William ("Bill") Arndt has been an adjunct lecturer at the School for Professional Studies since 1989. He teaches four different courses in finance at the SPS: Introduction to Finance; Corporate Finance; Investment Theory; and Financial Institutions and Markets. Bill earned a BSBA degree in Quantitative Methods from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 1981. He then completed an MBA degree in Business Statistics and in Finance from the University of Chicago in 1986. He worked for more than thirty years in the actuarial profession.
Jennifer (Jen) Baker’s expertise is in the interdependence of communication theory and practice, where she strives to help others find true confidence in their interactions with others. She is an experienced writer with a background in corporate communication and technical writing; she has also taught a number of communication courses at the University of Texas at Austin, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and at Northwestern University. Professionally, Baker has worked at a marketing company (Harte-Hanks), an engineering firm (Radian), and a variety of educational organizations. Artistically, she has founded an inner-city high school speech/debate team, assisted with photography and animation in independent films, and produced a radio show on communication.
Courses taught include Theories of Persuasion, Business Communication, Collective Decision-Making and Communication in Organizations, and Professional Communication Skills. She has also taught field study courses where she is able to champion both the theory of communication and the practical nature of interaction in organizations through the experiential learning model. In her workspace, she has been called the happiest professor that a student has ever known. Baker received her MA in Communication Studies from the University of Texas at Austin.
Aleen Bayard is the principal of a business strategy and organizational development consulting practice hired by clients to design and manage complex organizational change and leadership development initiatives. Filling a need in the high value-added consulting market, Aleen partners with clients seeking senior counsel for projects in the cases when internal resources did not have capacity or expertise needed. Core competencies include:
• Change management project design & execution
• Culture & values alignment work
• Strategic planning facilitation & implementation support
• Employee engagement and team effectiveness
• Organizational & leadership development including executive coaching
• Communication planning & messaging
• Curriculum design and course implementation
Aleen has extensive experience in creating complex messaging related to organizational change and stakeholder relations. In addition to developing overarching plans, she also works with clients to facilitate training and development courses to ensure plans are successfully executed. She is a certified instructor in the State of Illinois, and has spoken at numerous conferences and corporate meetings both in the private sector and for a wide range of associations and not-for-profit groups. She also is a Vistage speaker.
Aleen is on the faculty of Northwestern University and Spertus Institute. She is certified in the Hogan Personality Index, DiSC set of communication and leadership assessments and Barrett Cultural Values tool. She holds degrees from Stanford, Columbia and Northwestern.
Experience working with clients in:
• Insurance & financial services
• Legal & accounting
• Not-for-profit associations
• Real estate & construction
• Architecture & Design
• Healthcare
• Higher Education
• Food & Beverage
Client references and testimonials can be found on her LinkedIn profile.
Aleen is currently enrolled in a doctoral program in Values-Driven Leadership at Benedictine University.
Bryan Bennett is a management consultant with extensive experience performing and leading predictive analytics and business intelligence projects across multiple industries. His work has resulted in new customer insights, improved customer relationships, identification of new business opportunities and improved business operations. Most recently, his work has focused on healthcare transformation through analytics implementation and leadership improvement. Bennett is an adjunct professor at multiple universities and national presenter in the areas of consumer insights, executive leadership, customer relationship management and healthcare analytics. He has authored books on healthcare analytics and leadership, as well as, contributed to a book on health management information systems. His work has been recognized by Gartner for his visionary customer relationship management work and published in an academic journal.I have studied communication and rhetorical theory at Trinity University, Indiana University, and Northwestern University. I’ve been teaching courses for SPS since 2012. In my time outside the classroom, I lead student success and retention initiatives for City Colleges of Chicago and enjoy time with my husband and two young children. I strive to create an inclusive, welcoming classroom and to provide learning opportunities that are engaging and accessible for all students. Please call me Megan, and don’t hesitate to get in touch with me if there’s anything at all that I can do to help facilitate your learning.Erin Cable graduated from the University of Michigan in 2010 with a B.S. in Brain, Behavior and Cognitive Sciences. Following her undergraduate work, she completed a PhD in Psychology with a focus in Integrative Neuroscience from the University of Chicago in 2016. Her research primarily focused on the neural mechanisms by which circadian disruption affects function of the reproductive and immune systems. During her graduate education, Erin worked as a lecturer at the University of Chicago in the Department of Psychology, and as a Preceptor for the Career Advancement Office at the University of Chicago. Following completion of her doctorate, Erin was began her current role at Northwestern University’s School of Professional Studies as an Academic and Career Adviser and Lecturer in Biology and Psychology courses.I have spent a great deal of time studying business, legal, penal, tort insurance, social, political, and military organizations. My work has been focused on institutions and The Problem of Social Order. The Problem of Social Order is essentially how to get people to coordinate and cooperate. Most answers depend on a mixture of social, legal, government, and business organizations.
