Speakers Bureau

Eli Awtrey is an assistant professor of management in the Carl H. Lindner College of Business at the University of Cincinnati. His research investigates the factors that encourage or inhibit the potency of organizational teams, including leadership, decision-making, collaboration, diversity, well-being and culture. Eli has published on these topics in top-tier academic outlets such as Academy of Management Review and Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. He also serves on the editorial review board for Journal of Organizational Behavior and Academy of Management Discoveries, and collaborates with doctoral students and faculty both locally and internationally.

As a recognized expert, Eli combines his research with the larger body of evidence-based management concepts in the classroom and in applied collaborations. He teaches graduate courses on leadership, management, high-performing teams and organizational research methods, and he has earned multiple teaching awards at the University of Cincinnati and the University of Washington. He also has provided seminars and consulting for a wide range of organizations including Kroger, Microsoft and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. 

Eli earned his PhD in management from the Foster School of Business at the University of Washington and his MBA from the Lundquist College of Business at the University of Oregon.

Areas of expertise: Collaboration, compassion, culture, decision-making, diversity, leadership, gratitude, motivation, teams, trust, well-being.

Aaron Bradley is an Associate Professor and Director of the NEXT Innovation Scholars program at the University of Cincinnati, a signature cross-disciplinary innovation initiative focused on leveraging design thinking, human-centered design and strategic foresight approaches to drive innovation and future creation. He teaches courses on design thinking, innovation and strategic foresight, and regularly leads a variety of industry-sponsored innovation projects ranging from short-term sprints and ideation sessions to multi-phase strategy development.

His expertise with experiential learning and developing industry partnerships have led to the creation of multiple new cross-disciplinary courses and programs delivering strategy, innovation and design research projects for clients ranging from startups to Fortune 1000 companies. Aaron’s scholarly and professional expertise includes harnessing the power of transdisciplinary collaboration, building cultures of innovation within teams and the creation of impactful university/industry collaborations. He is also the creator and host of the Undisciplined by Design podcast, featuring conversations with creative leaders who leverage “discipline-blur” as an innovation catalyst. 

Areas of expertise: Challenges, creative leadership, design thinking, innovation, problem solving.

Scott Dust, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Management and the Fealy Family Endowed Chair of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the Carl H. Lindner College of Business. Dust is also the Chief Research Officer at Cloverleaf, a Cincinnati-based, venture-backed entity that hosts an HR-tech platform that leverages automation and AI for personalized coaching. He earned his PhD in Management and Organizational Behavior at the LeBow College of Business, Drexel University, and his BS and MBA from the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University.

His primary areas of research are leadership, leader-follower relationships and teams. Dust has published over 30 peer-reviewed articles in leading academic journals including the Journal of Applied Psychology, Personnel Psychology, the Journal of Organizational Behavior, Leadership Quarterly, and Human Relations, and he currently serves on the editorial review board of the Journal of Organizational Behavior, Group and Organization Management and Applied Psychology. He has consulted internationally on human capital assessment and design, and leadership development initiatives, is on the Harvard Business Publishing Education Advisory Team and the Forbes Coaches Council, and is also a regular contributor to Fast Company, Business Insider, and Psychology Today.

Areas of expertise: Burnout, leadership, management, productivity, psychological safety, self-improvement, teams, time management, wellness.

Gail is a Distinguished University Research Professor of Organizational Communication at the University of Cincinnati. She specializes in organizational communication processes, including those involving paradox, problem-centered leadership, and framing. She is the author of four books, including Performing Organizational Paradoxes (with L. Putnam), Discursive Leadership: In Conversation with Leadership Psychology, The Power of Framing: Challenging the Language of Leadership, and The Art of Framing: Managing the Language of Leadership (with R. Sarr).

Gail is also the co-editor of the forthcoming The Routledge Handbook of Organizational Leadership Communication (with G. Jian). She has published over 100 articles and chapters in management and communication journals and books, including Academy of Management Annals, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Organization Science, Organization Studies, Human Relations, Human Communication Research, Communication Monographs, and Management Communication Quarterly. She is a Fellow of the International Communication Association, Distinguished Scholar of the National Communication Association, and Fulbright Scholar. 

Areas of expertise: Change, communication, leadership, paradox, women.

Michael Jones is the Kautz-Uible Assistant Professor of Economics and the Director of the Kautz-Uible Cryptoeconomics Lab at the University of Cincinnati. He earned his PhD in economics from the University of Notre Dame. Prior to receiving his PhD, he worked as a Senior Research Analyst for the Nielsen Company and as a Senior Business Development Manager at Cincinnati Bell (now altafiber).

