School of Business and Technology Faculty

Eric Click joined Webster Geneva in 2023. He has over 20 years of academic and administrative experience in student retention and success, assessment and accreditation, curriculum development and design, and blended and distance learning. Click's former position titles include academic director, head of department, program chair, Higher Learning Commission peer reviewer, and tenured associate professor. His scholarship has focused on public financing and economics, market failure and intervention, and the social impact of nonprofits. Before joining Webster Geneva, Click served as acting vice-rector for academics at Webster University Tashkent and chair of the Academic Council at Webster University Tbilisi. Click holds a PhD from the University of Texas-Dallas.

 

Email: eclick68@webster.edu

Mariana Alba was educated in Buenos Aires (Pontifical Catholic University of Buenos Aires) and Madrid (Universidad Complutense), where she earned her PhD in Communication Sciences.  She is a professional with 30-plus years of experience as a public relations officer in private business and international organizations in Argentina, Spain, Canada and Switzerland. During the last five years, in parallel with her responsibilities in academic programs in Marketing and Communication, she has dedicated herself to knowledge management and the execution of several projects related to corporate social responsivity, sustainability and social impact. Her passion now lies in economic development and social progress through joint management with private business and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). Her academic and professional experience enables her to continue working on projects related to knowledge transmission, and to facilitate in-class and online educational projects.

Alba, M. (2022), Travel during and post-pandemic: Towards a new, more efficient travel model. (Viajes durante y postpandemia: Hacia un nuevo modelo de viaje más eficiente) CEDAE Online. ISSN: 3008-816X

Interview on Skills for Employability. Le Pôle. Montes Alti. Educational Foundation. Collonge-Bellerive (GE), Switzerland. Feb. 1, 2023.

Alba, M. and Chadda, S., “SIDS in the international sustainable framework. Mauritius: A business case.” ISBN: 9788417129217. Valencia, June 2017.

Alba, M., Country Brand. The profit of the tourism potential toward economic development. ISBN: 9788415986966. Valencia, June 2016.

Alba, M. et al., Libro Blanco sobre Gestión de Oficinas de Transparencia. Procedimientos y casos de estudio para universidades públicas. (A white paper on corporate governance. Procedures and case studies for Public Universities). Valencia, January 2016. ISBN: 9788473514668.

Alba, M., Estudio de la marca país en el siglo XXI: Un enfoque holístico de gestión de marcas territoriales Study on the country brand in the XXI century: A holistic approach on the territorial brand management). ISBN: 9788415986966. Valencia, June 2015.

Alba, M. Epistemological fundamentals of the country brand study in the 21st century. From the destination brand to the concept of the new public diplomacy. ISBN: 9788461684199 (PhD Thesis). Madrid, May 2014.

Presentations

UNITAR Future Global Youth Leaders Programme with our division, Geneva, Switzerland, August 2024.

Webster. Creativity & Innovation Days. Being Human. Past, Present and Future. Geneva, Switzerland, April 10-12, 2024. “The impact of creativity and inspiration in human beings. How creativity inspires us and drives us in life.”

Webster China Visit to the Webster Campus. iMBA Summer Study Tour 2023. Geneva, Switzerland, July 24-28, 2023. First Presentation: “Women in STEM2D. Leading a New Generation of Business and Healthcare Talent.” July 25, 2023. Second Presentation: “Country Brand and New Public Diplomacy. The bilateral trade and economic relations between Switzerland and China through the New Silk Road. July 27, 2023.”

Webster. Creativity & Innovation Days. Geneva, Switzerland, April 24-28, 2023. “Women in STEM2D Leading a New Generation of Business and Healthcare Talent.”

ESIC Business School: III International Symposium on Innovative Tourism Marketing, Spain, June 2016.

EIC Business School: II International Symposium on Innovative Tourism Marketing, Spain, June 2015.

Centre for Corporate Governance and Citizenship - Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, January 2014. Dedicated workshops on Business Ethics for SMEs lead by GlobEthics, Geneva, Switzerland.

Editorial Counseling

Editorial Board and co-founder of the online magazine Derecom, Madrid (2002 to-date). Derecom is the International Journal of Communication Law and New Technologies of the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain. (ISSN: 1988-2629 / Index: RESH (CSIC-CCHS), DICE (CSIC-ANECA), CIRC (EPUC, CCHS, CSICA).

Email: malbamanrique@webster.edu

Alexis Kauffmann joined Webster Geneva in 2022. He has become Head of the Computer Science program in April 2024. He has about 15 years of academic experience including teaching computer science and math, and conducting research in computational linguistics and natural language processing.

After studying Computer Science at the University of Grenoble, Kauffmann has been a specialist in English-Japanese and Japanese-English machine translation, working on this topic at research laboratories of University of Tokyo, University of Geneva and University of Kyoto. More recently, Kauffmann has also worked on the detection of periphrasis for named entities in French and English.

Kauffmann is also a songwriter and musician, playing in his band called Father's Day.

2021: Indirectly Named Entity Recognition, in Journal of Computer-Assisted Linguistic Research, Vol. 5. With François-Claude Rey, Iana Atanassova, Arnaud Gaudinat, Sylviane Cardey, Peter Greenfield, Hélène Madinier.

2014: Structural Asymmetries in Machine Translation: The case of English-Japanese, PhD thesis.

2013: Comparative Evaluation of Statistical Post-Editing in English-Japanese MT, at 言語処理学会 (NLP 2013), Nagoya, Japan. With Asheesh Gulati.

2011: Treatment of Complex sentences, Modality and Verbal Structures in Linguistics-Based MT; at 言語処理学会 (NLP 2011), Toyohashi, Japan. With Sadao Kurohashi and Daisuke Kawahara.

2005: Example-based machine translation pursuing fully structural NLP; at International Workshop on Spoken Language Translation (IWSLT 2005), Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. With Sadao Kurohashi, Toshiaki Nakazawa and Daisuke Kawahara.