I am teaching Global Leadership for the BLP program, along with Research Methods, Intro to Sociology, Special Legal topics, and Freshman Seminars at Northwestern. Prior to that, I joined the US Army TRADOC was trained, deployed for two tours, and was stationed in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. I worked for the US Marine J-2 and the British Wing Commander. Since returning, I have taught for the USAF as a CENTCOM SME, and Skill Instructor for Organizations, Negotiations, and Emotional Intelligence courses. I am now back at Northwestern.Leslie Fischer has been teaching college English and writing since 1981 and is an experienced mentor in business and research writing, communication, literature, leadership, and teamwork. Fischer has taught at SPS since 1987 and joined Northwetern’s Cook Family Writing Program faculty in 1998 where she teaches Design Thinking and Communication. Additionally, she serves as faculty adviser to the SPS Organization Behavior: Business Leadership Program.
In 2015, she went back to school to earn an M.S. in Information Design and Strategy with an emphasis on Learning Design at SPS. Experienced as both a student and teacher of traditional, blended, and online courses, she understands how students learn in-person and online and the particular challenges for adult students. She was awarded SPS' Distinguished Teaching Award in 2019.
A lifelong resident of Chicago, Jeannie has a bachelor’s degree in Accountancy from Loyola University Chicago and a master’s degree in Accountancy from Northern Illinois University (NIU). As a CPA (Registered), she rose to the rank of Audit Manager at Coopers & Lybrand (now part of PricewaterhouseCoopers) and then joined the accounting faculty at the College of DuPage (COD) as a full-time professor. She also taught thousands of CPA Exam candidates as an instructor in NIU’s CPA Review Program. Jeannie is a past member of the Illinois Board of Examiners and is a member of the CPA Exam Transition Task Force at the Illinois CPA Society. She serves as the Accounting Program Adviser at Northwestern's School of Professional Studies.
Jeannie co-authored the first edition of Introduction to Managerial Accounting ©2001 by McGraw-Hill and has written over 50 study guides and instructor's manuals to accompany financial and managerial textbooks. She is currently developing digital content to enable accounting students to learn more effectively using online, interactive platforms. As a personal/professional life coach, she also works with a wide variety of clients who feel challenged or stuck in their personal and/or professional lives.
Her interests include scuba diving, traveling, hiking, and photography, and she sometimes performs onstage at and writes comedy sketches for The Second City Training Center.
Andrew Giger is a seasoned consulting leader in the employee and customer experience space. Currently, he is a Partner at Korn Ferry, based in Chicago. There, he advises leaders across the healthcare ecosystem on their organizational challenges. He previously spent time as a practitioner at Health Care Service Corporation, leading the Member Experience center of excellence for 16 million+ individual health insurance customers.
Andrew holds a B.S. and an MBA from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign with a specialization in Healthcare Management & Finance. He received his emergency clinical training as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT-B) at Weiss Memorial Hospital in Chicago. At Northwestern, he will be teaching Organization Behavior. Outside of work, he enjoys traveling, exploring the Chicago restaurant scene and spending time with his wife and two young children.I received my PhD in sociology from Northwestern University in 2019, and I’ve been teaching sociology courses for the School of Professional Studies since 2015. In addition to teaching at Northwestern, I'm the data strategist and research coordinator at a nonprofit in Chicago that targets gun violence on the city's west and south sides using a street outreach model.
Before beginning my PhD at Northwestern, I was a non-traditional student. I deeply relate to students with non-traditional learning trajectories, and I love that SPS gives me the chance to return the countless hours of help that professors gave me on my own learning journey.
Peter Kaye has been an educator for virtually all of his adult life, though his career has included different paths. For the last 16 years, he has been an administrator and teacher at the School of Professional Studies (SPS) at Northwestern University, which has been providing education for working adults since 1933. Peter is responsible for the SPS undergraduate degree-completion programs, which include 12 majors, as well as post-baccalaureate certificate programs. Those credit programs are designed for people who are preparing for professional or graduate school or desiring to advance professionally by adding to their knowledge and skill sets. Peter earned a PhD from Stanford University, with a specialization in English and Humanities.
Before his work as an administrator at SPS, he worked as an editor and consultant for over 15 years. His teaching experience here, however, goes back to 1988, when he taught his first literature course at Northwestern. Recent courses focus on the anti-hero and dystopias in literature, television, and film. He completed his PhD in English Literature and Humanities at Stanford University, and he is the author of Dostoevsky and English Modernism, published by Cambridge University Press in 1999.
