Business Administration
Faculty

Frank Aguilera - Department Chair

Dr. Frank Aguilera is a senior engineer at NASA. His 40 plus year career has included positions in private industry and Department of Defense. His varied assignments have been as a researcher for technology developments and as manager of various state-of-the-art technologies and aircraft developments.

Early in his career he worked in wind-tunnel and flight test experiments of various advanced aircraft. In his mid-career he conducted operational testing of GPS receivers during initial constellation deployment. And he managed the development of an experimental aircraft. Most recently he has been involved in drone developments and associated autonomy research. One of his responsibilities at NASA includes overseeing aircraft airworthiness and flight safety.

Dr. Aguilera has been teaching at ITU for several years in both the DBA and MBA programs. Dr. Aguilera is a member of the following professional associations, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).

Barbara Arnoldussen - Adjunct Faculty RN and PHN

 

Barbara Arnoldussen is an educator and a writer. She has taught at International Technological University (ITU) in San Jose, California since 2009. She received ITU’s Distinguished Faculty Award in 2013. Her books include “First Year Nurse” and “Change Your Career: Nursing as Your New Profession.” She is a reviewer of “Nursing: A Concept-Based Approach to Learning, 3rd edition,” and is on its editorial board.

Barbara earned her Doctorate in Business Administration (DBA) at ITU, writing her dissertation on key factors of health management, focusing on eHealth education and self-care confidence. Her MBA from San Jose State University concentrated on program and project management. She interned in Management of Information Systems at the Center for Employment Training in San Jose, California. She received her BSN from Marquette University.

Barbara’s clinical and management experience includes being leader of a team providing education for IRB activities, clinical coordinator of an integrated medicine clinic, consultant to a NASA team about patient safety reporting, quality improvement director for a university student health center and a VA medical center, research nurse in rehabilitation and in anesthesiology, and director of a non-profit medical clinic for young adults. She has directed successful accreditation efforts to satisfy The Joint Commission, AAAHC, and AAHRPP requirements.

Nutan Bhat - Core Faculty SAP Manager

 

I am a full time member of Business faculty at ITU. I primarily teach SAP courses. I am also responsible for building the ERP/SAP University Alliance Program on campus. I am also a contributor to ITU Business Department’s ACBSP Accreditation and assessment efforts.

An Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system is an integrated computer based application used to manage internal and external resources. The value of such ERP software is its ability to integrate multiple business functions such as Finance, Human Resources, Inventory Management, Sales and Distribution and many others. SAP is a market leader in enterprise application software. SAP stands for Systems, Applications and Products in Data Processing. Over 80% of corporates all over the world use SAP systems, and over 76% of revenue transactions touch an SAP system at some point.

ITU is a proud member of the SAP University Alliance, a global program, enabling over 3,200 educational institutions globally to integrate the latest SAP technologies into teaching. Upon successful completion of 3 or more approved ERP/SAP courses at ITU, students are eligible to receive a Joint Recognition Award Certificate from the SAP University Alliance and ITU. Several ERP/SAP courses also help prepare students for higher level SAP and/or other Business Certifications.

I bring to each class I teach, over 10 years of corporate experience in industries such as Utilities (Electricity, Gas, Communications, and others), Food Manufacturing, and Retailing, and others. My career has spanned several functional SAP modules such as Finance and Controlling, Materials Management, Fulfillment, Enterprise Asset Systems, Business Warehousing, and Business Intelligence Reporting. I have been consistently awarded for “Making Things Happen” and “Rethinking Business Processes”. My skills profile and core competencies include Financial & Managerial Accounting, Financial Planning, Reporting, and Analysis, Regulatory Compliance, Consolidation, Audit Liaison, Contract Reviews, and IFRS/GAAP Consulting. My classes integrate my professional experiences, latest SAP technologies as well as academic rigor to prepare students for a future in the corporate world. Students have found my courses of immense value in their career and we routinely bring real world industry questions to the classroom for discussions and case study analyses.

Outside of work, I enjoy traveling, reading, dancing and music. I am also active as an Area Director with Toastmasters International.

