Elon University / Today at Elon / 10 full-time faculty members join Love School of Business

The Martha and Spencer Love School of Business welcomed new full-time faculty members in accounting, marketing, management, analytics and finance.

The Martha and Spencer Love School of Business welcomed 10 new full-time faculty members in August 2021, bringing the school’s total number of full-time faculty to 69.

The new full-time faculty members are:

Chris Baker, lecturer in finance

• B.A., North Carolina State University; MBA, Elon University
• She previously taught at Elon University.
• Her professional experience includes roles as interim CFO at TriStone Community Bank, executive vice president and CFO at Capital Bank and Capital Bank Corporation, executive vice president and CFO, corporate secretary and treasurer at 1st State Bank and 1st State Bancorp, Inc., COO and CFO at First Capital Services, Inc. and senior vice president and treasurer at First Federal Saving and Loan Association.

Manoj Chari, assistant professor of business analytics and director of the Center for Organizational Analytics

• B.Tech., Indian Institute of Technology; Ph.D., UNC-Chapel Hill
• Scholarly interests: Prescriptive and predictive analytics, interpretability and fairness considerations in AI/Machine Learning applications
• He previously taught at Louisiana State University and Elon University.
• His professional experience includes serving as director of data science at Otis Elevator Co. and senior R&D director of analytics research and development at SAS Institute.

Ashley Gangloff, assistant professor of management

• B.F.A., MBA, Ph.D., Auburn University
• Scholarly interests: Strategic leadership, ethics, corporate governance
• She previously taught at University of Missouri, Purdue University and Auburn University. She has taught at the undergraduate, MBA and executive MBA levels. She was also the director of business administration programs and developed professional development curriculum at the University of Missouri.

Rick Hackworth, lecturer in management

• B.A., The University of Delaware; MBA, Duke University
• He previously taught at Elon University and Guilford College.
• His professional experience includes roles as corporate consultant for Threshold, Inc., director of strategic projects at Sherwin-Williams and management consultant at Booze-Allen & Hamilton

Todd Hodgin, lecturer in management

• B.S., Virginia Tech; MBA, University of North Carolina
• He previously taught at Elon University.
• His professional experience includes senior roles at Wells Fargo & Company including EVP, head of Business Process Management and Operational Design, head of Market & Counterparty Capital, Architecture and Cleared Risk and head of Resolution Planning Program Office.

Joseph Lakatos, professor of accounting

• B.B.A., University of Notre Dame; J.D. and MBA, St. John’s University; LL.M., Boston University; CPA (N.Y. & N.C.); CFE
• Scholarly interests: Forensic accounting, ethical practices of accountants and tax professionals, governmental accounting, corporate taxation
• He previously taught at UNC-Pembroke and served as the Elingburg Distinguished Professor of Business Innovation and director of the Center of Entrepreneurship at Western Carolina University.
• His professional experience includes roles as vice president of risk management at Sun Life of Canada, director of risk management and counsel, NFCS at Fidelity Investments and senior auditor at PwC.

Beth McCain, lecturer in accounting

• B.A., Boston College; M.S., University of North Carolina at Greensboro
• She previously taught at Elon University and Guilford Technical Community College.
• Her professional experience includes roles as assurance manager at Smith Leonard CPAs, audit manager at Dixon Hughes Goodman and retirement plan administrator at WE Stanley and Co.

Smaraki Mohanty, assistant professor of marketing

• Bachelor’s degree, Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology; M.S., Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; Ph.D., Binghamton University-SUNY
• Scholarly interests: Human-machine interaction, consumer behavior, social media marketing, digital analytics
• She previously taught at Binghamton University.

Drew Peabody, assistant professor of finance

• B.B.A., University of Texas at Austin; M.S., University of Texas at Dallas; Ph.D., University of North Texas
• Scholarly interests: Corporate finance, investments, agency theory, financial institutions, financial accounting
• He previously taught at University of Texas at Dallas.
• His professional experience includes serving as an investment product research analyst at GuideStone Financial Resources and campus minister at Rice University.

Lakeisha Vance, lecturer in management

• B.S., M.S., University of North Carolina at Greensboro
• She previously taught at Elon University.
• Her professional experience includes roles as course developer and facilitator contractor at NC Virtual Public School, information technology department head at Alamance Community College and web developer at Volt Services Group.

“I am delighted to welcome these colleagues to the LSB and to Elon University,” Raghu Tadepalli, dean of the Love School of Business, said. “Several of them have taught for us either as adjuncts or limited terms and I thank Provost Volety and President Book for allowing us to bring them on as lecturers so we can be assured of keeping them over the long term. The one thing that all these colleagues have is sustained work experience, many at the highest levels in their companies. Our students will benefit from having them as professors.”