Global Innovation MBA

Dr. Jennifer (Jen) Bott is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Marketing at the Haworth College of Business at Western Michigan University. She teaches graduate courses in leadership, organizational change, employee engagement and organizational culture, and personnel selection and placement, and returned to full-time faculty after serving in executive and senior academic leadership roles, including Provost at Western Michigan University and Dean at Ball State University. Jen has a passion for leadership development and for helping managers build stronger, more feedback-rich teams. Alongside her faculty and chair role, she maintains an active consulting and speaking practice, partnering with organizations to identify, retain and develop employees to be impactful contributors and engaged team members. Her research interests span organizational ethics, employee wellbeing and pedagogical innovations, including more than 30 publications in management, leadership, and pedagogy journals. She holds a Ph.D. and is a Senior Professional in Human Resources (SPHR) certification from the Society for Human Resource Management. She’s won teaching innovation awards and community impact awards from numerous agencies throughout her career.

Dr. Kuanchin Chen is the Upjohn Chair in Business Administration, Professor of Computer Information Systems, and Director of the Center for Business Analytics at Western Michigan University. His research focuses on the intersection of technology and human behavior, with expertise in data analytics, artificial intelligence, social networking, privacy, security, and online behavior. Dr. Chen’s scholarly impact is evidenced by a prolific publication record in leading journals, including the Information Systems Journal, Decision Support Systems, Information & Management, IEEE Transactions on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics, and Tourism Management. Beyond his research, he has pioneered the business analytics and artificial intelligence curricula at WMU and serves in editorial leadership roles for several top-tier academic journals. Dr. Chen has been recognized with the U.S. Fulbright Specialist award three times and has received many awards at WMU, including the Excellence in Research award three times, College Research Awards, and the Outstanding Faculty Award for Student Success. His commitment to research and teaching excellence is further reflected in his numerous Best Paper awards from international conferences and journals, as well as his appointment to fellowships at several universities. Dr. Chen is frequently invited to deliver keynote addresses and present his research worldwide.

Dr. Eckert is a passionate sales and negotiation educator and occasional world traveler and has been at WMU for over 25 years. His specialty is the creation and delivery of theoretically grounded education programs that build real, actionable skills. He has been instrumental in building a top tier collegiate sales program as well as leading a highly successful international study program focused on negotiation. Dr. Eckert has been a visiting professor at Universität Paderborn for over 20 years as well as teaching and lecturing in Taiwan, Argentina, and the Netherlands. Outside of the university he owns and operates Partner Building and has delivered sales, negotiation, and leadership training to over 40 companies. This experience keeps the link between his academic and professional life fully engaged. Dr. Eckert has won numerous teaching awards both at WMU and at Universität Paderborn. In his non-work time, you can find him racing sailboats, skiing, cycling, and walking his dog.

Dr. Decker Hains is the chair of the Department of Management. Hains previously served as the Professor of Military Science and chair of the Department of Military Science and Leadership from 2012-2016 and on the faculty in both the Haworth College of Business and the College of Engineering and Applied Sciences from 2016-2021. He also helped lead the effort for the redesign of WMU’s essential studies program. Prior to joining WMU, Hains served as an officer in the U.S. Army, holding a variety of leadership positions including Deputy Commander for the Walla Walla District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Chief of a Military Transition Team in Baghdad, Iraq, and assistant professor in the Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York. In September 2016, he retired from the U.S. Army as a Lieutenant Colonel with over 22 years of service. Hains received numerous military awards including the Bronze Star Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Iraq Campaign Medal and the Korean Defense Service Medal. In November 2019, he was named a Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and was awarded their New Faculty Excellence in Teaching Award in 2007. He has published numerous papers on leadership and the civil engineering profession. He is a registered Professional Engineer and Project Management Professional.

Dr. Bidyut Hazarika is an experienced educator, researcher, and academic leader with extensive expertise in information systems, artificial intelligence, business analytics, cybersecurity, and digital business. He serves as an Associate Professor of Business Information Systems at Western Michigan University (WMU), where he also held leadership roles, including Undergraduate Program Director for Business Analytics. Dr. Hazarika holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science and Information Systems from the University of Colorado Denver and an MBA in Information Systems and Finance from the University of Toledo. At WMU, he has taught and developed courses in artificial intelligence, business analytics, information systems, cybersecurity, and technology management. He also leads international study abroad programs that provide students with experiential learning opportunities in global business environments. An award-winning faculty member, Dr. Hazarika has received Faculty Research, Teaching, and Service Awards. His research has been published in leading international journals, including Computers in Human Behavior, Acta Psychologica, Industrial Management & Data Systems, and the Journal of Global Information Management. His teaching emphasizes practical application, global perspectives, and preparing MBA students to lead in an increasingly digital and AI-driven business environment.

