MSIS - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Assistant Dean for Business Relations
- Assistant Dean, Business Relations Executive Director, Utah Center for Financial Services
- Assistant Dean, Business Relations Executive Director, Utah Center for Financial Services / Dean
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Development
Job Titles:
- Accountability Subcommittee Co - Chair / Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute
Job Titles:
- Dean
- Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Studies
- Assistant Dean, Undergraduate Studies, Professor ( Lecturer )
Job Titles:
- Accountability Subcommittee Co - Chair / Dean
Job Titles:
- Associate Dean for MBA Programs and Executive Education
- Associate Dean of the David Eccles School
Brad is the Associate Dean of the David Eccles School of Business at the University of Utah. He is responsible for the Executive MBA, Professional MBA, Full-time MBA, Online MBA and Executive Education. Brad teaches both the Corporate Finance and Global Management courses in the Executive MBA program. He has led more than 14 trips overseas with over 600 executives and faculty to all parts of the globe.
Prior to joining the David Eccles School of Business, Brad worked for ten years as a senior financial executive with American Stores Company, an NYSE-listed company with retail sales of food and drug store merchandise of over $18 billion annually. Brad played a key management role providing financial leadership and strategy. Brad also spent ten successful years in the auditing and accounting division of Ernst & Young, an international accounting and consulting firm, where he served multiple clients in industries such as banking, retail food and drug, mining, real estate, and aerospace and defense.
Brad is the Past Chair of the International Executive MBA Council Board of Trustees. His past assignments include treasurer, co-chair of the council's annual meeting in Chicago, and various positions on planning committees for annual meetings in Baltimore, Toronto, and San Diego. He has delivered presentations on managing Executive MBA programs and financial analysis of Executive MBA programs for many years, most recently in Houston and Paris.
Brad's education consists of an Executive Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Utah and graduated as a Dean's Scholar. He also received a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting from the University of Utah. Brad is a Certified Public Accountant.
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of Development
Job Titles:
- Academic Advising Coordinator
- Academic Advising Coordinator / Department of Operations and Information Systems, Master of Science in Business Analytics
Job Titles:
- Alumni Engagement Specialist
Job Titles:
- Dean 's Messages to Students
- Dean 's Messages to Students / Dean Search
Job Titles:
- Dean
- Dean George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Presidential Endowed Chair in Ethical Financial Reporting
- Dean of the David Eccles School
Dr. Rachel M. Hayes is the dean of the David Eccles School of Business. Dean Hayes, a professor in accounting, received an MBA from the University of Colorado, and a Ph.D. from the Stanford University Graduate School of Business. She has been a faculty member at the University of Utah since 2005 and has served in numerous roles in her department and college, including the George S. and Dolores Doré Eccles Presidential Endowed Chair in Ethical Financial Reporting.
Prior to joining the U, Dean Hayes taught at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University and at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago. Her research has been published in a number of scholarly journals, including the Journal of Accounting Research, the Journal of Accounting and Economics and the Rand Journal of Economics.
Job Titles:
- Francis a. Madsen Professor of Finance
Elena Asparohova is the Francis A. Madsen Professor of Finance and the Assistant Dean for Research and External Funding at the David Eccles School of Business. She received her doctorate degree in Social Sciences from the California Institute of Technology and her Masters in Statistics from Sofia University, Bulgaria. Professor Asparouhova's research interests are in the area of theoretical and experimental financial economics. They include but are not confined to the theory of asset pricing, experimental finance, general equilibrium theory, and econometrics. Her recent work has been centered on the effects of competition in financial markets under delegation and under asymmetric information, information percolation in dark markets, the role of perfect forecast in multi period markets, and market equilibration. She is also involved in experimental research on the interaction of humans and robots in financial markets. She is interested in using experimentation to test the theoretical predictions of standard models as well as to discover robust phenomena on which to build new theory where those models' predictions are known to be indeterminate. Her papers have received best paper awards at the Journal of Financial Markets and the Review of Finance. Her experimental research "Lucas in the Laboratory" was recently awarded the best paper at the Behavioral Finance and Capital Markets Conference in Australia. In addition, Professor Asparouhova's research has been continuously funded by the National Science Foundation for the last eight years. If you have any questions about Professor Asparouhova's research, please email her.
