Goizueta Business School is delighted to welcome six outstanding new faculty members to our community this year. They represent a broad spectrum of perspectives and expertise, enriching the Goizueta tradition of academic excellence with fresh ideas and energy.
“These new colleagues join our distinguished faculty in advancing global understanding, inspiring research, and preparing the next generation of leaders,” says Gareth James, John H. Harland Dean of Goizueta Business School.
The school is honored to introduce the following new faculty members:
Ira Bedzow: Associate Professor in the Practice of Organization & Management
What inspired you to join the faculty at Goizueta?
Throughout my career, I’ve taught in a variety of academic settings—ranging from undergraduate programs to medical and law schools—where I focused on helping future professionals understand what it means to work and lead authentically. My work has centered on guiding students to make meaningful decisions grounded in their beliefs, goals, and values, while also aligning with the expectations of their chosen professions.
Over time, I’ve seen how rapidly professional landscapes have evolved, making the need for ethics and purpose more essential than ever for effective leadership and professional identity formation. What drew me to Goizueta was the alignment I found between my own work and the school’s commitment to these same themes. The faculty here are not only deeply engaged with questions of organizational ethics and leadership, but they are also genuinely collaborative and invested in the school’s mission. It felt like a natural and exciting fit—a place where I could both contribute and grow.
What are you currently working on, and why is it important in today’s business landscape?
I am currently focused on research in the science of ethical decision-making and the development of pedagogical methods to effectively teach the skills necessary for ethical leadership. This includes helping students not only understand ethical frameworks but also cultivate the practical skills needed to navigate complex, real-world challenges.
What’s something unique that you’d like colleagues and students to know about you?
I think in song lyrics. (Mostly songs pre-2000’s.)
If you could sum up your teaching style in three words, what would it be?
Reflective: I encourage students to think deeply about their values, motivations, and assumptions, helping them connect course material to their own experiences and aspirations.
Relational: I prioritize human connection and dialogue, creating a learning environment rooted in trust, respect, and meaningful conversation.
Empowering: I aim to equip students with the ethical tools and confidence to act with purpose and integrity, both in their personal lives and professional careers.
What’s one book, podcast, or article you think every business student should read or listen to?
“Giving Voice to Values: How to Speak Your Mind When You Know What’s Right,” by Mary C. Gentile from Yale University Press.
Hancheng Cao: Assistant Professor of Information Systems & Operations Management
What inspired you to join the faculty at Goizueta?
As an interdisciplinary researcher working at the intersection of computer science and social science. I study how emerging information technologies like AI are transforming the way people work, collaborate, and make decisions in the workplace.
Goizueta stood out to me as a place where cross-disciplinary thinking is not only welcomed but actively supported. The school’s top-ranked programs and strong ties to industry make it an ideal environment for conducting impactful research and engaging, practice-oriented teaching. I am excited to contribute to a community that values both innovation and human-centered impact and to work with colleagues and students who are passionate about shaping the future of work and technology.
What are you currently working on, and why is it important in today’s business landscape?
My current research falls into two complementary areas. On one hand, I examine how AI is reshaping the workplace. I study how people incorporate AI tools into their daily work, how they interact with AI, to what extent, and how it influences their sense of trust, agency, and contribution. I also explore how these technologies are redefining occupations and reshaping professional identities.
On the other hand, I design, build, and envision new ways AI can be meaningfully integrated into the workplace. This includes using AI to provide thoughtful feedback, facilitate collaboration, and help augment current decision-making mechanisms. As AI continues to evolve, it is not only changing how work gets done, but also transforming the very nature of work. My goal is to help individuals, teams, and organizations harness these technologies in ways that are both effective and human centered.
What’s something unique that you’d like colleagues and students to know about you?
I didn’t follow the most typical path into a business school faculty position (but I’m so glad I am here!). I started out in electrical engineering and went on to earn a Ph.D. in computer science, but I’ve always been drawn to interdisciplinary questions highly relevant to business and management—especially around how people interact with information technologies and how those technologies shape the way we work. Along the way, I’ve had the great fortune to collaborate with organizations across sectors, including tech companies like Microsoft and Asana, and non-profits like the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence. Having worked across academia and industry, I’m excited to bring that perspective into the classroom and research community. I’m especially passionate about bridging disciplines and helping connect rigorous research to real-world challenges. I’m looking forward to learning from and contributing to the dynamic, impact-driven environment at Goizueta.