Phone: +33-6-63-60-25-87
Email: alexiskauffmann@webster.edu

Judit Kozenkow joined Webster Geneva in 2016 and became the Head of the Economics and Finance programs in April 2024. She teaches micro-, macro- and international economics, basic economic modeling and other economic subjects.

Besides Webster, she is project director at Horizon Group where she leads foresight and socio-economic related projects. She also teaches digital finance at the University of Geneva. Her previous affiliations include the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), the United Nations Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, the Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) in Washington, D.C. and the Hungarian financial sector.

Dr. Kozenkow holds a PhD in Economics and a master’s degree in International Economics. Her main areas of work cover international economics, sustainable development, and foresight.

Key Speeches:

Digital transformation and a new economy. (keynote speech) World Economic Forum: World Innovation Economics Third Annual Conference, May 2022, Davos.

Blockchain and the Sustainable Development Goals. EU Business School Annual Research Conference, May 2018, Geneva.

Values, norms and beliefs — the macroeconomic case of Poland. Modernization: 1989 and its antecedents in East Central Europe, May 2013, Columbia University New York.

Peer Reviewed Publications:

Digital Finance — a catalyst for financial inclusion? ON Research, Fall 2021, pp. 22-28.

The role of institutions in achieving sustainable development. ON Research, Fall 2018, pp. 95-112.

New Institutional Economics: Foundations and Latest Trends. Society and Economy, 2013, 35(1) pp. 87-101.

Selected Others:

Kozenkow, J. (2025, January). Future-proofing and communities: Blending foresight and tech for greater readiness [Panel discussion]. World Economic Forum, Davos, Switzerland.

Middle East and Africa Environmental Sustainability Scorecard 2023 Report (lead author), Agility & Horizon Group, November 2023. Available at Agility.

Borderline: Women in Informal Cross-border Trade in Malawi, the United Republic of Tanzania and Zambia, Zarrilli, Simonetta et al., UNCTAD/DITC/2018/3, 2018. Available at Unctad.  

Values, norms and beliefs — the case of Poland, In: Benczes, I. (2014, ed.): Deficit and Debt in Transition. The Political Economy of Public Finances in Central and Eastern Europe. Budapest: CEU Press. ISBN 978-963-386-058-8, pp. 133-152.

Email: juditkozenkow63@webster.edu

Françoise Maillard is professor and head of the Health Care Management master and certificates programs at Webster Geneva Campus since 2001. She earned her PhD from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (Australia) and her MScN (Master of Science in Nursing) from the University of Rhode Island (USA). At Webster she teaches theoretical fundamentals, research and practice methodologies with a transformative worldview. She frequently lectures at international conferences (U.S., Canada, Singapore, France, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland).

Publications

Duarte-Quilao T. and Maillard Strüby F.V. (2018). The Living Experience of Suffering: A Parse Method Study. Nursing Science Quarterly, Vol. 31 (4), pp. 346-354.

Doucet, T.J., and Maillard-Strüby, F. (2009). The Human-becoming Leading-Following Model in Practice. Nursing Science Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 4, pp. 333-338.

Maillard-Strüby, F. (2009). Transforming While Affirming Those We Serve: Parse's Theory in Switzerland. Nursing Science Quarterly, Vol. 22, No. 3, pp. 212-213. DOI: 10.1177/0894318409338693

Email: fmaillard98@webster.edu

 

Ariane Ayer is a lawyer and Doctor of Law (2001), and holds a PhD from the Université de Fribourg. She is a member of the Bar for the canton of Geneva (2003), and has practiced in the Law Office LexPublica since 2005. She has served as president of the Intercantonale Commission for Osteopath exams since April 2007, vice-president of the Commission de surveillance des professions de la santé et des droits des patients du canton de Fribourg from Jan. 2001 to June 2017, and vice-president of the Commission Fédérale de recours pour la formation de base et la formation postgrade des professions médicales from June 2002 to Dec. 2006. Ayer also teaches courses in sociology, social politics and social work at the University of Fribourg.

 

Email: arianeayer33@webster.edu

Bernard Baertschi is a senior researcher and teaching professor at the University of Geneva Institut Ethique, Histoire et Humanités, as well as a member of the Ethics Committee of Inserm (France). He is currently working on fundamental ethics, bioethics and neuroethics. Baertschi holds a PhD from the University of Geneva.

Among his publications are the following: “Les rapports de l’âme et du corps. Descartes, Diderot, Maine de Biran” (Paris, Vrin, 1992), “La valeur de la vie humaine et l'intégrité de la personne” (Paris, PUF, 1995), “Enquête philosophique sur la dignité” (Genève, Labor & Fides, 2005), “La neuroéthique” (Paris, La Découverte, 2009), “L’éthique à l’écoute des neurosciences” (Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 2013).

Email: bbaertschi95@webster.edu

Ron Banks is an international sales and marketing executive with experience in Europe and the U.S. He has held senior general management positions in multinational companies, SMEs and startups. He has conducted management training programs and has consulted on brand development and product launch projects. Banks is on the board of several foundations and organizations and is a past president of the American International Club of Geneva. Banks holds a BS in Marketing from Southwest Missouri State University and an MBA from City University, Bellevue Washington, Frankfurt, Germany campus.

 

Email: ronaldbanks97@webster.edu

Dr. Nektarios Benekos holds a PhD in Particle Physics from NTUA and CERN, focused his dissertation on the signal detections techniques and data analysis, using distributed computing. He has experience in experiment's offline computing data processing and preservation activities, scientific data management and Exabyte-scale storage. Leading R&D projects, Benekos focused on the evolution and consolidation of distributed computing models in high-energy physics, cosmology and astro-particle physics with skills to bridge and link research, technology and society. He has several years of experience in teaching physics and computing courses, academic research and consulting. His research lies in the area of preoptimization of distributed big data mining and analysis, implementing innovative research methods and tools.