Dr. Reza Mousavi is an Associate Professor of Business Information Systems at Western Michigan University’s Haworth College of Business. His research focuses on artificial intelligence, information assurance, cybersecurity, and business analytics. His work examines digital trust, security, and the use of AI and data-driven technologies to improve organizational decision-making and performance. Dr. Mousavi has extensive experience teaching business analytics and AI applications in business courses. Through his teaching, he helps students develop practical skills in data analysis, emerging technologies, and the application of artificial intelligence to real-world business problems. His publications have appeared in reputable journals, including: Decision Support Systems, Communications of the Association for Information Systems, Information Systems Frontiers, Behaviour & Information Technology, Journal of Computer Information Systems, Journal of Global Information Management.

Dr. Reza Mousavi is an Associate Professor of Business Information Systems at Western Michigan University’s Haworth College of Business. His research focuses on artificial intelligence, information assurance, cybersecurity, and business analytics. His work examines digital trust, security, and the use of AI and data-driven technologies to improve organizational decision-making and performance. Dr. Mousavi has extensive experience teaching business analytics and AI applications in business courses. Through his teaching, he helps students develop practical skills in data analysis, emerging technologies, and the application of artificial intelligence to real-world business problems. His publications have appeared in reputable journals, including: Decision Support Systems, Communications of the Association for Information Systems, Information Systems Frontiers, Behaviour & Information Technology, Journal of Computer Information Systems, Journal of Global Information Management.

Dr. Kelley O'Reilly is a professor of marketing at Western Michigan University's Haworth College of Business. She has taught a variety of graduate and undergraduate marketing courses at WMU with a focus on sales, negotiation, and marketing strategy. Her scholarly interests include retail, entrepreneurship and franchising with a focus on small- and medium-sized enterprises where rapid and often haphazard innovation occurs. O'Reilly's dissertation research provides a framework for diagnosing customer-company interactions and for designing protocols for effective sales and service programs within the sales and retail domains. Her research has been widely published. In addition to her 15 years in academia, O'Reilly has more than 20 years of experience in retail and service franchise businesses. She has held executive positions at Fortune 100 corporations, including senior vice president of strategy and brand development, vice president of sales and marketing and vice president of advertising. In these roles, she managed the sales, marketing, new product development, purchasing, advertising, training and retail management functions with full profit and loss responsibility. O'Reilly is a Certified Franchise Executive with the International Franchise Association and is a champion of small business owners and entrepreneurs.

Dr. Timothy Palmer is a professor of business sustainability and strategic management at Western Michigan University where he directs the Center for Sustainable Business Practices. In 2024, he received WMU’s Distinguished Teaching Award, the highest honor given at the university for teaching. In addition, Palmer has received the Distinguished Professor of the Year Award from the Presidents Council, State Universities of Michigan and was nominated for the Carnegie Foundation Professor of the Year Award. Palmer’s passion is encouraging students to use their careers in ways that benefit society, in addition to enhancing their careers and organizational effectiveness. Over the past decade he has led hundreds of WMU study abroad students to India learning about human rights, social justice and environmental sustainability. Dr. Palmer’s research focuses on strategic sustainability and student learning that has appeared in numerous top tier publications.

Dr. Bret Wagner is an Associate Professor of Marketing at the Haworth College of Business at Western Michigan University. His undergraduate degree is in mechanical engineering from Michigan State University, and he earned a master’s degree in engineering administration from the George Washington University. He earned his PhD in Operations Management from Michigan State University. He has been a professor at Western Michigan University since 2001. He has taught a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses at WMU, including a hands-on course in enterprise systems using SAP software. He is the coauthor of the textbook Concepts in Enterprise Resource Planning and is the developer of the ScrimmageSIM business simulation. He was the director of WMU’s supply chain management program from 2004 to 2012. Since 2020 he has been the developer and coordinator of the course Applying Business Fundamentals, which is taken by over 1,100 students each year. His research interests are in planning and scheduling and business education, and he has published articles in journals such as Decision Sciences, The European Journal of Operations Research and Operations Management.

Dr. Marcel M. Zondag is a Professor of Marketing at the Haworth College of Business at Western Michigan University, where he directs the Supply Chain Management Program and the Center for Supply Chain Management. He is also a visiting professor at the Institute for Marketing and Service Research at the University of Rostock in Germany. Dr. Zondag brings a rare combination of legal, business, and academic credentials to the MBA classroom. He earned a J.D. from Erasmus University Rotterdam in the Netherlands and holds an MBA and a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee. Before entering academia, he spent 22 years in senior management roles across the aerospace and defense industry in Europe, Asia, and North America, a global executive experience that shapes his practice-oriented approach to graduate education. His research focuses on demand and supply integration, healthcare SCM, omnichannel luxury marketing, shopper loyalty, and supply chain management in the food cold chain. He teaches graduate courses in strategic marketing, global business management, food marketing, and supply chain management. Dr. Zondag maintains an active portfolio of applied research in different fields and consults firms on demand planning, process improvements, and customer experience management.