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Topic: Business

Adam Melnick

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Adam Melnick, J.D. is an associate professor in the Department of Management at Metropolitan State University of Denver. His areas of expertise include entrepreneurship, small business, “conscious” business, social entrepreneurship, social impact business, sustainable business, and access to funding. Currently, he teaches Small Business Entrepreneurship, Organizational Management, Entrepreneurship Feasibility, and Entrepreneurial Business Plan.  

In addition to teaching, he is a consultant at the Colorado Small Business Development Centers Network, Rebel Bread, and FMK Agency, and a licensed attorney in both Colorado and Pennsylvania. As an active participant in the Denver community, Melnick is the co-founder and organizer of the Denver Good Business Week and is a board member for Blue Star Recyclers and committee chair for the CBUS Small Business Development program.  

Prior to joining MSU Denver, Melnick served as senior entrepreneurship officer and in-house counsel at Colorado Lending Source.  

Melnick earned his Juris Doctorate in Environmental Law from Pace University, a Master’s from Yale University, well as a Bachelor’s of Science in Environmental Science from Muhlenberg College. 

Marie Mora

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Marie T. Mora, Ph.D., is Deputy Provost and professor of economics at Metropolitan State University of Denver. A labor economist, she has been invited to share her research expertise on the socioeconomic outcomes of Hispanics/Latinos with institutions and agencies across the country, including the White House and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System.

Cory Tipton

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Cory Tipton, J.D., is an affiliate faculty in the School of Hospitality at Metropolitan State University of Denver. She teaches courses on alcohol beverage law and hospitality law.

Tipton has been the vice president of The Tipton Law Firm since 2007. She has nearly 15 years of experience practicing law and extensive expertise with clients in various administrative fields including all areas of liquor licensing and alcohol beverage regulation, as well as casino gaming licensing in the state of Colorado. Tipton specializes in assisting new breweries, wineries, distilleries, beverage distributors, and retail liquor stores. She has also assisted related trade organizations in the legislative and governance aspects of the alcohol beverage industry.

Prior to law, Tipton pursued a career in aviation as a commercial pilot for the airlines and still holds a pilot license. She continues to work in aviation on the administrative side of aviation law. She is also the current chair of the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the Colorado Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Tipton received her juris doctor from University of Denver and a bachelor’s summa cum laude in aerospace science from Metropolitan State University of Denver.

Adam Schor

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Adam Schor, M.A., is a lecturer in the Department of Finance at Metropolitan State University of Denver. In addition to working at MSU Denver, Schor is the president and chief risk officer of NZS Capital, LLC., which crafts portfolios of companies that create value for customers, employees, society and the environment. He worked for 11 years at Janus Henderson Investors in Denver, where he was the director of global equity strategies. Prior, Schor spent 10 years working as the chief investment officer at the boutique investment firm Bee and Associates. Schor’s area of expertise are in investment, asset management and equity markets.

Schor received his bachelor’s in journalism from Northwest University in 1986 and his master’s in finance from the University of Wisconsin Graduate School of Business in 1993.

April Schofield

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Marketing Lecturer April Schofield teaches Sport Sales, Personal Selling, Advanced Selling, Retail Marketing, Principles of Marketing, Sales Management, Business to Business Marketing, Magic of Marketing and Business Communication courses at MSU Denver.

In addition to teaching, Schofield contributes to the development of the Sport Sales Workshop and Center for Professional Selling, advises students on career and academic planning, mantains Professional Qualification Requirements, and coaches and leads student teams at national sales competitions, including the National Collegiate Sales Competition and International Collegiate Sales Competition. She is also the faculty advisor for Student Marketing Association and Mu Kappa Tau National Honor Society and serves on various committees and fundraisers for the Department.

William B. Mesa

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William B. Mesa is an assistant professor in the Department of Accounting at Metropolitan State University of Denver. His research interests revolve around accounting, data analytics, the ethics of technology on the accounting profession, and integrating strategic management leveraged with relevant accounting practices.