Benekos, Computing infrastructure at the CERN neutrino platform prototypes experiments, Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research - section A (NIM-A), 936 (2019) 294-296.

Benekos et al., “DUNE Offline Computing Conceptual Design Report,” arXiv:2210.15665.

Benekos (CERN), M. Parra-Royon (CAFPE, Granada), J.M. Benitez (CAFPE, Granada), Overall quality optimization for Data Quality Monitoring stage in High Energy Physics experiments, Journal of Physics: Conference Series (JPCS), 1525 (2020) 1, 012063.

Benekos et al., “Snowmass Neutrino Frontier: DUNE Physics Summary,” e-Print: 2203.06100 [hep-ex]

Benekos et al., Highly-parallelized simulation of a pixelated LArTPC on a GPU, JINST 18 (2023) 04, P04034.

Benekos et al., Observation of a new particle in the search for the Standard Model Higgs boson with the ATLAS detector at the LHC, Phys.Lett. B716 (2012) 1-29.

Benekos et al., Search for pairs of scalar leptoquarks decaying into quarks and electrons or muons at sqrt(s)=13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector, JHEP 10 (2020) 112.

Benekos et al., “Search for supersymmetry with R-parity violation at √s= 192 to 202 GeV, 2000-084 OSAKA CONF 383.

Benekos, Searches for Exotic Phenomena with the ATLAS Detector, Acta Phys.Polon.Supp. 11 (2018) 419-427.

 

Alain Berger has been a professor at Webster Geneva Campus since 2010 and regularly teaches financial accounting and Managerial accounting. Berger worked with multinational companies and in the investment process before moving into academics, consulting on projects related to financial modeling and market behavior. He developed a number of systematic investment strategies while using charting skills. He received a BBA from University of Lausanne, an MBA from the Hult International Business school, and a DBA from Grenoble Ecole de Management, where his research was on corporate governance, diversity and sustainability. He is a CFA charterholder.

Berger, Alain. (2023) Dividend discount model and treasury stock: a case study of Coca-Cola, Apple and Pfizer. Geneva: IFM Business School.

Berger, Alain. From sustainability reporting to environmental profit and loss: a case study of Puma and Kering. On Research, 11 (2023), 61-79.

Berger, Alain. Sustainability Disclosure, and the Limits of Diversity. On Research, 2 (2019), 41-60.

Email: alainberger94@webster.edu

Ray Bonnan was born in Manchester, England and finished his secondary schooling in Nice, France. He obtained the certificate MGP (Mathématiques Générales et Physique) at the University of Aix-Marseille before continuing his studies at Manchester University, obtaining a BSc in Pure Mathematics with a first-class Honors degree, then an MSc and PhD at Leeds University. Bonnan was head of Mathematics and Computer Science departments at Webster Geneva Campus and was responsible for all its information technology. In 2016, he retired from his administrative positions and now devotes his professional activities to teaching in Geneva and abroad.

 

Email: bonnan@webster.edu

 

Edward Boon is a researcher and lecturer in marketing and entrepreneurship. His research interest covers the intersection between consumer behavior, social media and technology, and he has published papers in various peer-reviewed journals, including Psychology & Marketing, Business Horizons, and the Journal of Financial Services Marketing. His professional experience includes marketing positions at Procter & Gamble and online insurance broker First Europa. In 2017 he developed the educational marketing simulation game ‘Battle of the Brewers.’ Boon has a PhD in Industrial Marketing from the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, and an MBA from Erasmus Rotterdam School of Management.

Publications

Lee, L. W., Boon, E., and McCarthy, I. P. (2021). Does getting along matter? Tourist-tourist rapport in guided group activities. Tourism Management, 87, 104381.

Boon, E. and Foppiani, O. (2019). An exploratory analysis of cross-country biases in expert wine reviews. Journal of Wine Research, DOI: 10.1080/09571264.2019.1614549

Morkunas, V.J., Paschen, J., and Boon, E. (2019). How blockchain technologies impact your business model. Business Horizons. In press.

Brown, T.E., Boon, E., and Pitt, L.F. (2017)."Seeking funding in order to sell: Crowdfunding as a marketing tool. Business Horizons, Volume 60, Issue 2, March-April 2017, pp. 189-195

Boon, E. , Grant, P., and Kietzmann, J. (2016). Consumer generated brand extensions: definition and response strategies. Journal of Product & Brand Management, Vol. 25 Iss: 4, pp. 337-344

Email: edwardboon07@webster.edu

Gaëtan M.N. Cantale-Miège teaches business ethics, leadership, management and entrepreneurship at Webster Geneva Campus. He has an MSc in Physics, major in Mathematical Physics, and a PhD in Particle Physics from the University of Geneva (Switzerland), as well as being an expert in business strategy and enterprise’s management. He has been working for 25 years in major global companies (Hewlett-Packard, 3COM, AMP) as vice president/general manager/sales manager in charge of territories in Europe, Eastern Europe, Russia, Commonwealth of Independent States, Middle-East and Africa. He also teaches Entrepreneurship at the Jönköping International Business School in Sweden. His research interests are in business ethics at the confluence between thermo-economy, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and virtue theories.

 

Email: gaetancantale81@webster.edu

 

Stefano Catelani graduated with a JD from the University of Rome and took the Bar Exam in Italy. He worked for an Italian pharmaceutical firm before joining DuPont where he advised several units in the Europe, Middle East and Africa region. He was then appointed director of governmental affairs (Europe) before returning to legal. He was lately advising two strategic business units within the EMEA region and coordinated the work of local lawyers in those SBUs. Catelani’s practice focused on general corporate and commercial law, taxation and mergers and acquisitions, including divestitures and joint ventures (JVs). Issues relating to governance of both subsidiaries and JVs were also part of his practice. After having left DuPont, Stefano has created his boutique firm to focus on international business law matters and related disputes, including advisory services in the field of litigation funding.

