Faculty for Business Administration

Robert Bloch

Biography

Arguably, Robert Bloch has had three careers. He “retired” in 2019, but for the twelve years prior, he had been mentoring and supporting student entrepreneurs, both commercial and social, as Director of Champlain College’s innovative BYOBiz (Build Your Own Business) program, precursor to today’s CIE, and teaching in the Stiller School. Robert’s first career was in the corporate world beginning with eight years in brand management at General Foods and later as the Chief Marketing and Sales Executive worldwide for both Four Seasons Hotels and Marriott. This was followed by eight years as an entrepreneur, starting two companies, one successful the other not so much.

Robert has three grown children and four grandchildren. He enjoys motorcycling, the outdoors, golf, gardening, teaching and renovating a home with my wife Nancy. He holds a BA in Government from Cornell University and a MBA from Harvard University.

Robert is very excited about getting to know you and helping you explore the fascinating world of business and your potential role in that world.

Favorite Quote

“Be the ball.”

—Ty Webb

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Thomas Funk

Biography

Thomas Funk is a lifelong digital marketer and ecommerce business manager who joined Champlain College as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Marketing in 2020. He is currently an Adjunct Instructor teaching digital marketing and analytics.

His business background includes stints as Ecommerce Director at Ann Clark Ltd, Marketing Director at Gardener’s Supply Company, and Senior Manager of Keurig and Green Mountain Coffee where he led email marketing, paid search, SEO, the loyalty program and a 165K-member subscription business. As VP of Marketing at Timberline Interactive, he performed online marketing for Wine of the Month Club, Terry Precision Cycling, Lake Champlain Chocolates, VBT Bicycle Vacations, Garrett Wade, Dakin Farms and Liberty Orchards. Prior to Timberline, he helped build and manage the websites of Vermont Teddy Bear Company and PajamaGram.

Funk is frequent conference speaker and the author of three business books: Advanced Social Media Marketing (Apress), Social Media Playbook for Business (ABC-CLIO) and Web 2.0 and Beyond (Praeger).

Publications & Abstracts

Advanced Social Media Marketing: How to Lead, Launch, and Manage a Successful Social Media Program

Social Media Playbook for Business: Reaching Your Online Community with Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and More

Web 2.0 and Beyond: Understanding the New Online Business Models, Trends, and Technologies

Curriculum Vitae

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Lindsey Godwin

Biography

Lindsey Godwin, Ph.D. is a professor, practitioner, and possibilitizer who has a passion for creating transformational learning spaces for individuals and organizations. She holds a Master of Science in Conflict Analysis and Resolution from the Jimmy & Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Conflict Resolution George Mason University, and a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior from the Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University, where she studied with the founding thought leaders in Appreciative Inquiry. She currently holds the Robert P. Stiller Endowed Chair of Management in the Stiller School of Business at Champlain College (Vermont, USA), where she also serves as the Academic Director of the David L. Cooperrider Center for Appreciative Inquiry (AI) and the lead faculty for the MS in Leadership and MS in Organization Development & Human Relations programs. An acclaimed instructor, she earned the Edward Lyman Phelps Professorship, Champlain College’s highest recognition for a faculty member. A sought-after international speaker, consultant, facilitator, and author, her article on “Earthshot OD” was recently named one of the most impactful articles of all time for the field of Organization Development. Learn more about Lindsey’s work at lindseygodwin.com.

Distinctions & Awards

Edward Lyman Phelps Professorship

Publications & Abstracts

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Curriculum Vitae

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Favorite Quote

“Anyone can slay a dragon, but try waking up every morning & loving the world all over again. That’s what takes a real hero.”

—Brian Andreas

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Kenneth Heskett

Biography

In addition to his role as an adjunct lecturer, Ken is the IT Internal Audit manager for Ensemble Health Partners RCM and brings the lessons of more than 8 years experience in internal auditing and 20 years of working in various roles in information technology from network administrator to IT department manager into the classroom. He holds a Master of Business Administration specializing in project management, and is a Certified Information Systems Auditor and Certified Internal Auditor. He currently serves on the board of the ISACA New England chapter and formerly served on the board of Richmond Rescue. He is author is several articles in professional journals including the AHIA 2021 New Perspectives Article of the Year award for his writing about auditing data centers. A veteran of the US Marine Corps, Ken continues service to his community as an active volunteer with the Boy Scouts of America and serves as Scoutmaster for his sons’ scout troop. He is married to Jennifer, a high school biology and environmental sciences teacher, and has 4 boys (two of whom are Eagle Scouts)Miles, Collin, Jeremy, and Alden, 4 cats, a dog, and a bearded dragon.