Job Titles:
- Dean
- Assistant Dean for Research and External Funding
Elena Asparohova is the Francis A. Madsen Professor of Finance and the Assistant Dean for Research and External Funding at the David Eccles School of Business. She received her doctorate degree in Social Sciences from the California Institute of Technology and her Masters in Statistics from Sofia University, Bulgaria. Professor Asparouhova's research interests are in the area of theoretical and experimental financial economics. They include but are not confined to the theory of asset pricing, experimental finance, general equilibrium theory, and econometrics. Her recent work has been centered on the effects of competition in financial markets under delegation and under asymmetric information, information percolation in dark markets, the role of perfect forecast in multi period markets, and market equilibration. She is also involved in experimental research on the interaction of humans and robots in financial markets. She is interested in using experimentation to test the theoretical predictions of standard models as well as to discover robust phenomena on which to build new theory where those models' predictions are known to be indeterminate. Her papers have received best paper awards at the Journal of Financial Markets and the Review of Finance. Her experimental research "Lucas in the Laboratory" was recently awarded the best paper at the Behavioral Finance and Capital Markets Conference in Australia. In addition, Professor Asparouhova's research has been continuously funded by the National Science Foundation for the last eight years. If you have any questions about Professor Asparouhova's research, please email her.
Job Titles:
- Donor Relations Specialist
Job Titles:
- Administrative Program Coordinator
- Administrative Program Coordinator / Dean
Job Titles:
- Professor of Finance Assistant Dean for Research and External Funding Daniels Professor of Ethics
Job Titles:
- Admissions Coordinator / Located in Mumbai
Job Titles:
- Executive Director of Undergraduate Programs
- Executive Director of Undergraduate Programs / Dean
Job Titles:
- Scholarship Coordinator
- Scholarship Coordinator / Dean
Job Titles:
- Executive Director
- Assistant Dean for Alumni Relations & Development
- Assistant Dean, Alumni Relations & Development / Alumni Relations and Development, Dean
Job Titles:
- Assistant Dean
- Assistant Dean, Business Career Services and Corporate Outreach
- Business Executive
Katie Hoffman-Abby is an experienced business executive working on the dean's team building the school's corporate outreach program. A 1984 University of Utah graduate in nutrition and food science, Ms. Hoffman-Abby began her career as a nutritionist for the Utah State Health Department. Shortly thereafter, she found a more permanent home in the healthcare staffing industry thriving as a physician recruiter for CHG Healthcare, then CompHealth.
The quintessential ‘you get back what you put in to life-leader,' she co-founded VISTA Staffing Solutions in 1990. Serving first as COO and then as president, Ms. Hoffman-Abby played a key role in the development of the recruitment and credentials review processes that ensured only qualified physicians were recruited and placed. She also helped set the standard for assessing the quality of a match between a practice in need of help and a physician interested in work. She helped formalize these standards as a founding member of the National Association of Locum Tenens Organizations (NALTO), an industry organization established to create and enforce standards for ethics and good business practices in the physician staffing industry. She served a term as president of this association and on the board in many capacities including chairing the ethics and arbitration committees.
At VISTA, Ms. Hoffman-Abby helped build a culture of wellness making yoga, Pilates, and resistance training classes, and massage therapy available at discounted rates for employees. Gym memberships were also underwritten for employees committed to working out consistently. Leading by example, Ms. Abby, a self-described gym rat, is addicted to endurance sports and is a veteran of 16 marathons (including qualifying for and completing the Boston Marathon). She is an avid triathlete having completed more races than can be counted. She successfully finished the Wisconsin Ironman in 2007.
In 2007, VISTA was acquired by On Assignment (NYSE: ASGN), one of the largest healthcare, scientific, IT and engineering staffing companies in the U.S. Ms. Hoffman-Abby joined the executive team at On Assignment ultimately accepting the challenge of turning around a failing nurse travel division. As president of this unit, she doubled revenue in a period of less than three years, and the business was subsequently acquired by a large, national, travel nursing company.
