San Diego State University Entrepreneurship Faculty

A Perfect Blend of Entrepreneurship Professors and Lecturers

 

Knowledgeable professors and lecturers set the foundation for a successful entrepreneurship program, which in 2021, was ranked #14 among public universities in the country. The entrepreneurship faculty at San Diego State University offers decades of strong pedagogical education and strong university research. Faculty are not only successful entrepreneurs and founders, but are also published authors, investors, accomplished researchers, and accredited organization board members. 

A select group of faculty not only instruct courses, but are also heavily involved in the experiential programs offered through the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center including Alex Denoble, Executive Director, and Bernhard Schroeder, Director of Lavin Programs.

Current faculty have been involved with companies such as Microsoft, Apple, Nike and hold publications in the Journal of World Business, Journal of Strategy & Management, International Marketing Review, and Leadership Quarterly.

 

 

Mujtaba Ahsan

Mujtaba Ahsan

Dr. Mujtaba Ahsan received his Ph.D. in Management from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He previously worked at Pittsburg State University, where he successfully earned tenure and at Cal Poly Pomona. He served as an advisor to student entrepreneurship organizations and actively mentored student entrepreneurs at both these institutions. Dr. Ahsan currently serves as an advisor to a few start-ups and small businesses. 

Dr. Ahsan's teaching and research interests are in the areas of entrepreneurship, technology innovation and management, and strategic management. His research on these topics has been published or is forthcoming in Entrepreneurship Theory & Practice, International Journal of Management Reviews, Journal of Strategy & Management, Journal of Managerial Issues, Current Topics in Management, Academy of Information and Management Sciences Journal, International Journal of Data Mining, modeling and Management, and Strategic Management Review. 

Dr. Ahsan likes to spend his spare time with his family; his wife, Gulnaz, and their four children.

Congcong Zheng

Congcong Zheng

Professor Zheng has presented at numerous academia conferences and has published in two refereed books. Her academic articles have appeared or are forthcoming at Journal of World Business, Management International Review, Journal of Small Business Management, Group and Organization Management, and Journal of Entrepreneurial Education. Prior to academia, Zheng was a consultant in BDA China Ltd., specializing in advising clients on market entry and investment decisions in China's Internet and Telecom sector. She holds a BS in Business Administration from University of International Business and Economics (UIBE) in China and Ph.D. from London Business School.

Professor Zheng researches about decision making process, learning and related firm behaviors among entrepreneurial firms. Her work extends the behavioral theory of the firm (March and Simon, 1958; Cyert and March, 1963) in organizational theory and entrepreneurship field. She utilizes multiple research methods in her work, including experiments, cases, and survey methods. Context-wise, she is interested in high technology industries and cultural industries (popular music industries and independent motion picture industry). She has studied emerging market settings including China, India, and Mexico. 
Kimberly Davis King

Kimberly Davis King

 

 

Kimberly Davis King is a Venture Partner with Legacy Impact Capital a California focused social impact investment fund. With over 15 years in the venture capital industry, Kim has been focused on investing and mentoring startups and high growth companies. Kim is also currently on the screening committee for Evonexus, a San Diego incubator and advisor to several early stage and growth companies including ZafeSoft, Pathway Genomics, PhiloMetron and Verve Wireless. She is also adjunct professor at the San Diego State University and Rady School of Management UC San Diego. In 2007, Kim relocated to San Diego and opened the office for Hercules Technology Growth Capital.

Before joining Hercules, Kim was a General Partner with IDG Ventures from 1997 to 2006. She played an active role in managing and investing a $120 million captive fund for 9 years. She led multiple investments in software and technology infrastructure. Successful IPO investments included F5 Networks (FFIV) and VA Linux (LINUX). Prior to joining IDG Ventures, she was an Associate at BankAmerica Ventures. She has also served as a product manager in the Multimedia Publishing Group at Microsoft and spent four years as a consultant at Andersen Consulting. Kim holds a B.S in Industrial Engineering from Stanford University and a M.B.A. from the Harvard Business School.