Outside of research, I enjoy classical music and play both the piano and the harpsichord, a historical keyboard instrument that offers a distinctive perspective on musical interpretation and technique.
If you could sum up your teaching style in three words, what would it be?
Collaborative, interdisciplinary, application-oriented.
What’s one book, podcast, or article you think every business student should read or listen to?
“The Design of Everyday Things” by Don Norman is a foundational book on human-centered design. It shows how thoughtful design makes products and systems intuitive, usable, and aligned with how people actually think and behave. It challenges the idea that design is just about aesthetics, and instead frames it as a tool for creating meaningful, functional experiences that truly serve users.
As technology continues to advance, design is becoming increasingly central to business and product strategy. For example, with powerful tools like AI, the challenge is not just making systems work, but making sure they are usable, understandable, and trustworthy. Human-centered design provides the mindset and methods to translate technical innovation into experiences that are meaningful, inclusive, and responsible. It helps ensure that we use these tools for good purposes, supporting people, organizations, and society in thoughtful and ethical ways. This is something every future business leader should carefully consider.
Ludovica Castiglia: Assistant Professor of Organization & Management
What inspired you to join the faculty at Goizueta?
Several factors drew me to Goizueta, but foremost was the faculty. During my PhD, I frequently engaged with the work of scholars at Goizueta. Their research inspired me and helped shape my decision to focus on organization theory. Joining this community of intellectually rigorous and innovative scholars represents an exciting opportunity to continue growing as a researcher.
I am also eager to contribute to the Business & Society Institute, whose mission closely aligns with my work. The Institute’s commitment to generating research insights and advancing initiatives that help businesses and their stakeholders build a just, climate-smart, and inclusive economy deeply resonates with my research agenda.
Last but not least, I was strongly drawn to the school’s welcoming community and the faculty’s international outlook. When I visited, I felt I could truly find a “home away from home.” The faculty’s research focus, combined with the school’s commitment to impactful scholarship and collegiality, makes it an inspiring and intellectually energizing environment, one I am very excited to join.
What are you currently working on, and why is it important in today’s business landscape?
I am deeply motivated to understand how business can help tackle pressing societal challenges, and how we can ensure that entrepreneurs closest to these issues have access to the resources they need to address them. One of my current projects investigates the funding penalties faced by entrepreneurs from disadvantaged groups who launch ventures to support their own communities. Paradoxically, despite their deep understanding of the issues they aim to address, these entrepreneurs may encounter barriers when seeking capital.
Research has shown that such founders are often the most motivated and knowledgeable about the challenges they seek to address. However, I examine how, when they pursue external funding, investors may perceive them as ideologically driven activists rather than commercially minded entrepreneurs. This perception can result in reduced capital allocations, a form of ‘activist penalty.’ The penalty tends to intensify when entrepreneurs signal engagement in advocacy, but diminishes when the social issue they address gains broader recognition as its profit potential becomes more apparent.
To explore this, I studied Femtech startups, companies focused on women’s health founded in the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. from 2010 to 2024. I found that women entrepreneurs in this space raised, on average, 23% less capital per deal than others. This gap was larger when they signaled advocacy, but smaller when the issue (such as reproductive health) gained broad public attention.
This research highlights how bias in the perception of entrepreneurs’ motivations and goals can limit the ability of those with the most relevant lived experience to drive change. By penalizing founders for caring deeply about the problems they aim to solve, we risk underfunding some of the most innovative and socially impactful ventures. The study also challenges the assumption that simply increasing the number of women in a sector is enough to close gender gaps in entrepreneurial funding.
More broadly, this project raises key questions for today’s business world: How can founders navigate the balance between purpose and profit? What can investors, accelerators, and policymakers do to support social entrepreneurs without penalizing their lived experiences? And how does advocacy influence funding dynamics in politically sensitive or stigmatized markets?
What’s something unique that you’d like colleagues and students to know about you?
I love working in academia, but the path that brought me here was far from linear. Before finding my way, I explored many different directions. I began in engineering, where my school specialized in operational research and combinatorial optimization. During my master’s, I became increasingly interested in logistics and supply chain management, particularly its managerial aspect.