Also in 2007, Ms. Hoffman-Abby was honored to be selected as one of "30 Women to Watch" by Utah Business Magazine. The Women to Watch program recognizes female business owners or high-level executives who are dynamic professionals with demonstrated records of success within their fields and the community.
Ms. Abby is a proud mother of two sons. She loves endurance sports, scuba diving, world travel and independent film. She's also a freelance consultant working with several fun and interesting businesses to improve processes and increase profitability. Ms. Abby sits on the board of Reef Conservation International, ReefCI, a Belize-based non-profit organization dedicated to marine conservation.
At a time in life when most people would be relishing retirement, Ms. Hoffman-Abby is restless. "I'm young and still have a lot to give. I'm excited to transfer my experience and skill sets to new industries and to work with stimulating and talented people and students."
Assistant Dean; Business Career Services and Corporate Outreach
Job Titles:
- Associate Director of Development
- Senior Director, Development
Job Titles:
- Director of Alumni Relations and Events
Job Titles:
- Associate Director, IS Programs
- Associate Program Director, Information Systems / Department of Operations and Information Systems, Master of Science in Business Analytics
Laurie has spent her career in education, from outdoor education to high school teaching and private school administration, to advising university students and helping to run programs. I love working with students!
Job Titles:
- Alumni Events Coordinator
Job Titles:
- Associate Director of Development
Job Titles:
- Data Entry Specialist
- Office Assistant
Job Titles:
- Associate Dean for Specialized Masters Programs
- Associate Dean, Specialized Masters Program
Job Titles:
- Engagement Committee Co - Chair / Goff Strategic Leadership Center
Job Titles:
- Assistant Dean for Finance and Operations
- Assistant Dean for Finance and Operations / School of Accounting
Before the U, Michael spent 7 years of active duty in the U.S. Air Force, was an Auditor at KPMG-Silicon Valley, a Senior Analyst with Apple Computer-R&D, and ran a consulting group at Indiana University.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Development
- Lyhnakis Assistant Director of Development
Job Titles:
- Academic Advisor
- Academic Advisor / Department of Operations and Information Systems
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Assistant Dean
- Assistant Dean Director of the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute
Natalie Gochnour serves as an assistant dean in the David Eccles School of Business and director of the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute at the University of Utah. She also serves as the chief economist for the Salt Lake Chamber. In these roles, she helps connect the Eccles School with the broader business community and shares applied economic and business research.
Gochnour's experience includes a diverse mix of public service and business experience. From 2006 to 2013 she guided the public policy work of the Salt Lake Chamber, Utah's largest business association, representing 7,700 member businesses. She helped create and lead the Downtown Rising movement, helped pass a ballot initiative to secure funds for the expansion of Utah's TRAX light rail and FrontRunner commuter rail service, and assisted with the drafting and promotion of The Utah Compact.
During Gochnour's state service she advised Utah governors Bangerter, Leavitt, and Walker, and served as the media spokesperson for the governor's office during the 2002 Olympic Winter Games. She also served as a political appointee in the George W. Bush administration, serving as an associate administrator at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and a deputy to the secretary at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
In 2012, Gochnour was the recipient of the Outstanding Achievement Award for business from the YWCA Salt Lake City. She has also been honored by Wasatch Women magazine as the "Wasatch Women of the Year," an honor bestowed to women in the community who elevate the stature of women and serve the community good.
Gochnour serves on the Salt Lake City International Airport, Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation, World Trade Center Utah, and Primary Children's Hospital Boards. She is a gubernatorial appointee to the Governor's Economic Development Council and vice-chair of Envision Utah, one of the nation's most successful quality growth partnerships.
Gochnour is a sought after public speaker with the unique ability to translate policy-speak into everyday language. A native Utahn, her professional focus, and passion are public policies that promote civil society and a prosperous future for all Utahns. She shares her views in regular columns in both Utah Business magazine and the Deseret News.
Gochnour has both an undergraduate and master's degree in economics from the University of Utah. She teaches Public Finance for the Economics Department.
When she is not working, you can find her cycling along the Jordan River Parkway, spending time with her two children and son-in-law, or up on the slopes skiing with her husband of 30 years.