Yacoub Elziq, PhD - Adjunct Faculty

 OFFICE HOURS

In class or by prior appointment (in person, or remote)

Dr. Yacoub Elziq is an independent Computer Engineering Consultant, Educator, and Technical Trainer. He is the owner of Jimzu Technologies, a specialized in SoC (System on Chip) Design, Verification, and Test Automation company. Also, he has taught both graduate and undergraduate courses as an Adjunct Professor with SCU (Santa Clara University), UC Santa Cruz, and UMUC (The University of Maryland University College) in both computer design and computer cybersecurity. His current areas of research are in advanced machine learning, Deep learning and AI with applications in engineering and business. He holds US patent and has many IEEE-sponsored Journal and Conference publications. Dr. Elziq’s business career involves being a founder, CEO, CTO, Consultant, and/or senior manager for several successful startup companies in the fields of computer design automation, medical imaging, and cybersecurity.

Venkatesh Gopal, PhD - Adjunct Faculty

 OFFICE HOURS

Friday
5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Weekends
1 hour after class

Venkatesh Gopal, known to many as VG, has a Master’s in Chemistry and a Ph.D in Biotechnology from Anna University. His passion is to develop commercial products that would be of use to society and research should culminate in a tangible solution rather than an esoteric exercise. As a result, many of his projects has commercial implications – whether it is in Chemistry or Biology. Although he started out as a Chemist, he realized that Biology is nothing but chemistry in a micro-scale and that a biologist would be more effective with a background in Chemistry. He chose to undertake a research project in Biology for his Graduate studies and graduated with a Ph.D in Biotechnology.

For his master thesis he worked at IIT Madras to develop novel heterocyclic compounds on Doped-Alumina catalyst and his work during his graduate studies include developing a vaccine for a viral disease and projects on identifying biologically active compounds in medicinal plants that were and are used a medicine in Siddha and Ayurveda even today. He investigated the medicinal properties of P. amarus for the treatment of human Hepatitis B virus.

He later joined the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology where he investigated the differential regulation of hormone receptors – progesterone and estrogens in endometrial cancer with emphasis on the mechanism of regulation of these hormones in breast and endometrial cancers. His other works include investigation of transcriptional regulations of cAMP regulated genes in diabetes and global transcriptional regulation in yeast models to understand the complex regulation of genes and the role of transcriptional factors in regulating genes at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. When an opportunity presented itself to pursue his passion of commercial products he completed a collaborative project with Pfizer in the development of a block-buster drug – Viagra®. During this research project, he independently derived the mechanism of action and the underlying cell signaling pathway – both cAMP and cGMP pathways. He held a research scientist position at Vanderbilt.

Transitioning from academic research to commercial drug discovery and development, he joined Applied Biosystems (now part of Thermo Fisher) he worked with almost all major pharmaceuticals in the US and helped developed high throughput and high content assays for the identification of drug-able targets for further development. He worked as a technical sales and business development roles for GE Healthcare and BD Biosciences while working with major pharmaceuticals and biotechnology companies: from drug discovery through development and commercialization.

When the Silicon Valley’s entrepreneurial bug infected him, he took a risk and joined his school mate to start a healthcare and medical device product development. At Vignani, as GM of Healthcare, conceived, developed and patented a stem cell isolation device for use in clinical settings. He implemented Quality Systems to meet ISO 13486 during this period and also consulted for a company in Slovenia to develop markets for bioprocessing products both in US and in India.
Currently he directs Sales and Business Development for products and services for Kerry, a company headquartered in Ireland and manages the US West Coast business.

VG has been teaching Healthcare and Bio Management courses since 2009 at ITU and is a passionate teacher. His teaching philosophy is based in kindling the inquisitive nature innate in the students and guide them toward developing their curiosity toward meaningful outcome. Tapping into the vast experience from successful commercial organizations his courses provide insight into the current trends and best practices in the industry to enable students to be productive employees and build their careers successfully.

In addition to teaching he is an avid gardener, photographer and loves to travel and enjoys music.

Patricia Wiggin - Core Faculty Director of Online Services

 OFFICE HOURS

Wednesday and Thursday
2:00 PM – 4:00 PM