She sits on various non-profit boards and holds leadership positions including the RSF Unit Children's Hospital, Commnexus/EvoNexus, HBS Alumni Board, RSF Community Center, and the RSF Education Foundation.

Alex DeNoble

Alex DeNoble

Alex F. DeNoble is a Professor of Management and Executive Director of the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center in the College of Business at San Diego State University. He currently also serves as the Chair of the College of Business Steering Committee. Prior to his role in the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center, he served for 3 years as the Chair of the Management Department in the College of Business.

His primary areas of expertise include entrepreneurship and corporate innovation, technology commercialization and strategic management. He has conducted research in these areas and has taught related classes in the University's undergraduate, graduate and executive MBA programs. He has published articles in such journals as IEEE Transactions on Management, the Journal of Business Venturing, the Journal of High Technology Management Research, the Journal of Technology Transfer, International Marketing Review, and Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice.

Janette Williams

Janette Williams

Janette Williams earned her Bachelors in Cognitive Science from the University of California San Diego, an International MBA from Marshall Goldsmith School of Management and a Ph.D. in Organizational/Consulting Psychology from Alliant International. She has over 29 years of experience in management, leadership, consulting, and strategic planning where she specializes in organizational design and development, executive coaching, business consulting, strategic planning, and performance management. 

She currently serves as the president and a senior organizational business development consultant for Maven Consulting Inc. Maven Consulting provides progressive evidence-based consultancy to accomplish optimal people and organizational performance. She is the current Vice Chair of the Education and Workforce Committee for the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and an advisory board member for the YMCA of San Diego County.

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Martina Musteen

Martina Musteen

Dr. Musteen received her PhD from the University of Kansas and is currently an Associate Professor at San Diego State University (SDSU) College of Business Administration where she teaches courses in strategic management and international entrepreneurship on undergraduate, graduate and executive level. Dr. Musteen has also taught in various other programs in the U.S. as well as in Taiwan, Italy, and Mexico and won multiple teaching awards.

Dr. Musteen is very active in research. Her interests include internationalization process of entrepreneurial firms, offshoring, corporate reputation and foreign modes of entry. Her papers have been presented in numerous international academic conferences and published or are forthcoming in the Journal of Management, Journal of International Business Studies, British Journal of Management, Journal of World Business, Leadership Quarterly, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, and Management International Review.

frank caperino

Frank Caperino

Frank Caperino earned his MBA in Finance from National University. He has worked in franchising for over 29 years and is currently a franchise consultant for FranChoice. He represents 150 franchises in over 20 different industries and works personally with individuals looking to invest in franchises that match their unique values and needs.

 For 15 years, he served as the owner and operator of 8 different Cold Stone Creameries and currently owns MySalonSuite in Mission Viejo, CA. Currently, he is a public speaker, consultant and publisher for FranchiseFrank.com and a management professor teaching Franchise Management at San Diego State University. He is the previous president and current member of UNICO National where he helps raise money for scholarship and charitable causes relating to mental health, Cooley’s Anemia, and Saint Jude Children’s Hospital.

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parissa haim faridan

Parissa Haim-Faridan

Parissa Haim-Faridan graduated from Florida Atlantic University where she earned two separate Ph.D’s in management and public administration. She is an award winning researcher with 6 research publications focusing on “Role Complementarity in Entrepreneurial Founding Team Compositions and New Venture Strategies” and “The Adverse Effect of Role Formalization on Social Mechanisms of Innovation in New Ventures” in addition to others. Her work has led her to earning the Presidential Fellowship Award from Florida Atlantic University and she will be serving as an assistant professor in the management department teaching Business Plan Development at San Diego State University.

