Robert Persichitte
Robert Persichitte, M.A., is an adjunct professor in the Department of Accounting at Metropolitan State University of Denver.
Robert Persichitte, M.A., is an adjunct professor in the Department of Accounting at Metropolitan State University of Denver.
Andrew Traver, B.A., is a professor of practice in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He joined MSU Denver in fall 2019 teaching federal law enforcement and terrorism, which explores the relationships among federal law-enforcement agencies; and American gangsters, which examines the nature and causes of gangs. His experience and background will help students bridge the gap between theoretical and practical worlds in criminal justice and cybersecurity.
Traver began his 32-year federal law-enforcement career investigating gang-related crimes and violations of federal firearms, narcotics and explosives law. He served as special agent in charge in the Denver and Chicago field-division offices of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and held several supervisory positions throughout his 26-year career with ATF. Traver served as Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) director 2013-19, focusing on the myriad global threats to the Navy and Marine Corps ashore, afloat and in cyberspace, including foreign-intelligence challenges, terrorism and criminal behavior. He joined MSU Denver on July 1, 2019, as a visiting faculty member and as a special advisor to President Davidson.
Traver earned a bachelor’s in sociology and criminal justice from Northern Illinois University, graduating summa cum laude. He later joined the Navy, graduating third in his class from Officer Candidate School before graduating with honors from Surface Warfare Officer School.
Edgar Maldonado is a 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.
Richard Mac Namee is the director of the Cybersecurity Center at Metropolitan State University of Denver. His areas of expertise include counterterrorism, counterinsurgency, intelligence operations, covert operations, nuclear security and cybersecurity. He currently teaches Cybersecurity Capstone for senior students.
Prior to joining MSU Denver, Mac Namee worked as a British Army officer, whose service included the Household Division’s Scots Guards and being an operator and commander in the United Kingdom’s Special Forces. His service required him to deploy to numerous locations throughout the world commanding operations conducted in the interests of national security, including being seconded to the U.K.’s Security Service (MI5).
Following a recall to military service as a Special Operations commander from 2009 to 2011 as part of the U.S. surge into Afghanistan, Mac Namee was recruited by a Tier One research university in the U.S. and appointed as a professor of the Practice at the Bush School of Government and Public Service. There, he delivered graduate-level classes in Counter-Terrorism, Intelligence Operations and Covert Operations, as well as Technical and Cybersecurity Operations. Mac Namee returned to private practice in September 2018 to deliver Counter-U.A.S. technologies into Thailand as well as Artificial Intelligence Cybersolutions for a large Mexican bank.
Since retiring from the military, Mac Namee has successfully established and led several profitable commercial enterprises in the private sector in the fields of business intelligence, security and risk. He was awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service for his services with Special Operations. He is the author of “The 5W’s of Terrorism,” which was published in the 5th International Symposium and Seminar on Global Nuclear Human Resource Development for Safety, Security and Safeguards in 2016.
Janos T. Fustos, Ph.D., is a tenured professor in the Department of Computer Information Systems and Business Analytics at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He specializes in web development, web site administration, web programming and information systems security.
Fustos is actively involved in service through his role of chairing the ABET accreditation committee in the CIS Department and the AACSB technology committee in the College of Business as well as serving on the university-wide committees that determine IT strategies, policies and procedures. He helped the CIS department receive the re-accreditation for ABET. Fustos co-sponsored the creation of the Health Care Information Systems undergraduate program. He maintains his AQ status by engaging in professional development activities focused on the impact of technology in training and learning; and global aspects of information system education. He regularly attends conferences, professional presentations, workshops and seminars related to his professional interest areas and accreditation.
Fustos received his doctorate in engineering management in 1993, masters in chemical engineering in 1982, and a bachelor’s in factory operations management in 1980 from University of Veszprem, Hungary.
Darrin C. Duber-Smith, M.S., MBA, is a senior lecturer at Metropolitan State University of Denver’s College of Business, where he teaches Sports Marketing, Green Marketing, Seminar in Marketing Management and Advertising Management courses.
Duber-Smith has more than 30 years of specialized expertise in the marketing and management profession, including decades of work with natural, organic and green/sustainable goods and services.
As president of Green Marketing, Inc. from 2000-16, Duber-Smith was a co-founder of the Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability market/industry model and was leader of the first U.S. industry task force that helped frame the Natural Products Association’s definition of natural in 2005.
He has co-authored several academic papers, including “State of the Economy and Attitudes Toward Sales Careers,” “Student Disposition Towards Sales as a Career,” “The Evolution of an Award-Winning Assessment Plan” and “Gender Bias in Consumer Perceptions of Salespeople.” He has published over 90 marketing-related articles and book chapters in various business publications, and he has been an invited speaker at over 50 executive-level events.
Duber-Smith has been the most frequently-interviewed marketing expert in Colorado media since 2005, and he authored Cengage Learning’s “KnowNow! Marketing” blog from 2011-2019.
Duber-Smith received The Wall Street Journal’s In-Education Distinguished Professor Award in 2009 and WSJ’s Top 125 Professor Award in 2014.
Steve Beaty, Ph.D., serves as a professor of computer science and Interim Dean at Metropolitan State University of Denver.