Distinctions & Awards

New Perspectives Article of the Year Award Issued by Association of Healthcare Internal Auditors · Sep 2021

Publications & Abstracts

• Audit the Remote Worker’s Toolbox – Test Endpoint Security
• Defense-in-Depth Cybersecurity Strategy – Consider the adequacy of layers
• Third-Party Risk to Information Systems – Protect from Threats Beyond Cybersecurity
• Business Continuity Planning – Assess the Process
• Data Center Audits – Ensure Equipment Availability
• Fight Identity Fraud – Audit Use of the Limited Access Death Master File

Professional & Scholastic Affiliations

ISACA New England Chapter

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

• Mindwalk (1990) – A conversation between a physicist, a politician, and an artist about science, politics, and society each bringing a different perspective, shot on location at Mont Saint-Michel.
• Any episode, but especially “Spider” from the HBO Miniseries From the Earth to the Moon (1998) – The encapsulation of a project management and leadership into an engaging story of the development of the lunar module during the Apollo program in the 1960s.

Favorite Quote

“Set your course by the stars, not by the lights of every passing ship.”

—Omar N. Bradley

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Parthiv Patel

Biography

Pat Patel has lived and worked in 3 different countries (India, the UK, and USA). He comes from a pioneering industrial family which started the Agricultural Tractors and Earthmoving Machinery Manufacturing industry in India. He worked in the family business for two years as a Management Trainee after graduating with his Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Bombay. After successfully completing the Management Trainee program, he moved to London where he worked for an affiliated British company that provided crankshafts and related parts to his family’s tractor and earthmoving machinery company.

In 1980, he moved to the United States to begin his graduate education, and he earned his Master of Business Administration degree, double majoring in Finance and Marketing, from the University of Cincinnati, Ohio. Subsequent to getting his MBA, he moved to San Diego, California, where he earned a Master of Science degree in Information and Decision Sciences from San Diego State University.

After completing the two Master’s degree programs, he began his professional career in the Investment Software, Database, and Quantitative Modeling business with a leading Chicago based company called Zacks Investment Research, Inc. where he rose to become Vice President and Regional Manager for the company’s Los Angeles office. After working at Zacks Investment Research for 9 years, he worked directly in the Institutional Investment and Mutual Fund industry for 4 years as Vice President at Putnam Investments in Boston, Massachusetts.

In 1998, he started his own business in the hospitality industry and he purchased two franchised hotels which he owned and managed for 9 years with his team of professional hotel managers and staff. He subsequently sold the properties and the business to a Houston,Texas, based hotel company.

He was hired by Champlain College in 2009 to teach in the business school, and he has been teaching a variety of business courses ever since at the Stiller School of Business. During his time at Champlain College, he also earned his Doctorate degree in Business Administration. In 2022, he was offered and he accepted the additional position of Director of the Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship.

Distinctions & Awards

Distinguished Service Award for serving as President of the Franklin County Chamber of Commerce.

Recommended Reading, Listening & Viewing

• Enlightenment Now by Howard Gardner
• Guns Germs and Steel by Jared Diamond
• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert Pirsig

Favorite Quote

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”

—Mahatma Gandhi

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Marie Segares

Biography

Marie Segares is a career intrapreneur in the non-profit health and education industries with expertise in program development, launch, and expansion. Her experience includes deployment as an assistant officer in the Community Relations unit at the American Red Cross in Greater New York during Disaster Response 787 (September 11 World Trade Center); managing administrative operations of a federally-funded public housing community health center for an academic medical center in the South Bronx; co-founding a public high school in Downtown Brooklyn; and developing an online bachelor’s degree-completion program for a faith-based, historically Black college in Dallas.

Dr. Segares earned her AB in Sociology from Barnard College, her MPH in Sociomedical Sciences with a concentration in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention from Columbia University, her MBA in Entrepreneurship & Innovation, and Leadership & Change Management from New York University, and her EdD in Organizational Leadership Studies from Northeastern University. Dr. Segares has taught business, entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship, human resources, management and organizational behavior, marketing, health education and public health, and health care management courses at the undergraduate, post-baccalaureate, and graduate levels in traditional/face-to-face, online, and hybrid learning environments. Her previous appointments were as an associate professor and director of the MS in Management program at St. Francis College and as an auxiliary professor and coordinator of the Health Care Management MBA program at Molloy College.

Dr. Segares is also an artisan entrepreneur, creating digital content to self-publish and for major crafts manufacturers and publishers. Her areas of research interest include artisan entrepreneurship, creative business, microenterprise, leadership, small business marketing, and gender and diversity in entrepreneurship and organizations.

Publications & Abstracts

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1RMOcEWyWDomWOefX0yLzqk514dxlOZRc/view?usp=sharing

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Barrie Silver

Biography

Barrie is an innovative, mission-driven marketing and communications professional who is passionate about social justice and social change and has been helping organizations share their stories for more than two decades.

Having spent the majority of her career working in the nonprofit sector (for large organizations like Planned Parenthood of Northern New England and hyperlocal ones like CCTV Center for Media & Democracy) she says she “specializes in performing miracles on shoestring budgets.” She is also a consummate volunteer and has been on the board of Slow Food Vermont since 2015.

A lifelong learner, Barrie likes to collect and archive information, craves to know more, and is energized by other people, new ideas, and, of course, her students.

Curriculum Vitae

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Jennifer Vincent

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