Dr. Carlos Aquino

Professor

Holding a George Washington University MS in Structural Engineering and a University of Sao Paolo Ph.D. in Sciences and Technology, Dr. Carlos Tasso Eira De Aquino is an accomplished senior executive and educator combining over 25 years of experience in leadership and scholarship in Business, Education, IT, and Engineering. In his executive career, he has been strategically building, managing and guiding diverse teams to solve complex, systemic problems. As an educator, he has taught, developed and supervised, and published relevant research and scholarship. In that area, he is adept at developing and implementing academic programs, accreditation processes, operational, regulatory and quality procedures and policies, and corporate training programs that foster measurable performance improvements. Dr. Aquino has accumulated achievements and recognition as Executive-Director, Senior Director, Project Manager, Provost, Dean of Business, Dean of Accreditation, among other capacities in organizations in the USA and abroad, with followers that encompassed a clear diversity of cultures. Before moving to the United States in 2008, Dr. Aquino was responsible for directing a country-wide program, sponsored by the Brazilian Ministry of Science and Technology, focused on improving energy usage. Dr. Aquino prepared the Brazilian version of many business books, published by Pearson Education, Cengage Learning and McGraw-Hill, authored a book on Adult Higher Education (How to Learn: Andragogy and Learning Skills) for Pearson Education in Brazil in 2008, and is currently working on two books (Palgrave McMillan and Emerald Publishing), covering different aspects of diversity and inclusion in the workplace. Along his career, he has presented more than 45 articles in peer-reviewed conferences and published more than 40 papers in refereed journals and conference proceedings. Since 2014, he had 15 papers presented in venues such as Western Academy of Management, ACBSP, and GUIDE (Global Universities in Distance Education) Conferences and had 6 papers published in peer-reviewed journals. 

Credentials

  • Post Doc., Entrepreneurship & Post Doc., Mechanical Engineering - State University of Campinas (UNICAMP) – Campinas, Brazil
  • Ph.D., Sciences and Technology - University of Sao Paulo – Sao Paulo, Brazil
  • Master of Science (MS) in Structural Engineering - The George Washington University – Washington, DC
  • Bachelor of Science (BS) in Civil Engineering - Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
  • Diversity Spirit Achievement Award recipient from The Diversity Recruiters Network
  • Administered the School of Business of three institutions (US and abroad) involving more than 4,000 students and 600 faculty members and staff
  • Created, implemented, and led research centers that have been responsible for scholarly outcomes for more than 300 affiliates and fellows

Dr. Mariah Jeffrey

Professor

Dr. Mariah Jeffery holds a Ph.D. in Operations Research and a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering from the University of Central Florida, and is an APICS Certified Supply Chain Practitioner. She has extensive industry experience, consulting on supply chain management and data analytics for Fortune 500 clients, including IBM, Coca-Cola, General Motors, and the United States Postal Service. Dr. Jeffery has expertise in decision analysis, inventory management, predictive analytics, supply chain management and design, logistics, data analytics, operational research and forecasting, statistical process control and research methods & design.

Credentials

  • Ph.D. in Operations Research – University of Central Florida – Orlando, Florida
  • Master of Science (MS) in Industrial Engineering – University of Central Florida – Orlando, Florida
  • Bachelor of Science (BS) in Industrial Engineering – University of Central Florida – Orlando, Florida
  • APICS Certified Supply Chain Practitioner
  • Consulting on supply chain management and data analytics for Fortune 500 clients, including IBM, Coca-Cola, General Motors, and the United States Postal Service.

Dr. Stavros Sindakis

Professor

With both a Ph.D. and MBA in Strategy, Enterprise & Innovation from the University of Portsmouth, Dr. Stavros Sindakis has made significant contributions to these fields through his research and publications on entrepreneurship and business innovation including his books Entrepreneurial Rise in Southeast Asia, and Analytics, Innovation and Excellence-Driven Enterprise Sustainability, with his third in progress. Dr. Stavros Sindakis is an educator, advisor, mentor and innovator in the fields of business innovation, management, entrepreneurship, and service design and development. As an educator, he has taught in several different countries at both the undergraduate and postgraduate levels and held a variety of advisory and mentoring positions for students and faculty at numerous schools including the Institute of Enterprise and Entrepreneurs and Laureate Online Education. 

Dr. Robertson

Dean, Akio Morita School of Business

Dr. Robert Robertson holds a Ph.D. in Management and Organization (Stirling University, Scotland); Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management Executive Certificate in Innovation and Strategy, Post-Doctoral Professional Certificate, International Business and Leadership (Argosy University); Post Graduate Diploma in International Management-China (University of London); Master of Studies in Law (Vermont Law School); Master of Public Administration (Dalhousie University, Canada); a Master of Arts (Eastern Kentucky University) and a Bachelor of Science (East Tennessee State University). He has more than 15 years of experience in academia as a Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dean of Business and MBA program director in the United States and in Kazakhstan. Dr. Robertson was selected by the United States Department of State Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs to the Fulbright Specialist Program. He has served as the Chief Academic Officer and Research Fellow at the University of Phoenix's Center for Workforce Diversity, Central Florida campus in Orlando, Florida. Dr. Robertson is a Visiting Full Professor at the University of Ljubljana in Slovenia, Faculty of Economics; and, he serves as a Scientific Adviser to the Global Universities in Distance Education (GUIDE) association headquartered at Marconi University, Rome, Italy. He is an invited speaker on international business, strategy, online education and workforce training; and he regularly lectures in China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Europe, Brazil and the United States. In the public sector, he has more than 20 years of management experience including serving as the City Manager for the City of Hamilton, Ontario in Canada with more than 8,500 employees and a budget in excess of one billion dollars.

Dr. JoAnn Carland<BR>and Dr. Jim Carland

JoAnn Carland, Ph.D. (1946-2013)
Carland Entrepreneurship Institute Director Emeritus

Dr. JoAnn Carland was a writer, entrepreneur, scholar and educator. She earned a Ph.D. in Educational Psychology with a concentration in Computer Systems from the University of Georgia, and an M.Ed. from Western Carolina University. Her writing career produced more than a dozen books and 200 articles, as well as five novels. In a 1997 article by Ratnatunga and Romano, she was noted as one of the most frequently cited authors in the world in leading entrepreneurship journals during the period 1975 through 1992. Using what she learned in the field, she had a great deal of success in entrepreneurship curriculum design. She designed and implemented the first Master of Entrepreneurship (ME) degree program in the U.S. and one of the first undergraduate majors in entrepreneurship. She was recognized by the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship in 2005 when it selected the ME program as the best in the Nation in that year.