Assistant Dean; Director of the Kem C. Gardner Policy Institute
Job Titles:
- Associate Director, MSIS Coach
Rebecca is a Colorado native who received her Bachelor's in Communication from Texas A&M University. She has a passion for bringing insight to individual potential. Through her experiences of working at a Title 1 high school in Dallas and assisting departments at the collegiate level, she has experienced all sides and challenges of student life. She is currently pursuing her Masters in Counseling.
Rebecca is currently pursuing her Masters in Counseling while holding the position of career counselor for accounting students at the University of Utah. As a counselor, she works closely with students to develop professional skills to connect them to opportunities at local and global accounting firms. On the side, Rebecca has worked to combat human trafficking in Texas, as well as bring college access to minorities. She is an avid learner and loves all things outdoors. She currently lives in Salt Lake with her husband who is a CPA and her little dog sawyer, the hiking Chihuahua.
Job Titles:
- Administrative Assistant
- Dean
Ryan started working in the Dean's Office in 2021. He is happy to be living in Utah again after spending some time out of state.
Job Titles:
- Associate Director of Scholarships and Student Funding
- Associate Director of Scholarships and Student Funding / Dean
Samantha began working at the University of Utah in 2011, with an extensive background working at PAC 12 universities. She earned her M.Ed. in Higher Education from the University of Washington, and B.A. with honors in Political Science and International Studies with minors in Art History and Latin American Studies from the University of Oregon.
Prior to working at the Eccles School, Samantha was the Academic Advisor in the Political Science Department at the U and received the Outstanding U of U Academic Advising Award in 2013. She moved to Utah for the beautiful outdoors and spends winters at Snowbird and summers mountain biking in Park City.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Director of Development
Job Titles:
- Steering Committe Chair / Marketing
Job Titles:
- Alumni Relations Specialist
Job Titles:
- Associate Dean for Faculty and Research
- Associate Dean for Faculty and Research Professor David Eccles Faculty Scholar
Stephen Stubben teaches and conducts research in financial accounting. His current research focuses primarily on accounting standards, firms' application of these standards, the quality of the resulting accounting information, and how that information is used in business decisions.
Job Titles:
- Executive Assistant to the Dean
- Executive Assistant to the Dean / Dean
Terri serves as the Executive Assistant to the Dean. She has an extensive background in postsecondary education administration with experience in executive and faculty support, scheduling, compliance, institutional research, registrar's office, and student services. Terri brings a positive mindset and solutions-based approach to all aspects of her role and enjoys supporting the success of the David Eccles School of Business, its students, faculty, and staff.
Job Titles:
- Assistant
- Assistant Dean
- Co - Founder
- Director
- Executive Director
- Officer
- Assistant Dean Executive Director of Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute Lassonde Chair in Entrepreneurship
Troy D'Ambrosio is the executive director of the Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute, assistant dean at the David Eccles School of Business and holds a Presidential Chair in Entrepreneurship at the U. The Lassonde Institute assists students and faculty from idea to company launch through programs, competitions, and curriculum. The Lassonde Institute has been consistently ranked as one of the best 25 programs for entrepreneurship in the nation by the Princeton Review, currently ranked No. 17 among graduate programs and No. 24 among undergraduate programs, and it has helped the University of Utah become a leader in technology commercialization.
D'Ambrosio is co-founder, officer, and director of multiple startup companies that have attracted over $500 million in capital. Those companies include Transworld Telecommunications, which was sold to Sprint in 1998; Convergence Communications, which was sold to Lockheed Martin in 2005; and EPM Mining Ventures, which is listed on the Toronto Venture Exchange. He has served as the VP of investor relations and corporate communication for American Stores Company, a NYSE listed company, the director of mutual fund operations for Wasatch Advisors and deputy chief of staff to the Mayor of Salt Lake City. He graduated from the University of Utah in 1982 and was named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 2000, a v100 Technology Leader in 2008, Best in State Educational Administrator in 2009 and received the 2014 Governor's Medal for Excellence in Science and Technology.
Assistant Dean; Executive Director of Lassonde Entrepreneur Institute
Utahna graduated from the University of Utah with a BS in Business Administration . She has worked for the David Eccles School of Business since 2004. She manages HR functions & assists in budgeting.