After graduating, I became fascinated by the idea of launching my own venture. I connected with inspiring professionals in the hotel industry and began developing a startup offering an online booking platform that applied a trading and auction model to hotel reservations in Italy. I joined an incubator program to further develop the idea, where I learned a lot. However, I soon realized that this startup didn’t fully reflect my passion, so I decided to gain more experience in the industry while continuing to search for a professional path that resonated with me more.
I worked as an intern at Procter & Gamble, then as an operations area manager at Amazon, and later as a consultant at Boston Consulting Group. I was fascinated by the challenges organizations faced and wanted to deepen my understanding of them. This curiosity led me to explore research in management and the careers of business school faculty. As I began reading their work and engaging with professors at what would later become my PhD institution, I discovered the intellectually rich and practically relevant research conducted in management and entrepreneurship. Through that process, I found my path into academia.
I now see myself as an intellectual entrepreneur: someone who can creatively pursue innovative ideas, find support to develop them, and ultimately aim to contribute to both knowledge and practice. So, I would say that one unique thing about me is the unconventional path I took to academia. Because of this, I actively seek opportunities to engage with practitioners to identify relevant questions and test and refine my ideas. I also relate to students who may not have a linear or traditional career trajectory, and I’m always happy to support them as they navigate their own paths.
If you could sum up your teaching style in three words, what would it be?
Welcoming, Engaging, Analytical. Welcoming, because I consider myself an approachable person. I strive to create a space that is open and inviting, where students feel comfortable participating and know their contributions are valued. Engaging, because I design interactive activities, such as group projects and debates, connect course material to current events, and draw on professional experience to make theory relevant and applicable. Analytical, because my goal is to equip students with frameworks and critical thinking tools that enable them to rigorously evaluate complex organizational challenges.
What’s one book, podcast, or article you think every business student should read or listen to?
One book I would recommend is “The Conversational Firm: Rethinking Bureaucracy in the Age of Social Media” by Catherine J. Turco. In this book, Turco, an economic sociologist at MIT, presents findings from a ten-month ethnography of a social media marketing company. The book explores the tensions faced by modern organizations: on the one hand, employees, especially younger generations, are used to expressing themselves quickly and openly through social media, and companies want to empower them to voice opinions and make rapid decisions. On the other hand, organizations still need to maintain structure, and formal lines of authority, which often means rethinking essential elements of bureaucracy. As social media becomes increasingly central to communication within fast-growing companies, and as employees expect more open and tech-enabled work environments, this raises important questions: How can firms integrate these cultural shifts internally? How can they retain talent while preserving effective organizational functioning? I found this book particularly thought-provoking for understanding one of the key challenges companies face in today’s environment.
Maximilian Gaerth: Assistant Professor of Marketing
What inspired you to join the faculty at Goizueta?
I was inspired to join Goizueta Business School because it combines rigorous research with a commitment to educating leaders who will have a positive impact on society—not just business. The diverse, collaborative community at Goizueta and the deep industry connections provide an exciting environment for conducting research that truly matters.
What are you currently working on, and why is it important in today’s business landscape?
One of the research streams I am currently working on focuses on human-machine interactions, which I believe is increasingly critical in today’s business landscape. With technology now deeply integrated into every aspect of consumers’ daily lives, I am examining two key angles. First, how technological interfaces and systems actively shape consumer behavior and decision-making patterns. Second, how the ways in which consumers interact with technology reveal valuable insights into their preferences and purchasing intentions.
What’s something unique that you’d like colleagues and students to know about you?
I have a deep passion for music—specifically, I’ve been playing the drums for more than 30 years. In fact, there was a time when I considered pursuing music professionally. I still occasionally jam with friends, some of whom are now full-time musicians.
If you could sum up your teaching style in three words, what would they be?
Enthusiastic, actionable, empathetic.
What’s one book, podcast, or article you think every business student should read or listen to?
One of my favorite books is “The Elements of Choice” by Eric Johnson. The book excellently demonstrates how subtle aspects in the environments in which we make decisions can importantly shape how we decide. For instance, choice architects—whether managers, policy-makers, or individuals—can learn how they can help people make choices by changing the number of options to offer or the way they present those options.