Publications

Biksadský, B., Catelani, S. P., and Nava, V. T. (2021). Third-Party Funding in International Arbitration — Current Status, Development and Cases Involving Mining Disputes. In “Social License and Dispute Resolution in the Extractive Industries” (pp. 9-37). Brill Nijhoff.

Email: scatelani79@webster.edu

Susan Cheatham PhD studied Physics at Birmingham University, Education at Bangor University and then Particle Physics at Lancaster University. Cheatham worked as a particle physics postdoctoral researcher at CERN on the ATLAS experiment. Cheatham is currently an independent data and AI consultant, working for a variety of clients including the UNHCR, WHO, IUCN and Distillery Saint-Gervais Mont-Blanc.

Cheatham has nine years of experience in teaching, seven years of academic research and five years of consulting. Her current focus is in large language models and natural language processing. She also enjoys cycling (road, gravel and VTT) and ski mountaineering.

Cheatham S., Kummervold Per E., Parisi L., Lanfranchi B., Croci I., Comunello F., Rota M.C., Filia A., Tozzi A.E., Rizzo C., Gesualdo F., Understanding the vaccine stance of Italian tweets and addressing language changes through the COVID-19 pandemic: Development and validation of a machine learning model. Frontiers in Public Health, 10, 2022. DOI= 10.3389/fpubh.2022.948880

Cheatham S., et al., Measurement of the differential cross-sections of prompt and non-prompt production of J/ψ and ψ(2S) in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 and 8 TeV with the ATLAS detector. The European Physical Journal, 76 (5), 2016. DOI= 10.1140/epjc/s10052-016-4050-8

Cheatham S., et al., The performance of the jet trigger for the ATLAS detector during 2011 data taking. The European Physical Journal, 76 (10), 2016. DOI= 10.1140/epjc/s10052-016-4325-0

Cheatham S., Electron specific track fitters and J/ψ resonance studies in ATLAS. PhD Thesis, Lancaster University, 2010.

 

Fabio De Castro has been an affiliate professor in Investments at Webster Geneva Campus since 2009. His fields of expertise include financial markets, derivatives and asset management. He is also affiliate professor and thesis supervisor for the MSc Finance program at Grenoble Ecole de Management. He manages his own portfolios of stocks, ETFs and options on the U.S. markets. Previously, De Castro was in business development and marketing positions at Unilever, Bel Cheeses and IFF (International Flavors and Fragrances) in Brazil, France, Spain and Singapore. De Castro Freitas hold a DBA from Grenoble Ecole de Management.

 

Email: fabiod49@webster.edu

 

Teodora Duarte-Quilao joined Webster Geneva Campus in 2019 as an adjunct faculty of the Health Care Management master and certificate programs. She obtained her PhD in Nursing Science at the Graduate Center, City University of New York, CUNY and focused her dissertation on the phenomenon of the living experience of feeling listened to. She earned her MA at WUG and has more than 20 years of leadership in nursing in the healthcare system in Switzerland, specifically in mental health. She is currently a member of the International Consortium of Parse Scholars, the Honor Society of Nursing Sigma Theta Tau International, and the Association of Nurses in Switzerland (ASI).

Publications

Duarte-Quilao, T. (2022). Feeling Listened To: A Parsesciencing Inquiry. Nursing Science Quarterly, 35(1), 54-66.

Duarte-Quilao T. and Maillard Strüby F.V. (2018). The Living Experience of Suffering: A Parse Method Study. Nursing Science Quarterly, Vol. 31(4), pp. 346-354.

Email: tduartequilao@webster.edu

   

Rouben Indjikian is an adjunct professor teaching energy, commodities, trade finance, digital economy and international economics at Webster Geneva Campus. He organizes events at Webster and is a frequent speaker at international conferences on commodities, energy, trade finance and other topics. Indjikian had a distinguished career of nearly 30 years at UNCTAD where, as an economist and manager, he was in charge of analysis, policy advice and technical assistance in the areas of international trade, finance, e-commerce and commodities. At UNCTAD he drafted many reports, organized conferences and initiated the Information Economy Report and Global Commodities Forum. He is also the author of a monograph based on his PhD thesis, book chapters and articles in prestigious academic and business journals. His PhD is from the Institute of World Economy and International Relations.

Dr. Indjikian contributed to numerous publications including chapters in the UN flagship Reports and other UN publications, monographs, as well as authored articles in various journals and gave interviews. Those publications included UNCTAD Information Economy and E-Commerce and Development Reports and covered such topics as: export credit, external debt, international capital markets; international oil market and oil-exporting countries; currency convertibility and reforms in transition economies, foreign trade and payments arrangements, Internet and ICT impact on economic performance, electronic finance, use of ICT in the oil sector, commodity markets and finance.

Selected publications include (in chronological order):

Oil Price Developments and Prospects, Berne Union Yearbook. 2017.

The future energy matrix and renewable energy: implications for energy and food security, UNCTAD2010 (TD/B/C.1/MEM.2/8).
World commodity trends and prospects, Note by UN Secretary General, 2009 (A/64/184).

The future of petroleum, Market magazine, Geneva, April 2009.

Energy-related issues from trade and development perspective TD/B/C1/2, 18.03.2009.

E-banking and e-payments: implications for developing and transition economies. Chapter 5, UNCTAD Information Economy Report 2007-2008.

ICTs in the oil sector: implications for developing economies. Chapter 4, UNCTAD Information Economy Report 2006; United Nations, New York and Geneva.

Trade finance, ECAs and IT. (with Lloyd Edgecombe), Trade and Forfaiting Review, May 2006, London.

Giving credit to information. Global Trade Review, March/April 2006, London.

E-credit information, trade finance and e-finance: overcoming information asymmetries. Chapter 3, UNCTAD Information Economy Report 2005; United Nations, New York and Geneva.