Bernhard Schroeder

Bernhard Schroeder

Bernhard Schroeder is Director, Lavin Center Programs and oversees all of the undergraduate and graduate internship programs, the Lavin VentureStart Programs, the SDSU Venture Challenge MBA competition as well as the SDSU business plan competition teams. He also has responsibility for Lavin Entrepreneurship Center marketing on both the SDSU campus and in the San Diego community. He is a part-time Clinical Faculty, Marketing within the College of Business Administration at San Diego State University. Bernhard brings over 20 years of marketing and entrepreneurial experience both as a Senior Partner in a leading global marketing agency and as a former Chief Marketing Officer on the client side.

He has experience working with Fortune 100 firms like Apple, Nike, General Motors, American Express, Mercedes Benz, Kellogg's and others as well as start-up companies. Since moving to San Diego in 1997, he has specialized in working with senior executives and venture capitalists in either growth or turnaround opportunities with several companies including Nicholas-Applegate and Stellcom. In addition, he has received his master's degree from San Diego State University.

Michael Sloan

Michael Sloan

Michael L. Sloan, President/CEO of Kalma of CA., Inc. an innovative social venture that provides income and wealth creating opportunities for residents in underserved communities. Michael has over ten years of experience as a "social entrepreneur" which began by creating a $7.8 million health care and employment campus in one of the most blighted neighborhoods in Chicago. Michael continues to provide entrepreneurial training and mentoring for small businesses in low-income communities throughout the country.

As the Chief Operating Officer of a global apparel marketing and manufacturing company for over 25 years Michael provided leadership in management, brand licensing, and business development. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Mid-America National Bank in Chicago. Roosevelt University, BSBA, University of Chicago, MA., UCLA, Anderson School of Management MDE. 

Tanya Hertz

Tanya Hertz

Tanya Hertz is a lecturer of entrepreneurship and business management at San Diego State University. In addition, she serves as Director of the Entrepreneurship program, Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship, and Director of the Regional Entrepreneurship Center (REC) at San Diego Miramar College. Hertz is an alumni of San Diego State University, receiving both her Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and Management and her Master of Business Administration, specializing in Entrepreneurial Studies. Hertz utilizes her strong ties to the San Diego community and has served in academic and business leadership positions. She considers herself an “alchemist” entrepreneur, for her involvement in large numbers of startups and new businesses. 

At SDSU, professor Hertz teaches multiple sections of MGT 358, Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship. In this course, students are introduced to the process of initiating, expanding, purchasing, and consolidating businesses, along with the theoretical and conceptual aspects of managerial innovation and implementation.

David Turner

David Turner

David Turner is a lecturer of entrepreneurship and business management at San Diego State University. Turner has over 20 years of executive experience, holding positions such as Vice President of Operations, Founder, President and CEO. Professor Turner has a Bachelor in Economics and a Master in Information Systems from Louisiana State University and has attended programs at the UCLA Anderson School of Business as well as the Aji Network LEIP program.

Turner teaches the Lavin Entrepreneurs Seminar course, BA 311. In this course, Lavin entrepreneurs are introduced to entrepreneurship as a potential path for future career development. Students begin developing entrepreneurial competencies, professional networks, and be introduced to the basics of ideation, opportunity recognition, and business model development. Turner also teaches MGT 747, Managing Technology Commercialization, a graduate level seminar course. In this course, students assess the future commercialization potential of early stage technologies and technology commercialization process, including technology and market assessments, business models, revenue streams, licensing, and protection of intellectual property.

maryam abhari

Maryam Abhari

Maryam Abhari earned her B.S in Computer Software Engineering form the Mazandaran University of Science and Technology and a second B.S in housing, building/planning and interior design from the University Sains Malaysia. She is a certified architect under the National Council of Architectural Registration Boards , and a LEED Accredited Professional with several years of experience in the architecture industry. 

She previously served as the Architecture designer and project manager for Minatoishi Architects Inc. located on the Hawaiian islands and is now a professor of Web Development/E-business and the Introduction to Management Information Systems courses. She has two published studies focusing on how technologies such as smart sensor networks and mixed reality function to benefit digital transformation in architectural practices.

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