Laura Wallace: Assistant Professor of Organization & Management
What inspired you to join the faculty at Goizueta?
I was excited to join Goizueta because its values and goals align with my own: to conduct rigorous, high impact research that also addresses pressing social issues.
I was also inspired by my colleagues in the Organization and Management group; they are such an impressive group of scholars. When I visited, I felt like my research program and values fit with the rest of the group. I had the sense that I could both contribute to the community and learn from my colleagues.
What are you currently working on, and why is it important in today’s business landscape?
My current work examines how leaders respond when they know that another person or group has been harmed. For example, you might think of a potential supervisor considering hiring someone who had been a victim of abusive supervision or a community leader considering collaborating with a community that had been neglected.
In these situations, we might hope that the new leader would reach out to those who had been harmed to repair the damage and rebuild trust. However, my work suggests that instead leaders tend to avoid those who have been harmed. This is because they worry that the harmed will be distrustful of them, and distrust can make collaboration quite challenging.
Unfortunately, this means that when people are harmed, they not only incur the initial harm, but they but miss out on future opportunities, perpetuating disadvantage. This can make them even less trusting of others, thus creating a cycle of disadvantage and distrust.
These interpersonal dynamics are relevant to many important real world issues, like sexual harassment at work, whistle-blowing, and addressing the exclusion of historically harmed groups.
Going forward, I am planning to examine how we can instead motivate leaders to include those who have been harmed and what leaders can do to rebuild trust. Understanding this is critical for advancing equity, repairing stakeholder trust, and leading with integrity.
What’s something unique that you’d like colleagues and students to know about you?
I lived in Costa Rica before grad school. I received my acceptance from Ohio State – where I got my PhD – after hiking to the top of a mountain to get cell service. I found out the news while surrounded by capuchin monkeys and macaws, not your typical grad acceptance celebration.
If you could sum up your teaching style in three words, what would it be?
Inclusive, practical, engaging
What’s one book, podcast, or article you think every business student should read or listen to?
I’m going to cheat a little, but still in the spirit of the question: Every business student should take an improv class. I was in my college improv group, and it made me a stronger listener, more trusting of myself, and more willing to take risks. It will make you a better business leader, but even more importantly, a better person.
Ella Xu: Assistant Professor of Marketing
What inspired you to join the faculty at Goizueta?
I was inspired by Goizueta’s collaborative and intellectually vibrant environment. I was especially drawn to the faculty’s cutting-edge research, the wealth of opportunities to collaborate with the outstanding scholars, and the school’s strong commitment to addressing questions that are both intellectually rich and practically meaningful. I’m excited about the opportunity to grow here and to contribute to such a warm and collegial community.
What are you currently working on, and why is it important in today’s business landscape?
My research interests primarily focus on consumer decision-making, especially at its intersection with machine learning. I aim to leverage marketing theories and domain knowledge to develop explainable machine learning tools, to help researchers gain deeper behavioral knowledge, and support marketers in designing more effective strategies. Additionally, I am interested in utilizing novel datasets on consumer behavior to further understand these processes.
This line of research is increasingly important today as businesses adopt AI and navigate rapidly evolving digital platforms. A deeper understanding of how consumers process information can help companies build more effective marketing tools, improve algorithmic transparency and fairness, and create customer experiences that are both engaging and trustworthy.
Beyond the business impact, I also believe academic researchers have an important role to play as trusted voices in the public conversation about technology. We’re in a unique position to bring transparency and accountability to the forefront. By helping to evaluate, explain, and communicate the implications of emerging technologies, we can contribute to more informed, ethical, and responsible use of AI in society.
What’s something unique that you’d like colleagues and students to know about you?
I love music and reading, enjoy walking outdoors and traveling, and have recently started exploring photography.
If you could sum up your teaching style in three words, what would it be?
Encouraging, engaging, curiosity-driven.
What’s one book, podcast, or article you think every business student should read or listen to?
“The Worlds I See” by Fei-Fei Li. It’s a powerful and deeply human story about science, innovation, and resilience. Beyond her pioneering work in AI, what stands out is how she connects technological progress with empathy and social responsibility—something I believe would be valuable for future business leaders to reflect on.
Goizueta faculty apply their expertise and knowledge to solving problems that society—and the world—face. Learn more about faculty research at Goizueta.