The Impact of Investment in IT on Economic Performance: Implications for Developing Countries. (with Donald Siegel), World Development, May 2005, Elsevier, Amsterdam, New York, London.

The Impact of Investment in IT on Economic Performance: Implications for Developing Countries. with Prof. Donald S. Siegel in Rensselaer Working Papers in Economics, № 0414, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, New York, 2004.

ICT, the Internet and Economic Performance: Implications for Developing Countries. Chapter 2, UNCTAD E-Commerce and Development Report 2003, United Nations, New York and Geneva, 2003.

E-Finance for Development: Global Trends National Experiences and SMEs. Chapter 6, UNCTAD E-Commerce and Development Report 2002, United Nations, New York and Geneva, 2002.

Managing Payments and Credit Risks Online: New Challenges for Financial Services Providers. Chapter 7, UNCTAD E-Commerce and Development Report 2001 United Nations, New York and Geneva, 2001.

Building Credit Insurance and Credit Information in the Electronic Age: Rationale and Support Measures for Africa. Article in the book of conference papers of the 1st International Conference “Developing Credit Insurance in Africa and Mediterranean,” UNCTAD, ITC, COTUNACE and Jean Bastin Foundation, Tunis, 2001.

E-Commerce and Financial Services. Section of Chapters 2 and 3, “Building Confidence: Electronic Commerce and Development” Report, UNCTAD/SDTE/MISC11, Geneva, 2000.

Inequality and Inequity in Electronic Commerce: Where will the digital divide run? Section in Chapter 3, “Building Confidence: Electronic Commerce and Development” Report, UNCTAD/SDTE/MISC11, Geneva 2000.

Rouble Convertibility and the Soviet Economic Reform: An Interdependent Paradigm. In Finance and International Economy-4: The AMEX Bank Review Prize Essays, Monograph, Oxford University Press, 1991.

Email: rindjikian31@webster.edu

   

Madina Kukenova holds a PhD in economics and a MSc in Banking and Finance from the University of Lausanne. After her academic studies, she worked as a consultant for various projects of the World Bank, International Trade Centre and World Trade Organization. Parallel to the consulting experience, Kukenova has been very active as a lecturer, she has taught economics and financial courses in several master’s and bachelor’s level programs. In addition to her teaching and consulting work, Kukenova works on independent research projects. Her research interests include international trade, international economics and finance, and development economics.

Publications

Kukenova, M. Strieborny and M. Jaud. Finance, Comparative Advantage, and Resource Allocation. Review of Finance, 2017.

Kukenova and M. Strieborny. Investment in Relationship-Specific Assets: Does Finance Matter? Review of Finance, 2015.

Kukenova, M. Jaud and M. Strieborny. Financial Development and Sustainable Exports: Evidence from Firm-Product. World Economy, 2014.

Kukenova, C. Beverelli and N. Rocha. Trade Finance in the Recovery of Trade Relationships after Banking Crisis,” in J-P. Chauffour, M. Malouche (eds.) “Trade Finance during Great Trade Collapse,” World Bank, 2011.

Working Papers

“Stock Market Liberalizations and Export Dynamics” with M. Strieborny and M. Jaud. (2017)

“More than copper: toward the diversification and stabilization of Zambian exports” with M. Brülhart, and N. Dihel. (2017)

“Financial Liberalization and Allocative Efficiency of Capital” single author paper. (2011)

“Risk and Financial Development: A matter of survival for agri-food product?” with M. Jaud (2011)

“Spatial Dynamic Model and System GMM: A Monte Carlo Investigation” with J. Monteiro. (2009)

“Does Lax Environmental Regulation Attract FDI when accounting for ‘third-country’ effects?” with J. Monteiro. (2007)

Email: madinakukenova51@webster.edu

Dmytro Kylymnyuk was born in Ukraine where he received an MA degree from Kyiv School of Economics in 2003. After obtaining his PhD in Economics from the University of Toulouse in France in 2009, he was a postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Research in Economics and Statistics (CREST) in Paris. He has taught at the École nationale de la statistique et de l’administration économique (ENSAE) in Paris and at the University of Geneva. Kylymnyuk joined Webster Geneva Campus in 2017. His research interests lie in the area of microeconomics theory and behavioral economics.

 

Email: dkylymnyuk28@webster.edu

Philippe Laurent is professor of Human Resources Management at Webster Geneva Campus and postgraduate professor of International Management and Strategy at UAS School of Management in Fribourg, Switzerland. He previously worked during 20 years as an executive and general manager for CLAL Group (France and Switzerland), COMILOG Group (Switzerland, U.S.), Golay Buchel Group (Switzerland, Italy, Thailand, Hong Kong), Wall Street Institute Group (Switzerland, Spain). He then spent another 20 years working as a senior consultant for several large companies (Dynargie Group, CTS Group), an accredited professor at UAS-Arc Neuchâtel and a visiting professor at Coventry University (U.K.), IAE Grenoble (France), ESTA (France) and SWUFE University (Chengdu, China). He also acted as a CEO of an international company (Ouaps Group in Switzerland, France, China) and became an academic and executive Dean for seven years (UBIS, GBS).

Laurent holds a PhD from the University of St. Gallen (HSG), an executive MBA and Management of Technology from EpFL, HEC-UNIL and UT Austin, and Diplôme d'Etudes Supérieures Spécialisées (DESS) the from the University of Geneva.

 

Email: plaurent22@webster.edu

 

Mina Michal is a graduate of University of Cambridge Medical School (UK). She worked for the Medical Research Division of Sandoz AG (Basel), University of Toronto (Canada), Royal College of Surgeons (London) and Battelle Research Centre (Geneva). She authored several scientific publications including a book entitled Stress (Ed. Roche). She has run programs for leading corporations on Management Training and Organizational Development. Her experience in both academic and corporate arenas has provided her with a hands-on experience of the dynamic interrelation between the strategic, operational and behavioral aspects. Michal is head of SMART PERFORMANCE, and professor of Management Sciences at Webster Geneva Campus.

