UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State Smeal College of Business has welcomed 16 new faculty members for the 2026-27 academic year, bringing with them a wide depth of both academic and executive leadership experience.
Sheiva Ansary, Fred Asante, Siddharth Bhambhwani, Brigham Brau, Robin Kramer and Rimmy Tomy have joined the Department of Accounting.
Ansary is a Schreyer Honors College grad who earned her master of accounting analytics from Smeal. An accomplished student-athlete, Ansary served as captain of the Penn State Harrisburg women’s tennis team. She also holds a masters of accounting from the University of Texas. Her coursework included business data management, data analytics in the accounting profession, advanced financial accounting and corporate taxation and financial reporting.
Asante comes to Smeal after earning a doctorate in financial accounting from Cornell University, with a research background focused on the intersection of accounting, banking, contracting, corporate social responsibility and development economics. He holds an MBA from Wake Forest University and a bachelor’s in accounting from Howard University. Prior to academia, Asante had a career in corporate finance and commercial banking that included time at Bank of America, Deloitte & Touche, J.P. Morgan and Lockheed Martin.
Bhambhwani most recently served as assistant professor of accounting at Arkansas Tech University and has also taught at Washington College in Maryland and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. He holds a doctorate in business administration (accounting) from the University of Miami and a masters in accounting from the University of Pittsburgh. Bhambhwani earned the 2024 Best Paper Award in The British Accounting Review and is a certified public accountant.
Brau brings to Smeal a doctorate in business administration with a concentration in accounting and a master’s degree in management from the University of North Carolina. He also holds bachelor’s degrees in economics and accounting from Brigham Young University. His research examines rank-and-file employees and cybersecurity, including how both affect firms and capital markets. His recent work includes “Quarter-End Sales and Value Destruction,” “Digital Picket Lines: Strategic Employee Disclosure,” and research using dark-web activity to study corporate cyber incidents and their capital-market consequences.
Kramer is no stranger to University Park, coming to Smeal after 21 years teaching students in Penn State’s Department of Communication Arts and Sciences (CAS) with a focus that includes leadership communication, technical presentations, group communications and public speaking. She’s also an alumna who holds a masters degree in curriculum and instruction. Kramer’s involved in several campus service initiatives, including the CAS Teaching Mentor Committee.
Tomy spent the past 10 years as a professor of accounting at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business — four years as assistant professor and six years as associate professor. She earned her doctorate in business administration from Stanford University and a master of science from the University of Colorado. Tomy studies regulation and enforcement in the financial sector and accounting and credit allocation in informal markets. She previously worked at Ernst & Young LLP and McKinsey & Company. She also holds an undergrad degree in physics from St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi.
Tony Cookson has joined the Department of Finance.
Cookson most recently served as the Michael A. Klump Endowed Professor at University of Colorado Boulder's Leeds School of Business. He holds a doctorate in economics from the University of Chicago, as well as master's degrees in Statistics and Applied Economics from Montana State University. Cookson’s recent work examines how emerging technologies such as social media and large language models influence behavior, belief formation and ideological expression in financial markets. He is an associate editor at Management Science and the Journal of Financial Economics and an editor at the Review of Corporate Finance Studies.
Heejung Byun, Sean Doherty, Jon Jachimowicz and James Jones have joined the Department of Management and Organization.
Byun comes to Smeal from Purdue University. He holds a doctorate in strategic management and entrepreneurship from the University of Maryland and earned a master in business administration from Seoul National University. His research includes the intersection of strategic human capital and corporate strategy. Byun serves as an editorial board member for both Organization Science and Strategic Management Journal.
Doherty earned his doctorate in business administration from Smeal after a broad range of executive experience that included Sierra Delta Advisors, Babylist, HelloFresh USA and UncommonGoods, with an emphasis on e-commerce and high growth startup environments. Doherty also holds a masters in supply chain management from Smeal and an MBA from Villanova University.
Jachimowicz comes to Smeal from the Harvard Business School. He was listed as a Rising Star by the Association for Psychological Science, a Poets & Quants 40 under 40 honoree, a Forbes 30 under 30, and on the Thinkers 50 Radar List. His research has been published in leading academic journals, including Administrative Science Quarterly, Academy of Management Journal, Organization Science, Nature Human Behaviour, PNAS, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology and others. He has also written for or appeared on the Harvard Business Review, Washington Post, Boston Globe, LA Times and NPR’s Hidden Brain.
Jones brings to Smeal more than two decades of corporate experience including senior management at United Airlines and Crown Castle International. He earned a doctorate in instructional management and leadership at Robert Morris University and a master of business administration with a corporate finance focus from the University of Notre Dame. Jones is certified as a Lean Six Sigma Black Belt and previously taught part time at the University of Cincinnati and Robert Morris.
Wreetabrata "Wreeto" Kar has joined the Department of Marketing.
Kar comes to Smeal from the University at Buffalo and he has also taught at Purdue University. He earned a doctorate in marketing and a masters in applied economics and statistics from the University of Rochester and also has a bachelor’s degree in electrical and electronics engineering. Kar is joint holder on four patents focused on video advertising, user segment identification and target audiences.
Ning Ma, Mauricio Maldonado, Carrie Marcinkevage and Thomas Mulherin have joined the Department of Supply Chain and Information Systems.
Ma holds a doctorate in supply chain management from Arizona State University and a master of philosophy in systems engineering and engineering management from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Her research focuses on how firms can make better sourcing, procurement, inventory and pricing decisions in the face of supply chain risks and disruptions, with additional interests in healthcare supply chain management.
Maldonado earned his doctorate in business administration at Smeal after more than 20 years as a business owner and executive with experience across banking, manufacturing, real estate and consulting. He holds an MBA and master's degrees in finance, project management and enterprise architecture and is expected to complete a master's degree in supply chain management from Penn State in 2026. Maldonado previously served as adjunct faculty at Smeal and The Catholic University of Bolivia. His research examines how public policy and sustainability initiatives influence business risk, corporate investment and firm value, with a particular focus on the effects of the Inflation Reduction Act on U.S. firms.
Marcinkevage’s University Park roots run deep, having served as Smeal’s MBA and CRM director and in several other administrative positions. She earned her doctorate from the College of Education and pivoted to teaching. Her focus is on information systems and business analytics, emerging technologies and enterprise systems. Marcinkevage also specializes in designing and teaching with AI. She serves in several roles on campus, including faculty/staff adviser for the Penn State Equestrian Team.
Mulherin was previously an adjunct instructor at Smeal. He also taught at the University of Nebraska, Southern New Hampshire University and New England College. He has corporate experience in global business services and supply chain management and founded a procurement and logistics consulting firm. Mulherin holds a masters in operations management from the University of Arkansas.