A Warm Hello to Our Newest Professors

This fall, the University of San Diego School of Business welcomes a distinguished group of new professors, as well as international visiting faculty and scholars. From professional experience working at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), KPMG, and other corporate giants to conducting research for Climate Ready Boston and investigating the inefficiencies in economic resource allocation in developing countries, these experts bring with them a wealth of knowledge and experience to our classrooms.

Meet our newest faculty members, visiting faculty, and visiting researchers.

USD School of Business Faculty

William Beggs, assistant professor of finance was previously a senior analyst with Cutler Investment Group and a securities compliance examiner with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in Washington, DC. A Chartered Financial Analyst, his research focuses on issues in investment management including fund performance, conflicts of interest, trading impact and portfolio choice.

Kristyn Calabrese, assistant professor of accounting, is a licensed CPA and has professional experience working as a financial accountant at Interactive Brokers and an audit senior associate at KPMG. She has designed and instructed lectures on audit data analytics for the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) and Deloitte Spain. Professor Calabrese’s research examines settings where auditors and financial analysts may fall short in their roles as information intermediaries in capital markets. 

Josh Della Vedova, assistant professor of finance, currently teaches corporate finance and has previously developed and taught courses in entrepreneurial finance, social entrepreneurship, and financial markets. His research focuses on the behavior of investors on stock price anomalies, market microstructure, and the role of social capital in financial markets. Professor Della Vedova has presented his research at leading national and international conferences, including AFA, FMA and EFMA.

Sara Esfahani, clinical professor of economics, conducts research that aims to understand the underlying reasons for low agricultural productivity in developing countries through studying the inefficiency in economic resource allocation in these economies. She has worked as a financial analyst and time series specialist at Huntington National Bank in Columbus, Ohio. Aside from teaching and research, Professor Esfahani enjoys cooking and creating new recipes.

Kimberly Krieg, assistant professor of accounting, previously worked as a tax accountant and as an auditor for the federal government. She is a licensed CPA in California and teaches courses in taxation. Professor Krieg's current research interests include the effects of taxes on corporate financial reporting, financing, and investment decisions. She is a member of the American Accounting Association and has presented her research at academic accounting conferences.

Stanley Lim, assistant professor of supply chain management, focuses on understanding the economics of distribution services, covering the five A's: (1) accessibility of location, (2) availability of inventory, (3) product assortment, (4) assurance of product delivery, and (5) retail store ambience. He integrates work in operations management, marketing, and economics to understand how and under what conditions retailers can best distribute their products and services. 

Jennifer Miles, assistant professor of management, teaches courses in organizational behavior. Her research focuses on teams and group work, leadership, leader-member exchange, and ethical decision-making. Professor Miles has published research in Scientific Data and in the Journal of Experimental Social Psychology.

Nichole Wissman-Weber, assistant professor of management, engages in research focusing on how organizations manage interconnected social and environmental problems such as climate change. She also engages in practice-based work including research for the City of Boston's initiative, Climate Ready Boston, housed in the Sustainable Solutions Lab at the University of Massachusetts Boston. 

International Visiting Faculty

Gayle Allard, professor of economic environment at IE Business School Madrid, is a native Californian who has lived most of her adult life in Europe. She teaches economics at IE Business School in Madrid and travels extensively, especially in Africa, which is the focus of her most recent research and development efforts. Dr. Allard has been very active in educational innovation and has won the coveted MERLOT. She has seven online courses in three languages on Coursera, engaging over 200,000 students from around the world. While at USD, Dr. Allard will be delivering the one-unit MBA course ‘Future Prospects for the Global Economy.’

Paolo Guerrieri, visiting professor at the Paris School of International Affairs, Sciences-Po (Paris), is a former professor of economics at the University of Rome ‘La Sapienza.’ He has also served as a senator of the Italian Republic and member of the Economic Budget Committee and the European Policy Committee. He is the author of several books and articles on international trade and policy, technological change, international political economy, industrial patterns, and European integration issues. At USD, Professor Guerrieri will be delivering the one-unit MBA course ‘Europe in the World Economy.’

International Visiting Researchers

Zhixin Chen will be working with Associate Professor of Operations Sandy Shi on joint research concerning operations and marketing decisions with showrooming.  

Feifei Shan has been conducting joint research at USD with Assistant Professor of Decision Sciences Wenli Xiao and Associate Professor of Operations Management Daniel Lin since 2017 on a variety of topics surrounding supply chain management and will continue their collaborations through this academic year.

Dennis Van Kampen will be working with Dr. Priya Kannan-Narasimhan, founding director of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Catalyzer at USD and associate professor of management, on framing and legitimizing digital innovations. 

Dr. Zhixuan Wang will be conducting joint research with Associate Professor of Finance Phil Zhu on the impact of national and corporate culture on cross-border mergers and acquisitions from China. 

Xingyi Yang will be working on joint research with Associate Professor of Operations Management Daniel Lin and Associate Professor of Operations Sandy Shi on e-commerce platform design. 

Dr. Jingxian Zhao is continuing her research with Associate Professor of Operations Management Daniel Lin and Associate Professor of Operations Sandy Shi on a variety of supply chain topics. She has received the Excellence Award for teaching from the Tianjin Education Commission.