 

Email: minamichal98@webster.edu

 

Assistant professor Wanny Oentoro is an academic specializing in business administration with a focus on management and operations. She earned her Doctor of Business Administration from Chulalongkorn University and holds advanced degrees from Assumption University. Oentoro has extensive teaching experience at institutions like Mahidol University, Assumption University and Webster University, Geneva campus. Her research, published in high-impact journals, explores human resource practices, service recovery performance and employee engagement. With service industry experience at EVA Airways and luxury hotels, she combines practical insights with academic excellence to foster the next generation of business leaders.

Publications

Sanitnarathorn, P., Oentoro, W., Thummapol, O., & Thongma, S. (2024). The role of ownership inclination on the intention to subscribe to music streaming among older adults. Cogent Business & Management, 12(1). doi: 10.1080/23311975.2024.2447423.

Suprawan, L. Oentoro, W., & Suttharattanagul, S. (2024). A test of moderated serial mediation model of compulsive buying among Gen Z fandoms moderated by trash talking. Young Consumers, doi: 10.1108/yc-01-2024-1962 .

Oentoro, W. and Puyod, J. (2023). The Influence of human resource practices on service recovery performance: A comparison between Thais and the Filipino customer contact agent. Kasetsart Journal of Social Sciences. 44(2), pp. 397-406.

Kliangsa-Art, S., and Oentoro, W. (2022). Exploring the internal mechanism between top management commitment, innovation capability, and service performance, moderated by the direction of communication in the Thai hotel industry. Journal of Positive School Psychology 6(9): 1054-1072.

Srisakun, C. and Oentoro, W. (2022). The Moderating Role of Passion for Service in the Hospitality Industry: Burnout Model. Suranaree Journal of Social Science. 16(2), pp. 1-15.

Oentoro, W. (2021). Mobile Payment Adoption Process: A Serial of Multiple Mediation and Moderation Analysis. The Bottom Line. 34(3/4), pp. 335-244.

Oentoro, W. (2019). Gender Differences in Responding to Management Supports, Work Engagement, and Service Recovery Performance: A Test of Moderated Mediation Model. Asian Administration and Management Review. 2(1), pp. 15-35.

Oentoro, W. (2018). High Performance Work Practices and Service Performance: The Influence of Employee Engagement in Call Center Context. PSAKU International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research, 7(1), 219-232. ISSN 2286-959x.

Oentoro, W., Popaitoon, P. (2017). The Role of Conscientiousness on Commitment to Service Quality and Service Recovery Performance. International Journal of Crimes, Law and Social Issues, 4(2), 151-169. ISSN 2351-0854.

Oentoro, W., Popaitoon, P., and Kongchan, A. (2016). Perceived supervisory support and service recovery performance: The moderating role of personality traits. Asia-Pacific Journal of Business Administration, 8(3), 298-316. doi:10.1108/APJBA-11-2015-0094.

Conferences and Proceedings

Kliangsa-Art, S. and Oentoro, W. (2019). The Effect of Management Level Internal Communication and Communicational Practices on Employee Job Outcomes. The 1st International Conference in Business and Economics (ICBE) 2019. Bangkok, pp. 79.

Kuo, A.; Lin, Y., and Oentoro, W. (2019). Shaping an Independent Ethical Climate and an Innovative Organizational Culture: The Influence of Managers’ Risk-Taking and Integrative Characteristics. The 1st International Conference in Business and Economics (ICBE) 2019. Bangkok, pp. 75.

Oentoro, W. (2017). The Role of Employee Engagement on Management supports and Service Performance. The 3rd International Conference on Production Management (ICPM) 2017. Bangkok, pp. 347-351.

Oentoro, W., Popaitoon, P., and Kongchan, A. (2015). Conscientiousness, Commitment to Service Quality and Service Recovery. The Value of Pluralism in Advancing Management Research, Education and Practice. BAM (British Academy of Management), Portsmouth, UK, pp. 637.

Email: wannyoentoro@webster.edu

Viktor Polic is chief information security officer at the International Labor Organization, but his information communications technology career spans different roles across financial, humanitarian and public sector organizations. Polic is a member of the Scientific Committee for Advanced Studies in Information Security at University of Geneva. He advocates for advancement in information security as an author in journals and his personal blog (cybersymbiosis.com), and as a speaker at international security conferences. He holds a PhD in Cryptography and Advanced Protection Systems from the Singidunum University Belgrade, MA in Computer Resources and Information Management, and BSc in Computer Science. He is a member of (ISC)2, ISACA and IACR.

Polic, V., A Decade After Heartbleed: Supply Chain Risks in the Software Development Life Cycle, CyberSymbiosis, July 28, 2023.

Polic, V., Kolot S.A., and Khristich A.L., Emotional management as a component of effective team management, Applied Aspects of Information Technology, 2020, Vol. 3 No. 2: 85–97.

Email: viktorpolic03@webster.edu

Dr. Mario Saba is a professor of Information Systems (IS) with extensive experience in teaching IS-related subjects since 2009 at higher education institutions in Europe, the U.S. and the Middle East. Saba has a strong background in professional leadership contexts. He has also developed academic programs and coaching methods for both students and professionals at the executive level.

Saba is an expert in identifying weak signals in information sciences. He conducts applied research focused on artificial intelligence, the use of IS technologies and decision-making tools. He regularly publishes his research findings in peer-reviewed international journals. Saba is the founder of the Higher Hospitality Academy of Switzerland, an institution that undertakes applied research projects in information systems and translates hospitality values into practical advantages across various industries.

Saba holds a PhD in Management Science – Information Systems, two master’s degrees in Marketing and Hospitality Management, and a PGCert in Higher Education from French and English universities.