Before coming to teach at MSU Denver, Mesa taught strategic management as a visiting professor at Chongqing University, Dalian University of Technology, and Xihua University in China. He is also the principal and founder of Triangulation Group, LLC where he serves as a consultant for SMEs in the capacity of vision, strategy, and core values planning in conjunction with leveraging analytics. He has consulted with many organizations, including Colorado Cider Company, National Jewish Health, Blue Ocean Enterprises, Jefferson County Human Services, Littleton Symphony Orchestra and Pet Scoop Services.

Mesa received a doctor of management in Strategy and Organizational Behavior from the Colorado Technical University and a masters in Accountancy from New Mexico State University.

Elizabeth McVicker

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Elizabeth McVicker, Ph.D., J.D., is a professor in the Department of Management at Metropolitan State University of Denver.

She serves as an advisor for student internships, independent studies, individualized degree program majors; and provides academic advice to management majors, MBA students and students interested in pursuing a study of law. McVicker was instrumental in the creation of MSU Denver’s One World One Water Center (OWOW) and the Water Studies curriculum. She also has her own practice.

Her service to the community includes serving on the boards of a water conservancy district, a water enterprise authority, a nation-wide water consortium serving coalitions and collaborations focused on water quality and restoration after major fires and floods and a state-wide basin roundtable. In 2011, McVicker received the Outstanding Women Award from the Institute of Women’s Studies and Services at MSU Denver, as well as the College of Business Dean’s Award for Overall Faculty Excellence.

Her research interests include legal issues surrounding constitutional law, employment and labor law; and water law within the context of regional, national and international perspectives.

McVicker received her juris doctorate from University of Denver, doctorate in Spanish language and literature from New York University, master’s from Johns Hopkins University and bachelor’s from University of Texas. She is a licensed attorney in the state of Colorado in good standing and is current with all required continuing legal education classes.

Edgar Maldonado

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Edgar Maldonado is an associate professor in the Department of Computer Information Systems at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He holds a Ph.D. in information sciences and technology from Pennsylvania State University. A native Venezuelan with an extensive professional and academic background in engineering, he has spent several years designing and implementing network solutions and systems internationally.

He has experience as a software support engineer for banking networks, with projects in Venezuela and the Caribbean. Before joining MSU Denver, he worked at an IT consulting firm in Denver.

Maldonado specializes in the socioeconomic aspects of information technology and is well versed on the topics of computer security, cyber terrorism, public policies and information systems technologies, including emergency management.

He is aware of the major issues concerning intellectual property as applicable to technology patents and is an asset to the implementation of multicultural information systems. His scholarly work has been published in several peer-reviewed journals and he was a leader for one of the national level case studies in the “Research of Emergency Capacity Building,” sponsored by the National Science Foundation, as a research assistant at Penn State University.

Christopher Looby

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Christopher Looby, M.B.A, is an affiliate professor in the Department of Health Professions at Metropolitan State University of Denver where he teaches organizational management. His professional consulting focuses on software and analytical tools for the health care industry including strategic planning.

Looby serves as vice president of products and business development at Agile Healthcare. He is also a member of the American College of Healthcare Executives and a seminar leader for the Healthcare Financial Management Association. Looby’s expertise is in business unit development, change management, quality performance improvement, client development and management of referral-based sales.

Looby received his master’s in business administration from Lake Forest Graduate School of Management in 1994 and his bachelor’s in political science/economics from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 1979.

Chad Kendall

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Chad Kendall, M.A., is an associate professor and Federal Aviation Administration chief instructor in the Department of Aviation and Aerospace Science at Metropolitan State University of Denver. Kendall has over 20 years of experience in the aviation industry as an educator, researcher and FAA Part 141 chief instructor. His flight experience includes working as commercial airline pilot for American Eagle and PSA Airlines, as a corporate pilot and a flight instructor. Kendall teaching areas include flight/ground training, advanced systems, jet transition training, aviation curriculum and psychophysiology. In addition, Kendall is also the coach of the precision flight team at MSU Denver, which competes in the NIFA (National Intercollegiate Flying Association) organization against more than 80 universities nationally.

Kendall received his master’s degree in business administration in 2011 and his bachelor’s in aviation management and flight operations from Jacksonville University in 2004.

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