the media in the US and China.
John Karayan, PhD, teaches Accounting and is past Chair of Accounting and IT. Formerly Director of Taxes of a New York Stock Exchange-listed multinational, Professor Karayan is a tax attorney with a “Big 8” CPA firm background who retired from practice 25 years ago to teach at USC’s School of Accounting. John earned his PhD from Claremont Graduate School, where he studied under Peter Drucker. Dr. Karayan remains active outside academia with service on public and private Boards, as well as testifying as an expert witness in complex business litigation. He has co-authored several books on taxation – notably Strategic Business Tax Planning (Wiley 2006)—and published articles in journals ranging from The Tax Advisor to the Marquette Sports Law Review.
Joan Marques, EdD, serves as Director of the BBA Program and is Assistant Professor of Management. She holds an Ed.D. from Pepperdine University’s Graduate School of Education and Psychology, an MBA from Woodbury University, and a BSc in Business Economics from MOC, Suriname. She also holds an AACSB Bridge to Business Post Doctoral Certificate from Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business. Her teaching focuses on leadership and organizational behavior, and her research interests pertain to the same areas with specific focus on workplace spirituality and awareness in management performance. She has been widely published in journals such as Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Management Development, and Business and Society, and has authored/co-authored nine books on management and leadership topics.
Majed Muhtaseb, PhD, is an Investment Management Research, Education, and Training professional. He joined Woodbury University as an adjunct participating faculty in spring 2010. He teaches courses on investments analysis, portfolio management, derivatives markets & corporate finance. He served as Research Director for Global Fund Analysis, a fund of hedge funds house in London, England. He published many research articles in leading journals such as Journal of Financial Crime, Journal of Investing, Journal of Derivatives & Hedge Funds and the Financial Times among others. Dr. Muhtaseb is Chartered Financial Analyst since in 1997. He teaches in CFA review courses in the LA/OC area. He earned the Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Finance at The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN., in 1987.
Yasuo Nishiyama, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Economics at Woodbury University. Prior to joining the Woodbury University faculty, he was an economist at Bank of America and, after leaving the Bank, taught at State University of New York, Binghamton, and Pennsylvania State University. He holds a Ph.D. from University of California, Berkeley. His research interests include banking (primary specialization), international finance, applied econometrics, and regional economic growth. His articles have been published in professional journals such as Journal of Regional Science, Asia-Pacific Financial Markets, Journal of Post-Keynesian Economics, Eastern Economic Journal, Applied Economics Letters, Journal of Banking and Finance, and others.
Alexandra Saba, Licensed Psychologist, serves as Assistant Professor in the area of Management and Organizational Behavior, and Global Enterprise. She holds a BS and MA from Northern Arizona University, and an MC, Arizona State University. She is the coordinator of Business Professional Women of Woodbury, BPWOW. She has been highly instrumental in initiating and coordinating the annual business etiquette dinner for all Woodbury students. She has won the Dora Kirby Award for her long time contributions to Woodbury University.
A. Danielle Way, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Marketing. While serving as a professor at Xavier University (2008-2009) Woodbury University (2009- present), Dr. Way’s research has examined the challenges and benefits of portfolio design as an assessment tool in adult learning environments as well as explored Persona as a personal marketing tool used to market an individual’s desired self. In addition to teaching undergraduate and MBA level business courses, Dr. Way serves on various university committees, including but not limited to, the Academic Appeals committee and University Academic Advising committee. She is a member of the American Marketing Association, Academy of Marketing Science, The Public Relations Society of America, Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, and the Ph.D. Project.