Kent Baker, CFA, CMA, is a University Professor of Finance at the Kogod School of Business at American University. He was the Department of Finance and Real Estate Chair for 11 years and headed the Finance Center of Excellence for eight years. Professor Baker previously held faculty and administrative positions in the business schools at Georgetown University and the University of Maryland. He is the past president of the Southern Finance Association and has served on several boards of directors. Professor Baker has served as the Dean of the Executive Management Institute (EMI) since 1981 and has taught at EMI since 1976. He is a professional musician who has taught, recorded and toured.
Professor Baker has consulting and training experience with over 100 organizations, including the American Bankers Association, AT&T, Central Intelligence Agency, Comptroller of the Currency, Ernst & Young, Saudi Aramco, and Xerox. For 20 years, he served as a grader, senior grader, and level coordinator and headed the team responsible for writing the CFA Level I examination. Professor Baker was also a member of the Candidate Curriculum Committee, Council of Examiners, and Editorial Board of The CFA Digest. He has presented more than 130 CFA prep programs in the United States, Canada, Germany, and the United Kingdom for Kaplan Schweser, Goldman Sachs, Credit Suisse, UBS, World Bank, Study Seminar for Financial Analysts, and CFA Societies in Chicago, New York, and Washington, DC. Professor Baker served as the Washington, DC, coordinator of CFA programs for Kaplan Schweser. He has also given more than 650 other management training and executive programs.
Professor Baker is the author/editor of 45 books, including several textbooks such as Understanding Financial Management: A Practical Guide. He received the 2015 USA Best Book Award in the personal finance/investments category for The Psychology of Financial Planning and Investing. His book Investment Traps Exposed: Navigating Investor Mistakes and Behavioral Biases was the 2017 Book Excellence Award Winner and won the 2018 Axiom Business Book Award (Bronze Medalist) in personal finance. Professor Baker edited two book series: Financial Markets and Investments (Oxford University Press) and the H. Kent Baker Investments Series (Emerald Publishing). He has more than 220 refereed journal articles in such outlets as the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Contemporary Accounting Research, Review of Accounting Studies, Journal of Corporate Finance, Financial Management, Financial Analysts Journal, Journal of Portfolio Management, and Harvard Business Review. He is an authority in behavioral finance, dividend policy, and survey methodology. Professor Baker is ranked among the top 2% of scientists in the world by Stanford University. His publications have received more than 19,250 Google Scholar citations.
Professor Baker serves on 12 editorial boards, including Managerial Finance, Journal of Emerging Markets, and Journal of Financial Economic Policy. He has appeared in 16 biographies, including Marquis Who’s Who, Who’s Who in Finance and Industry, and Outstanding Educators of America. Professor Baker has received many teaching, research, and service awards, including University Scholar/Teacher of the Year at American University. The Journal of Finance Literature recognized him as among the top 1% of the most prolific authors in finance during the past 50 years, while The CFA Magazine profiled him as “most credentialed.” He was the 2019 Distinguished Scholar of the Southern Finance Association.
He received a BSBA (Management) from Georgetown University; an MBA (Finance), MEd (Educational Administration), and DBA (Finance) from the University of Maryland; an MS (Quantitative Methods), MA (Training and Career Development), Ph.D. (Educational Administration and Organizational Development), and Ph.D. (Counseling and Student Development) from American University.
Scott Behson, PhD, is a professor of management and Silberman Global Faculty Fellow at Fairleigh Dickinson University, and a leading expert in work-life, wellness, and flexible workplaces. He is very happy to return to TSRA EMI and to again work with Dr. Baker in this exciting program.
He’s the author of three books, most recently, The Whole-Person Workplace: Building Better Workplaces Through Work-Life, Wellness and Employee Support, which is based on research, best practices, and interviews with dozens of business and HR leaders right as they were navigating Covid changes to the workplace. His other books are The Working Dad's Survival Guide and We Hate Team Projects!
Scott is an accomplished speaker and consultant who has worked with leading companies on workplace flexibility and building supportive work cultures, He was a featured speaker at the UN’s International Day of the Family and the White House’s Summit for Working Families.
In addition to his academic publications, Scott’s work appears at Harvard Business Review, Time, Fast Company, Success, Workspan, the Wall Street Journal, and many other leading publications. He has appeared on NBC, CBS, MSNBC, NPR, and Bloomberg Radio, as well as many leading HR and business podcasts.
Scott worked with the states of New York and New Jersey and with leading advocacy groups for enhanced parental leave policies. He believes we should all advocate for needed change with our time and money, and vote for those who truly support working families. He is a member of the advisory committee for the Rosilind Carter Center for Caregiving’s Caring While Working Initiative.
Scott co-founded FDU’s undergraduate program in human resources management, has won 8 awards for his scholarship, teaching, and service to students, and has taught in Paris, Zagreb, Lille, Buenos Aires, and Monaco.
He lives with his wife, son, and cats in Nyack, NY.
JOSEPH R. CURRIER is a psychologist with over fifty years of professional experience in a variety of roles. He has been a management consultant involved in the selection, training, and advisement of executives in the private and public sectors. Joe is an executive coach, team-building facilitator, workshop trainer, and special problems consultant for a wide variety of organizations such as Allegis Group, Baltimore Ravens NFL franchise, Mobil Oil, KPMG, U.S. Forest Service, Wachovia Bank, Calvert Securities, Acacia Insurance Group, AAMCO Owners Group, and many other dynamic groups.
He served as Chief Learning Officer for the Allegis Group for twenty-five years, establishing their Leadership Institute for the selection, training, and development of their emerging leaders. He is also a senior psychological consultant to the Baltimore Ravens. Joe is a faculty member of the annual Ehrlich-Stempler Executive Management Institute (EMI).