Michael has served on the Board of Directors for the Association of Universities for Business and Economics Research (AUBER) as well as the Economic Advisory Group for JobsOhio, the Ohio Economic Roundtable and the Ohio Economic Experts Panel. His research has been published in Public Administration Review, Applied Economics Letters, Economics of Education Review, and the IZA Journal of Labor of Economics. Time magazine, the Washington Post, NPR and other media outlets have featured his research.

Areas of expertise: Data, decision-making, forecasting, foresight, economic indicators, judgment, risk, strategy, uncertainty.

Elaine (PhD, University of Kansas) is a professor in the Management Department at the Carl H. Lindner College of Business. Her research interests include identity, identification and work-life balance, and she focuses on research questions that can be best addressed with qualitative methods in diverse settings. Her work appears in top-tier management journals and has been recognized with national awards from both the Academy of Management and the Society for Human Resource Management.

Elaine teaches classes in the undergraduate, graduate, doctoral and executive programs and has received four teaching awards from the Lindner College of Business. She is a Fellow of the Graduate College at the University of Cincinnati, as well as UC's Academy of Fellows for Teaching and Learning. In addition, she is both a Research Fellow and a Teaching Fellow in the Lindner College of Business. She also has been involved in designing and facilitating executive programs and workshops on team building and development, culture, and work-life balance.

Areas of expertise: Communication, job search, interviews, motivation, networking, organization culture, problem solving, team dynamics, work-life balance.

Marianne W. Lewis, PhD, is dean at the Lindner College of Business. Renowned for her research on organizational paradoxes surrounding innovation and leadership, her latest book and related materials, Both/And Thinking: Embracing Creative Tensions to Solve Your Toughest Problems, is published by Harvard Business Review.

Lewis has been recognized among the world’s most-cited researchers in her field (Web of Science) and received the Decade Award (2021) from the Academy of Management Review. Her work also appears in such media outlets as Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Newsweek, and MarketWatch, received the Thinkers50 Breakthrough Idea Award 2023, and was a finalist for the Next Big Idea Club. 

Areas of expertise: Academia, both/and, leadership, paradoxes, tensions, women.

Carol Tonge Mack is the founder & CEO of Tonge Mack Enterprises, LLC: Empowering Next Dimension Leaders. The organization has three primary goals: provide women and girls with the empowering tools necessary to elevate and amplify their voices, particularly, but not exclusively in education; assist companies and organizations with innovative, unconventional, leadership skills to unleash their highest potential; and help students and parents navigate higher education from recruitment to graduation.

Carol is a well-respected educator and powerhouse behind her brand: END POLITE SILENCE™. She has been working for over 20 years in higher education with professional skills ranging from executive strategic planning, project implementation and execution, to crisis management with emotional intelligence at the core. Among her colleagues, she is known as a fierce promoter and supporter of staff development with expertise in building trust and strengthening teams, which are crucial components to the success of every organization. For almost a decade, she has been the faculty “go-to” expert for academic misconduct and students’ overall success.  

Carol believes in the power of “real” sisterhood and helping women recognize they are good enough, whether they are holding a broom or the gavel. She is currently an Assistant Dean at the University of Cincinnati, where she has a longstanding commitment of empowering, mentoring and serving students from enrollment to graduation. Carol is a native of the Caribbean Island of Antigua and grew up in the South Bronx, New York City. She is the co-founder of the UC Black Women on the Move, Employee Resource Group; former State Co-Chair of the American Council on Education (ACE), and member of Zeta Phi Beta Sorority. She is married to an amazing, world-renowned chemist, professor, and Dean at the University of Cincinnati. Carol has two children and is enjoying her “blessed nest.”

Areas of expertise: Accountability partner, consequences, core values, empowerment, expectations, removing barriers, women.

Suzanne (MBA and PhD, Organizational Behavior, University of Maryland) is Senior Associate Dean for Faculty, Research, and Lindner Culture, and professor of management at the Carl H. Lindner College of Business. Her research interests include organizational fairness, workplace relationships and workspace design, and she is particularly interested in exploring when employees feel fairly treated, why supervisors choose to engage in fair/unfair behaviors, and what the implications are for workplace relationships and both individual and organizational outcomes.

Suzanne’s research appears in top-tier management and applied psychology journals, and her research has been cited in over 6,700 scholarly publications to date. Masterson teaches executive, graduate and undergraduate classes in organizational behavior, leadership and human resource management, and she was awarded the 2005 EXCEL Undergraduate Teaching Award. In 2017, she received the Lindner Award for Excellence in Service to Research, and the University of Cincinnati’s Excellence in Mentoring of Doctoral Students Award. Masterson is a Fellow in several organizations, including the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the Graduate College at the University of Cincinnati, and UC’s Academy of Fellows for Teaching and Learning (AFTL).

Areas of expertise: Career development, creativity, decision making, job search, interviews, leadership communication, networking.

