Advisory Board

• 
  Kevin Foster, Ph.D.

  Advisor

  Kevin R. Foster is Associate Professor of Economics at The City College of New York. His research has been concentrated in four main areas: assessing the relevance of Japanese monetary and fiscal policies to American experiences in the Financial Crisis; nonparametric methods for option pricing; examining asset returns for evidence of predictability particularly contrarian or momentum returns; and environmental entrepreneurship. The finance research in a number of different topics has had the unifying theme of applied econometrics, using leading-edge econometric procedures to examine questions relevant to policy and practice. With faculty in economics, and earth sciences, he led an interdisciplinary research team in environmental entrepreneurship, which has received over three-quarters of a million dollars in funding. In 2010 Foster was visiting faculty at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology. He has served as an advisor to start-ups and private equity investment companies. Dr. Foster came to City College after receiving a Ph.D. from Yale University in 1998. He was an undergraduate at Bard College, NY.

  
  
• 
  Maria Binz-Scharf, Ph.D.

  Advisor

  Maria Christina Binz-Scharf is Associate Professor of Management in the Economics Department at the City College of New York (CUNY), and a Research Fellow at the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies. Her research focuses on the processes of knowledge sharing across organizational and socially constructed boundaries, with a particular interest in the role information technologies play in these processes. Using ethnographic methods, she has examined informal communication structures in various settings. Currently, she is working on two major projects: one investigates the referral patterns of primary care physicians, and the other one explores the collaborative production of scientific knowledge. Before joining the faculty at City College in 2004, Dr. Binz-Scharf was a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School. Prior to her stay at Harvard, she co-founded and managed the Center of Excellence for Electronic Government at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and worked at the European Commission in Brussels, Belgium. Dr. Binz-Scharf holds a PhD in Business Economics from the University of St. Gallen and a BA/MA from Bocconi University in Milan, Italy.

  
  
• 
  Jonatan Jelen, J.D., Ph.D.

  Advisor

  Jonatan Jelen is a business owner and manager as well as Assistant Professor of Business at Parsons The New School for Design in the Design & Management BBA program; he also teaches for NYU/Stern, Baruch College and The City College of New York of CUNY, Mercy College, Polytechnic University, Yeshiva University, Hofstra University and occasionally in Shanghai, China. He has been involved with several Distance Learning initiatives and was the Online Coordinator for Distance Learning for the Division of Business and Accounting at Mercy College from 2000 to 2005. He has a passion for non-traditional learning methods and has concentrated his research efforts in that area. He earned his JD from Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, Germany, MBAs from Ecole Supérieure de Commerce de Paris, Heriot-Watt University, Scotland, and Baruch College, LLMs from University of Pau, France, University of Paris II, Panthéon-Assas, and Fordham University School of Law, and his first PhD from University of Pay, France; he is currently finishing his PhD in Computer Information Systems at Baruch College/Graduate School and University Center of CUNY and is pursuing a Doctorate in Law with the University of South Africa and a DBA with Edinburgh Business School of Heriot Watt-University.

  
  
• 
  Joe-Joe McManus, Ph.D.

  Advisor

  Dr. Joe-Joe McManus is a senior administrator at the City University of New York (CUNY), and works as a consultant on equity and inclusion in education, and leadership development. Among the work Dr. McManus has done at CUNY was serving as the founding Executive Director of the Ernesto Malave Leadership Academy.

  His personal commitment, academic knowledge, and professional experience are the foundation of Dr. McManus’ no-nonsense style and results oriented approach. The first in his family, McManus earned a B.S. in psychology and went on to receive his M.A. in Multicultural Education. He completed his Ph.D. in Educational Leadership at Florida A&M University (FAMU) in 2000. As a specialist in critical multicultural education Dr. McManus is an advocate for praxis, recognizing the need for translating theory and research into transformational practice in our schools and universities.

  Dr. McManus’ overall experience includes multicultural teacher education, curriculum development, educator mentoring, leadership, interdisciplinary and cross sector partnerships, and organizational development. He has lectured, served on panels, presented, and consulted in the U.S. and internationally more than two decades. Dr. McManus currently serves on the Board of Directors of the National Association for Multicultural Education and is a member of the Diversity Collegium think tank. He is currently consulting and working on The DiCE Group anthology and an autobiographical book addressing issues of equity, leadership, and education.

  
  
• 
  Anasa Scott, Ph.D.

  Advisor

  Anasa is a non- profit fund development and strategic planning consultant with over 10 years experience working with community- based organizations. Anasa teaches Environmental Entrepreneurship as an Adjunct Lecturer in the Economics Department at her Alma mater, the City College of New York, were she received her Master’s and Bachelor’s Degrees in Economics. Anasa was recently appointed the 2010-2011 New York Life Leader in Residence at the Colin Powell Center for Policy Studies where she is leading a team of CCNY students in developing a micro-venture focused on water conservation in urban communities.