John Laing is a member of the philosophy department at Northwestern University. He teaches at the School for Professional Studies. Before returning to academe, Laing had an extensive career in public affairs consulting. He served as Managing Director of Burson-Marsteller, then the largest multi-national firm of its kind in the world. Among his clients were several Fortune 500 firms. He was Chicago head of the Environmental Practice Group. In that capacity, he assisted the President’s Council on Environmental Quality in Washington D.C. He led the firm’s Health Care Practice Group. He worked as member of the company’s media training team. Starting in 2010, Laing served as Senior Consultant to Green Energy Improvement, a woman-owned business founded by his partner, Bonnie Marx. In 2013 Associated Student Government (ASG) voted Laing to the Faculty Honor Roll, one of 79 instructors to be so honored. Laing is an avid, lifelong sailor.Jerry has taught statistics at Northwestern SPS for nearly 20 years and continues to enjoy sharing the theory and technique that make statistical applications so practical. This has been especially true in recent years as data has become the new currency for most businesses. He has worked in the healthcare industry for over 25 years as a quality, performance excellence, and analytics professional (think use of data to drive business performance) and has served in leadership roles at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, multiple community health centers, a health network, and a population health analytics software company. He currently consults on various state-wide initiatives in California and on international clinical research efforts with the National Institute of Health in Washington D.C. Jerry holds a master’s degree in applied mathematics with a concentration in statistics from DePaul University and a bachelor of science degree in industrial engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.Daniel Moser specializes in the art and science of communications training for students and
professionals in financial, business, engineering, medical, design, and advanced technical fields. In our heavily mediated world it’s becoming increasingly necessary to remind ourselves of the power of the human moment. Whether it’s through public speaking, interviewing, informal and formal presentations, or storytelling, we hope to connect in a meaningful way, to engage, to influence, to make a difference. But why rely on instinct when you can have technique? His focus in high performance communications is grounded in his experience in the fine arts as a professional actor, produced playwright, scholar, and exhibiting visual artist. His embodied education at NYU coupled with his doctoral training at Northwestern in the social science of performance studies is the interdisciplinary foundation from which he teaches.Adam Patterson has spent over two decades as a consultant and practitioner in operations leadership, performance coaching, human resource management, and executive development. His work experience has afforded him the ability to work with and learn from some of the brightest minds in the leadership and personal development industry like Dr. Stephen Covey, Sir John Whitmore, Robert Kiyosaki and Jack Canfield to name a few. His experience with numerous Fortune 500 executives have been the catalyst behind Adam’s career choices and his desire to be a “lifelong leadership learner”. For the past several years, Adam has led the Centers of Excellence (Training, Quality, Knowledge Management and Voice of the Customer) at Health Care Service Corporation (Blue Cross Blue Shield). He has also led the teams responsible for the design and implementation of the coaching framework currently used by operations leaders. Adam will be teaching Leadership Principles and Practices at Northwestern.
Education & Certifications:
Bachelor of Science – University of Utah: Speech Communication with an emphasis on argumentation and decision-making.
MBA – Manchester Business School, UK: Organizational Communication & Operations Management
Certifications: LSSBB, 7-Habits Coach, ICF Master Coach, Prosci Change Practitioner, and ATD Master Trainer.
Adam and his wife Kari have six children (yes six) and reside in Naperville, Illinois.
Favorite Leadership Quote: “We do not attract that which we want, but that which we are…He who has conquered doubt and fear has conquered failure!” — James AllenMegan Powell is an adjunct lecturer in Northwestern University School of Professional Studies (SPS), where her teaching has focused on the history of theatre, comedic plays, Shakespeare in performance, digital media and society. She developed and taught a course covering the history of Chicago improv and comedy for Northwestern, and has taught improvisation and theatre skills around Chicago and at First Stage Milwaukee. She received a B.A. in Theatre and English from Marquette University and an M.A. in Liberal Studies from DePaul University, where her graduate study focused on literature, media and cultural studies, and writing. She is also Program Manager for undergraduate programs in Northwestern SPS. Megan is a writer, performer, and improviser who can be seen/heard around Chicago, including past performances with the Chicago Improv Festival, the Second City Chicago Training Center, Mortified, the Paper Machete, and the Fillet of Solo Festival.Max Reed is Senior Vice President of Degree Programs at Lake Forest Graduate School of Management where he leads all efforts pertaining to the Graduate School of Business.
Previously, Max served as Vice President of Program Sales at CDW, a $22B information technology solutions provider, where he led a business unit of 100+ colleagues supporting contract sales of more than $4 billion per year in the U.S., U.K., and Canada. Prior to joining CDW, Max was a Managing Consultant in Business and Strategy at IBM Global Business Services in the Telecommunications and Energy sectors, and held several leadership roles at AT&T.