2024: Mario Saba. Augmented Intelligence and Tourism. “International Encyclopedia of Business Management.” Tourism, hospitality and service management. doi: 10.1016/B978-0-443-13701-3.00232-2

2024 Saba Mario., Laura Recuero Virto; Peter Saba., Yann Balgobin; Antoine Harfouche; Linguistic Diversity and Mobile Money Services: Unveiling their Impact on Economic Growth in Developing Countries. Submitted in February 2024 to Information Systems Frontiers (ISF). Accepted for publication. In process.

2022: Mario Saba., Antoine Harfouche., Bernard Quinio, Peter Saba. (2022), The Recursive Theory of Knowledge Augmentation: Integrating human intuition and knowledge in Artificial Intelligence to augment organizational knowledge. Information Systems Frontiers (ISF) doi: 10.1007/s10796-022-10352-8

2020: Mario Saba., Antoine Harfouche., Jamil Arida ., Mary Anne El Rassi., Peter Saba., (2020), Success and Failure of the Institutionalization of IS Dispositives Within Organizations: The Effect of External Pressures and the Role of Actors. In “ICT for an Inclusive World.” Springer series, Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation, vol 35, pp. 439-452 doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-34269-2_30

2019: Mario Saba., Peter Bou Saba., Antoine Harfouche. (2019), Identifying disguised objectives of IT deployment through action research, In “ICT for a better life and a better world. The impact of information and communication technologies on organizations and society.” Springer series: Lecture Notes in Information Systems and Organisation. (LNISO), vol 30, pp. 69-82, doi: 10.1007/978-3-030-10737-6_5

2018: Mario Saba, Peter Saba, Antoine Harfouche, (2018) Hidden facets of IT projects are revealed only after deployment: The case of French agricultural cooperatives, Information Technology & People, Vol. 31 Issue: 1, pp. 239-255, doi: 10.1108/ITP-06-2016-0144

2016: Mario Saba., Peter Saba., André Azouri. (2016), Competitive Innovation Matrix: a framework for open innovation. EuroMed Journal of Management, vol 1, n 2, pp. 149-162 doi: 10.1504/EMJM.2016.078849

2014: Mario Saba., Damien Bruté De Remur., Sylvie Gerbaix. (2014), ICT implementation. Going beyond expectations? An essay of interpretation through competitive intelligence. The International Strategic Management Review, vol 2, n 1, pp. 46-55 doi: 10.1016/j.ism.2013.11.001

2013: Mario Saba., Sylvie Gerbaix. (2013), Théorie de l'acteur-réseau, intelligence collective et coopératives agricoles. Management des Technologies Organisationnelles, n°3, Collection Économie et gestion, MTO, Presse des Mines, pp. 163-174.

2011: Mario Saba., Louis -Antoine Saïsset., Jean Pierre Couderc (2011), Cooperative Performance Measurement Proposal (a test with the cooperfic© tool for wine cooperatives in Languedoc-Roussillon). 6th AWBR International Conference, June 9-10, Bordeaux Management School, France.

 

Kavé Salamatian has been a university professor at the University of Savoie since September 2009. His main area of expertise is internet measurement. He has carried out active research in the field of computer security where his expertise is internationally recognized. He holds a doctorate in computer science from the Université de Paris Sud, an MBA in business strategy, an MSc in telecommunications and an engineering degree. Since 2011, he has held a visiting professorship at the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is developing multidisciplinary research on cyberstrategy, and more generally on internet sciences. He is the author of more than 150 frequently cited scientific articles.

F. Loukil, S. Cadereau, H. Verjus, M. Galfré, K. Salamatian, et al. (2024). LLM-centric pipeline for information extraction from invoices. International Conference on Foundation and Large Language Models (FLLM2024), Nov 2024, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. ⟨hal-04772570⟩

K. Boutalbi, R. Boutalbi, H. Verjus, K. Salamatian, D. Telisson, et al. (2024). IEcons: A New Consensus Approach Using Multi-Text Representations for Clustering Task. CIKM24: 33rd ACM International Conference on Information and Knowledge Management, Oct 2024, BOISE, United States. pp. 613-616. ⟨hal-04741799⟩

Naama, S., Salamatian, K., and Bronzino, F. (2024). Ironing the Graphs: Toward a Correct Geometric Analysis of Large-Scale Graphs. ArXiv, abs/2407.21609.

Laurent Bernaille, Renata Teixeira, Ismael Akodkenou, Augustin Soule, and Kave Salamatian. 2006. Traffic classification on the fly. SIGCOMM Comput. Commun. Rev. 36, 2 (April 2006), 23–26. https://doi.org/10.1145/1129582.1129589

Laurent Bernaille, Renata Teixeira, and Kave Salamatian. 2006. Early application identification. In “Proceedings of the 2006 ACM CoNEXT conference (CoNEXT '06).” Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, Article 6, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1145/1368436.1368445

Augustin Soule, Kavé Salamatian, and Nina Taft. 2005. Combining filtering and statistical methods for anomaly detection. In Proceedings of the 5th ACM SIGCOMM conference on Internet measurement (IMC '05). USENIX Association, USA, 31.

A. Medina, N. Taft, K. Salamatian, S. Bhattacharyya, and C. Diot. 2002. Traffic matrix estimation: existing techniques and new directions. SIGCOMM Comput. Commun. Rev. 32, 4 (October 2002), 161–174. https://doi.org/10.1145/964725.633041

Email: msalamatian@webster.edu

 

Elena Sernova has more than 20 years of managerial and research experience. She has conducted research in bond portfolio optimization and index composition for asset management funds in California, as well as consulted with numerous Russian brokerages. She has worked at the EMFI trading and research in JPMorgan in London and has supervised FX trading at a Russian bank. She also served as the head of the Moscow office of GRC Group in the U.S.

Sernova has taught master's classes in finance and mathematics at a variety of universities. She has worked on MBA and CFA online preparation classes and has coached for CFA, CIIA, CAIA and FRM certification.