Charles Matthews, PhD, is an internationally recognized scholar and innovative teacher in the field of entrepreneurship. An award-winning teacher, he was honred with the title Distinguished Teaching Professor in 2006. He has been recognized with the following awards:

• The George Barbour Award to Good Student Faculty Relations, University of Cincinnati, March 2022

• Lifetime Achievement Award, International Council for Small Business (ICSB), awarded during the 3rd Annual Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprise (MSME) Day, United Nations, 26 June 2019

• Shandong Provincial Distinguished Foreign Expert, Human Resources and Social Security Department of Shandong Province, China, Shandong Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs, 2018 

• A Fulbright U.S. Scholar Research & Teaching Fellowship, Vilnius, Lithuania, 2018

• The Mentor Award, Academy of Management ENT Division, 2018

• Elected Fellow of the Graduate School, University of Cincinnati, 2017

Charles is a past president and Wilford L. White Fellow of the ICSB; past president and Justin G. Longenecker Fellow of the United States Association for Small Business & Entrepreneurship (USASBE); and past president and Fellow of the Small Business Institute Directors Association.

Areas of expertise: Curiosity, decision-making, entrepreneurship, innovation, leadership, strategy, technology.

Melissa Newman has a BBA in Marketing from the University of Kentucky, MBA from Morehead State University, and an MA in Higher Education and a PhD in Educational Leadership from the University of Louisville. She has nearly 15 years of experience in management within both the higher education and nonprofit sectors and was recently named as a member of the Cincinnati Business Courier's 40 Under 40 class.

Melissa Newman also received the Venue Magazine Civic Leadership Award in recognition of her commitment to nonprofit work. Her professional experience includes nearly a decade at the University of Kentucky Alumni Association and five years as Executive Director of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

Areas of expertise: Culture, empowering, marketing, management, nonprofit.

Daniel Peat, PhD, is an Assistant Professor – Educator of Management at the Lindner College of Business. He teaches a variety of courses in management, business strategy and leadership, and his scholarly contributions explore human capital, strategic leadership and military veterans in organizations. His work has been published in Sage Business Cases, Journal of Organizational Behavior Education, Journal of Business Research, and The International Journal of Human Resource Management and featured in Forbes. Additionally, he has delivered invited talks and conducted professional development workshops on change management, leadership during crisis, military/veteran inclusive organizations, career exploration, and workplace stress to a variety of academic and professional audiences.  

Prior to joining academia, Dan served in a number of military and government roles, culminating as a Division Chief for the Defense Technical Information Center. With over 19 years of service as a military engineer officer, including a combat deployment to Afghanistan, he continues to serve in the US Army Reserves as an Adjunct Instructor for the Command and General Staff College. In this capacity, he instructs courses on leadership, doctrine, military history, and force management for senior army officers.  

Areas of expertise: Human capital, leading in crisis, military and veterans in organizations, strategic leadership, workplace stress.

Chris is a licensed attorney and educator with over 20 years of experience in teaching, coaching, workshop facilitation and professional development. Throughout her career, she has been propelled by a passion for guiding others to reach their full potential. Trained in adult learning principles and effective coaching techniques, she is accredited through International Coaching Federation. She is also an Authorized DiSC Partner and Certified Practitioner.

As an Adjunct Professor and Director of the Externship Program at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, Chris focuses on the leadership development and professionalism of our next generation of attorneys. In this role, she creates live and online courses that are coupled with individualized coaching sessions to build upon students’ strengths and goals. Previous positions include Litigation Attorney at Dinsmore & Shohl, Assistant Dean/ Director of Career Services at the University of Dayton School of Law, and Director of Professional Development at Graydon Law (now Bricker Graydon). Chris has also trained over a thousand independent consultants as a Workshop Facilitator at cabi, LLC, an L.A.-based apparel company. In all these roles, she finds joy in helping others soar.

Areas of expertise: DiSC management, emotional intelligence, EQ mindsets, executive presence, flexibility, management style, personal branding, productive interactions, stress reduction, trust building, well-being, workplace communication.

Mike Wagner is an Assistant Professor and Director of the Master of Science in Human Resources program at the University of Cincinnati. At UC, Mike teaches courses in leadership, business professionalism, business ethics and compensation. He received his PhD in Organizational Psychology from Columbia University in New York City, where his research focus was on pay-for-performance and organizational change.

Before UC, Mike was vice president of compensation and risk management at Fifth Third Bank in Cincinnati, as well as compensation manager at American Express in New York City. Mike was also director of HR Measurement and Research at AXA Insurance, and was a human capital consultant at Mercer Human Capital Consulting. Mike currently consults with a variety of industries in leadership, HR strategy, compensation and employee engagement.

Areas of expertise: Communication, culture change, employee engagement, leadership, remote work, rewards and motivation.