For over ten years, Dr. Currier was a Human Resources Consultant at Jannotta Bray, Lee Hecht Harrison, and Right Associates, national career management and outplacement corporations. For seven years, he was an Associate Professor and Chairperson in the graduate school at Hofstra University.
For most of his professional career, Dr. Currier combined his consulting with a private psychotherapeutic practice primarily focused on the diagnosis and treatment of stress disorders. Biofeedback, hypnosis, psychological, vocational, and neuropsychological testing were integral parts of his clinical work. He currently only sees clients who are associated with his corporate consulting.
Juliana Gambrell works with executives, leaders, creatives, and individuals committed to living
passionate and fulfilling life. She helps her clients explore and understand their success and survival
strategies; capitalizing on their strengths, preferences and heartfelt desire to positively impact the world.
Clients also do the work to reconcile past experiences and concerns that hinder their ability to live an
authentic and fulfilling life. As a result of this experience, they are empowered to design a powerful path
for living a fortified and rewarding life.
Juliana believes everyone has magic within—in who they are, how they want to experience life, and the
unique contribution they are destined to make. She enjoys challenging herself and her clients to live their
best lives.
Juliana specializes in leadership development and team building. She helps individuals and teams enhance
their communication skills, bring intentionality to their interpersonal interactions, and establish
foundational agreements to ensure meaningful connectivity and optimal performance.
Dan Gonder is the President and owner of Strategic In/Sight Partners. Dan specializes in strategic advisory services, team and executive training programs, process improvement and executive coaching. Additionally, Dan is an inaugural member of a new professional network of Patrick Lencioni and the Table Group - CAPAPRO (which stands for the Consultant and Practitioner Alliance). As a member, Dan receives ongoing, exclusive professional development, tools, and training directly from Lencioni and his team at the Table Group about how to best help clients utilize their proven approach to achieve organizational health.
Before joining Strategic In/Sight Partners, Dan was the North American training leader for Microsoft Business Solutions, where he was responsible for 60+ training centers and 300+ certified instructors throughout the United States and Canada. Dan's other positions at Microsoft included programs development manager for training and education resources manager. He also held positions as special projects coordinator and client services representative at Solomon Software.
Mr. Kohn is a two-time CEO, now social impact executive director and college professor, focused on helping organizations -- both for profit and nonprofit -- create value for their stakeholders.
At American University's Kogod School of Business, he teaches MBAs and other graduate-level students -- including US Naval officers -- as well as undergrads. Subject matter taught has included entrepreneurship (for profit and nonprofit), strategy, organizational behavior, introduction to business, and corporate social responsibility. He serves as the Program Director for Kogod's Executive Education and Lifelong Learning initiative, establishing and leading a domestic and global roadmap for growth with specific short- and long-term goals/objectives.
Outside of Kogod, is Executive Director/Co-founder of CONNECTdmv, a social venture working to close the opportunity and access gaps for students and families of color at DMV-based independent schools. The 501(c)3’s mission is to “empower students, create opportunity, build understanding, and activate change.”
He co-founded and was CEO for seven years of e-billing company Transactis, which raised $70MM from investors such as banks Wells Fargo, PNC, Capital One, Fifth Third and TD, venture capital firm Safeguard Scientifics, and others, and was sold to Mastercard in May 2019. He was the first employee/CEO of Bid4Assets, where assisted in raising $10MM, and helped build the online auction business. As EVP/Digital for Cygnus Business Media helped to create and transform the company's digital strategy and to increase digital revenue, leading up to the company's sale. Has enjoyed positions with AOL, Viacom New Media, Freeloader and USATODAY.com/Gannett, where was Chief Revenue Officer, creating and launching the site's new e-commerce initiative, creating new $20MM revenue stream.
Pre-Internet and business school, Tom was a television producer in New York for 10 years, including working in sports television and producing commercials for the advertising agency Ogilvy (including a Super Bowl spot for American Express), and launching the east coast office of an LA-based television production company.
In April 2013, was inducted into the Media Industry News (MIN) Digital Hall of Fame.
He received a BA from Stanford University and an MBA from Harvard University.
Casey Mackert is Vice President of Strategic In/Sight Partners. Casey specializes in strategic advisory services, leadership coaching, organizational process design, implementation and improvement, and the Baldrige Framework – both writing applications and training leaders to learn and implement Baldrige principles. Casey joined Six Disciplines in 2013 after serving as CEO of The Partnership for Excellence and the Vice President of the Baldrige Foundation. She has also held leadership positions in strategy and communications, working with clients in the healthcare, business, and education sectors. She continues to serve on the Board of Examiners for the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program in Washington, DC, and has authored several case studies as well as a book on organizational design and transformation. In addition, Casey has many years of experience participating on, and managing Boards of Directors, and continues to serve on the Board of ProAct Indy and The Thomas and Marjorie Gray Foundation.
As a Senior Member of the Currier Consulting Group, Jim serves as an advisor, consultant, and executive coach to senior executives, managers, and leaders in both for-profit and nonprofit corporations, educational institutions and other organizations. He has been facilitating leadership training, team development, strategic planning, and executive coaching for almost 20 years and brings a unique perspective to help the bottom-line needs of a business while unleashing the full creative power of individuals in those organizations.
Prior to entering into the field of organizational development, Jim served as a partner in a national law firm, as well as a Senior Special Counsel in a federal banking agency in Washington, D.C.
Jim received his B.A. in European History from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill and his J.D. from Case Western Reserve University. Jim has extensive Post-Graduate training in Organizational Theory, Executive Coaching and Facilitation of Teams.