Entrepreneurship and Innovation: Instructor Bios

Danielle Blanch Hartigan, PhD, MPH is Executive Director of the Center for Health and Business and the Chester B. Slade Professor of Psychology at Bentley University. Her interdisciplinary research aims to improve the patient experience and foster patient-centered care. She has published over 80 articles in peer-reviewed journals across psychology, health communication, and medicine. She is the recipient of a Citation Award from the Society of Behavioral Medicine, a National Institutes of Health Merit Award, and in 2020, was named one of the 40 Under 40 in Cancer. Dr. Blanch Hartigan received a PhD in Psychology from Northeastern University, an MPH from Harvard TH Chan School of Public Health and served as a Cancer Prevention Fellow at the National Cancer Institute.

Eric Gaynor offers many years of professional accounting and non-profit managerial experience. He consults for several state agencies as Manager of Cost Allocation Services for Sivic Solutions Group and was a Project Manager with Maximus specializing in revenue maximization. His work is primarily with health & human service agencies, with an emphasis on child welfare. He is also an instructor for the National Association of State Human Services Finance Officers (HSFO). Additionally, Eric has public accounting experience in tax and audit with Johnson O'Connor. He also served as Executive Director of three Boston area non-profit organizations.

Tracy Noga joined the faculty at Bentley University in July of 2005. She earned her Ph.D. in Taxation at Texas Tech University. Tracy received her Bachelor of Science in accounting at Bryant University in Rhode Island and her Masters in Taxation at the University of Hartford in Connecticut. Her previous work experience includes Bank Examiner with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and Senior Tax Associate with PricewaterhouseCoopers. Tracy is also active in the American Taxation Association as well as the Massachusetts Society of CPA's and various community organizations. She is a Certified Public Accountant in both Massachusetts and Connecticut (inactive).

A licensed CPA, Professor Potvin has spent over 40 years working in accounting and related fields, starting with her first internship at age 17. She held a variety of positions throughout her time in industry, including: audit manager (PwC), internal auditor, operational consultant, project manager, manager of learning and development, controller, and director of financial and SEC reporting. Since 2005, Professor Potvin has been a full-time accounting lecturer, first at Suffolk University, then at Merrimack College. She joined the faculty at Bentley in Fall 2023

Accounting senior lecturer, primarily in financial, managerial accounting & analysis and the principles of fraud investigation. Professional experience throughout career includes: CPA/MBA accounting/finance professional with venture-financed technology company start-up and growth corporate experience, including cash management, financial reporting/analytics and corporate expansion/M&A integration. Audit and tax public accounting experience with Arthur Andersen. Venture Capital experience with CMGI and NorthBridge Venture Partners. Portfolio company experience includes: Certica Solutions, AdmitHub/Mainstay, Authentica, Qvidian and Raptor Systems.

After graduating from Bentley with her BA/MSA in 2008, Maithy spent the first four years of her career at Deloitte in external audit primarily serving manufacturing clients, during which time she obtained her CPA. After working briefly as a consultant at the Siegfried Group, Maithy spent the next five years at Thermo Fisher Scientific, where she was Senior Manager in the Internal Audit Department. In 2018, she returned to Bentley as a faculty member to pursue her passion for teaching.

Janelle has over 20 years of experience transforming organizations to adopt and align strategy and operations around a holistic, customer-centric approach.Janelle was most recently the Chief Insights Officer at UserTesting, where she advised some of the most innovative companies in the world on leveraging customer insights and understanding to make key decisions that impact the bottom line. Over her nearly 9 years as an executive at UserTesting, she helped lead the company from $10m in revenue to a successful IPO on the New York Stock Exchange. As a visionary, she relentlessly defines the future of customer and user experience. Her work includes: co-authoring the book User Tested, speaking regularly at industry conferences, co-hosting the Human Insights podcast, publishing pieces in the Wall Street Journal and Ad Age, and being quoted in Forbes and Fast Company articles.

 

Sarah educates at the intersection of technology, design, and the humanities. Sarah is an award-winning designer and the principal and founder of Black Pepper, a design and strategy consultancy. Sarah and her team have designed and usability tested cross-platform responsive sites, product suites, and mobile apps for B2B and B2C customers in healthcare, financial services, and not-for-profit orgs with a focus on data-driven design and designing for dignity.

Veronica Pierni is a global business leader, and entrepreneur, who shares her extensive industry and business knowledge with students, bridging the gap between academic theory and real-world application.

Liz Paushter has 20 years of experience in education: teaching, instructional design, program development, leadership training, educational technology, innovation consulting. Prior to joining Bentley, Liz was Asst. Director for Learning and Design at The Fletcher School at Tufts University, where she spearheaded strategic initiatives in executive education and learner-centered programming. As an entrepreneur and business owner, Liz has designed leadership and pedagogical training programs for universities, nonprofit organizations, and K-12 districts. Her previous roles also include Class Academic Dean, Department Head for Academic Technology, Asst. Director of College Counseling, and English Teacher.