I am an assistant professor of Organizational Behavior at the at Stanford’s Graduate School of Business. Prior to joining the faculty in July 2015, I served on the faculty at Olin Business School from 2011-2015 as an assistant professor of Strategy. I was born and raised in different parts of the Midwest, and spent my teenage years in Ames, Iowa, while both my parents worked for Iowa State University. I attended The Ohio State University (yes, “The” is a part of Ohio State’s official name) and graduated with a B.S. (magna cum laude) in chemical engineering, with a minor in international economics in 2002.
After graduating from Ohio State I worked at Procter and Gamble in Research and Development for five years, advancing to a senior engineering role quickly as I worked on “billion dollar brands” like Pampers and Oil of Olay. While working I became fascinated with organizations and how to manage people most effectively. I was fortunate to return to school to pursue a Ph.D. at Emory University in Atlanta and graduated with a PhD from the Organization and Management Department at Goizueta Business School in August of 2011.
I left a successful career at P&G to pursue academic scholarship because I am passionate about doing carefully executed research that contributes insights to scholars, managers, and policy-makers about people and organizations. Because I believe it is important to provide insights to practicioners, I occasionally blog for hbr.org (see here). Additionally, my interests in labor markets, strategic hiring practices, and inequality, particularly in fields in technology, intersect with my interest in encouraging women to enter and thrive in technical fields.
I live with my husband, Elvin, and our two kids, Quinton (age 12) and Naila (age 7) in Los Altos Hills, California. Together we enjoy biking, attending sporting events, and getting lost on scenic roads in California.