Max received his MBA in Finance and Economics from The University of Chicago Booth School of Business, his B.S. from Northwestern University in Computer Studies, and is a U.S. Navy veteran of Desert Storm.
Max is a member of the Economics Club of Chicago and serves on the boards of Mercy Hospital and SGA Family and Children Services.
Elizabeth Scott began her professional career in various executive positions in the international business arena. Her managerial experience included Merchandise Manager, North America, East Coast Operations Manager, and Director of Marketing for continental U.S. She also traveled extensively in Europe as a buyer of art and textiles for companies headquartered in Asia and Europe. Managing fifty- and eighty-million dollar budgets, she gained a business person’s perspective of how the legal process can affect a business’ “bottom line.” Gaining an understanding of the real world concerns both in drafting and negotiating contracts and in litigating business disputes, Scott felt the need to continue to pursue her dream of a career in law. Accomplishing the majority of her goals in the business world, she returned to graduate school to complete her lifelong dream of becoming a lawyer.
After completing law school, Scott developed substantial experience as a general civil and commercial litigator handling a diverse caseload in a variety of substantive areas of the law, including contracts, employment, environmental, insurance coverage, insurance subrogation, insurance bad faith, bankruptcy, product liability, business partnerships and disputes, construction defect litigation, trademark and toxic tort litigation. With responsibility for all phases of discovery and law and motion, including court appearances, depositions, trial preparation, trials and settlement negotiations, she was responsible for maintaining client files, directing client and witness meetings and follow-ups from inception to settlement or trial. Scott is member of the Illinois and California state bars and practiced in both state and federal courts.
Concurrently, while continuing to practicing law, she was asked to join the University of California, San Diego as an instructor teaching international lawyers, judges, and business executives’ international business and law subjects such as International negotiations, Introduction to American law, Criminal law and procedure, Professional ethics, U.C.C., Contracts and Corporations. Typical clients included the head of U.S./Japanese Trade negotiations, the Samsung executive management team, and judges and prosecutors from various European Union countries.
After returning to her home town, Chicago, Scott joined the staff at the University of Chicago as the lead Instructor and program coordinator for ten different graduate school pre-graduate programs while also acting as an instructor at the Law School, LLM program; the Booth Graduate School of Business; the Harris School of Public Policy, and the Graduate School of Economics. She also worked as an instructor of Constitutional Law and Trial Advocacy at the Graham School of Continuing Liberal and Professional Studies.
Scott joined the faculty at Dominican University in 2006, first teaching MBA and MIS undergraduate and graduate students, business communication and business ethics. She joined the faculty of the School of Professional Studies in 2013 as an instructor teaching classes in Contracts, Professional and Legal Ethics, Introduction to the American Legal system, Legal Research and Writing, Employment Law, Civil Rights, Professional Ethics, Uniform Commercial Code, Alternative Dispute Resolution, Mediation Skills Training, Negotiation, Contracts, Civil Litigation, and Law Office Technology and Distance Learning for the HS professional. She holds certification in mediation skills training, divorce mediation, negotiation and conflict resolution. Scott was named Instructor of the Year in 2015.
She attended the University of San Diego, School of Law, receiving her J.D. in 1993. Prior to attending law School, Scott completed her undergraduate degree from the University of Kansas.
Bill Waas is the Executive Director - GoodTogether a philanthropic program at Sage Sustainable Electronics. He previously was the Chairman & CEO of the Illinois Technology Foundation. ITF was a not-for-profit organization that focuses on providing mentoring to college age students in the transition from academia to industry. He started his career at Grumman Data Systems Corporation and held various management positions in strategic planning, finance and service management. Waas was Senior Vice President of Service and Support at Vanstar Corporation, a $2.5 billion dollar system integrator. At Vanstar, he headed the $250 million service organization. Waas was Vice President of Value Added Services at Dell Computer Corporation. He was responsible for a $750 million dollar division of Dell, responsible for the sale and delivery of software, peripherals and system integration services.
Waas is an adjunct professor at Northwestern University, Harvard University Extension School and the Morris Graduate School of Management. At Northwestern, he also serves as a member of the MSIS Admissions Committee. He is member of the board for the Society for Information Management (SIM) Tampa Bay Chapter. He also serves as a volunteer business mentor with SCORE. Waas was a co-founder of the Service Section of CompTIA and was a member of the Board and Chairman of the association from 1995-1997.
Waas holds a BBA in accounting and an MBA in finance from Hofstra University. He resides in St. Petersburg, Florida.
More on Bill Waas can be found on his LinkedIn profile.