Sernova has an MSc in Math from Moscow State University, a diploma in Economics and Banking from the London School of Economics, and a PhD in Finance with a thesis on bond portfolio optimization from the Anderson School of Management at UCLA in California.

Phillip Sundquist teaches finance as an adjunct professor at Webster University’s Geneva Campus. He is an executive director and investment professional with over 30 years of experience in finance and asset management in the U.S. and Europe. He has held senior management roles at leading private banks and is the founder of an asset management consultancy that provides investment advisory services. Sundquist has also held non-executive directorship roles as board member and advisor and currently serves as president of the American International Club of Geneva, a Swiss nonprofit organization. He graduated with a BA in International Relations and Spanish from the University of Southern California and an MBA from the University of Washington Foster School of Business. He also earned the CFA and CAIA professional certifications.

 

Email: phillipsundquist@webster.edu

Davide Vité was born in Italy, where he obtained an MSc in Physics. After a research experience at the University of California in Santa Cruz, he joined the Imperial College in London where he obtained his PhD in Physics while a doctoral student at CERN, Geneva. He became research associate at the University of Geneva and worked in collaboration with CERN and NASA, while obtaining an MBA at Webster Geneva Campus. Vité was then in charge of learning programs at CERN and UNAIDS, devoted fully to teaching since 2007 and obtaining a MASE in Physics and Mathematics. He is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Musicology at the University of Geneva. Vité's teaching approach focuses on students’ needs while creating a motivating, dynamic classroom environment. His current fields of interest include innovative teaching, environmental science and ancient music.

 

Email: vitedav@webster.edu

Jean-Pierre Wandeler is the founder of CFO4U in Geneva, which specializes in tax and investment consulting for private individuals. Additionally, Wandeler takes care of accounting mandates for selected SME clients. Wandeler’s work experience spans over 20 years in financial business controlling, strategic business planning and accounting, predominantly in wealth management and commodity trade finance at UBS. His experience in finance also includes the position of warrant officer in the Swiss military from 1998 until 2012, in charge of all finance, logistics and administration topics for a rescue company of 200 soldiers. Wandeler is a CFA Charterholder (CFA Institute Charlottesville/VA, USA) and also teaches CFA prep courses. He is married and a father of two children.

 

Email: jwandeler@webster.edu

Benjamin Xie is the founder of Rhônar Advisory in Geneva, Switzerland, which has a focus on business development and private equity management. Prior to founding Rhônar Advisory in 2020, Xie founded and was the chief of staff of a multi-family office which has over CHF 6 billion under supervision. He previously served as vice president at Deutsche Bank from 2008-2015 in the Middle East and Private Equity team.

He is also an academic professor who lectures at a number of public and private universities. Xie earned his PhD in International Management from the University of St. Gallen and was a visiting fellow at Harvard University. He earned his MSc in Business Management from the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and his Bachelor in Business Management from the Singapore Management University of Singapore.

 

Email: dxie@webster.edu

Aslı Yüksel Mermod studied Economics at Konstanz and Marmara Universities and completed her MSc/PhD degree at the Marmara Banking and Insurance Institute. Following a role in public relations, Mermod joined Marmara University in 1996. She became associate professor in 2005, and full professor in 2011. Her research areas cover bank management, CSR and sustainable finance. She has been vice director of Social Sciences Institute, Erasmus Programme coordinator and board member of the Banking and Insurance Institute and International Center of Sustainability.

 

Email: ayukselmermod41@webster.edu

 

After studying Physics at EPFL, Rémy Petkantchin worked in complex numerical modeling European projects, applied to ischemic stroke treatment in his PhD with the University of Geneva and simulating the mouse brain with the Blue Brain Project at EPFL. In parallel, Petkantchin has developed theoretical and practical videogame programming and design knowledge by developing and publishing two videogames and earning a professional accreditation from Epic Games. As of 2025, he is working as a Monte-Carlo Developer at CERN.

In his free time Petkantchin plays water-polo at the national level.

Berchet, A., Petkantchin, R., Markram, H., Kanari, L., 2025. Computational generation of long-range axonal morphologies. Neuroinformatics 23, 1–23.

Petkantchin, R., Berchet, A., Peng, H., Markram, H., Kanari, L., 2024. Generating brain-wide connectome using synthetic axonal morphologies. bioRxiv 2024

Petkantchin, R., Raynaud, F., Boudjeltia, K.Z., Chopard, B., 2024. A Blood Flow Modeling Framework for Stroke Treatments, in: Heifetz, A. (Ed.), High Performance Computing for Drug Discovery and Biomedicine. Springer US, New York, NY, pp. 369–381. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-0716-3449-3_17

Petkantchin, R., Raynaud, F., Boudjeltia, K.Z., Chopard, B., 2023a. A Blood Flow Modeling Framework for Stroke Treatments, in: High Performance Computing for Drug Discovery and Biomedicine. Springer, pp. 369–381.

Petkantchin, R., Rousseau, A., Eker, O., Boudjeltia, K.Z., Raynaud, F., Chopard, B., 2023b. Characterizing fibrinolysis under flow conditions: a simplified mesoscale 3D model.

Petkantchin, R., Rousseau, A., Eker, O., Zouaoui Boudjeltia, K., Raynaud, F., Chopard, B., 2023c. A simplified mesoscale 3D model for characterizing fibrinolysis under flow conditions. Scientific reports 13, 13681.

Petkantchin, R., Padmos, R., Boudjeltia, K.Z., Raynaud, F., Chopard, B., 2022. Thrombolysis: Observations and numerical models. Journal of biomechanics 132, 110902.

Latt, J., Malaspinas, O., Kontaxakis, D., Parmigiani, A., Lagrava, D., Brogi, F., Belgacem, M.B., Thorimbert, Y., Leclaire, S., Li, S., 2021. Palabos: parallel lattice Boltzmann solver. Computers & Mathematics with Applications 81, 334–350.