Experts

Catalyst Interest Form

Dedicated Leadership

Sevin Yeltekin

Şevin Yeltekin

Dean;
Professor of Finance

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Şevin Yeltekin is Dean of the GW University School of Business and a professor of finance. Previously, she led the University of Rochester’s Simon Business School and held senior academic leadership roles at Carnegie Mellon’s Tepper School of Business; she is a macroeconomist whose research focuses on fiscal policy, social insurance, and the macro-finance implications of economic policy.
Ayman El Tarabishy

Ayman El Tarabishy

Founder of Catalyst and Professor Management, George Washington University; President & CEO, ICSB

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Dr. El Tarabishy is Founder of Catalyst and Teaching Professor of Management at The George Washington University School of Business. He is President & CEO of the International Council for Small Business (ICSB) and He also serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Small Business Management and founded the United Nations MSMEs Day (June 27).

Catalyst Experts

Erik Milito Energy Ribbon

Erik Milito

Adjunct Professor of Management

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Erik Milito is an adjunct professor of management at the GW School of Business and president of the National Ocean Industries Association (NOIA), representing offshore oil and gas, wind, and carbon sequestration industries. He leads NOIA’s advocacy and public policy efforts before Congress, the Executive Branch, and the media, focused on positioning offshore energy as an innovative, safe, and competitive investment. Milito joined NOIA in November 2019 after 17 years at the American Petroleum Institute (API), including roles as Vice President, Upstream Policy and Managing Counsel. A longtime spokesperson and lobbyist, he has testified before Congress, appeared on major news outlets, and helped advance safety and environmental performance initiatives across the industry. He previously served at the U.S. Department of the Interior and as a U.S. Army judge advocate, leaving the Reserve at the rank of Major. He holds a J.D. from Marquette University Law School and a B.B.A. from the University of Notre Dame.
Francesca Joseph Medicine Ribbon

Francesca Joseph

Adjunct Professor of Management

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Francesca Joseph is a physician, educator, and healthcare innovation leader at the intersection of medicine and technology. She is an assistant professor of pediatrics at the George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences and an adjunct professor of management at the George Washington University School of Business. She began her career as a Commissioner’s Fellow and Medical Officer at the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, where she worked on medical device regulation and helped advance efforts focused on pediatric devices. Since then, her work has centered on translating medical device innovations into clinical practice, especially for underserved pediatric populations, with experience spanning regulatory strategy, clinical research infrastructure, and clinical trial design. She contributes to federally funded accelerator programs supporting early-stage companies and academics across regulatory, clinical, reimbursement, and commercialization pathways. Dr. Joseph also serves in leadership roles with the American Academy of Pediatrics and continues to practice clinically. She holds a B.S. in Biology from Bucknell University, an M.D. from Stony Brook University School of Medicine, and an MBA from GW.
Rico Baldegger Strategic Innovation Ribbon

Rico Baldegger

ICSB Board Member

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Professor Baldegger brings extensive international experience across leadership roles in human resources, IT, and branding, along with entrepreneurial ventures in both Europe and the United States. He previously served as CEO of a management consultancy and currently supports growth and innovation as a board member and business angel. A prolific author with more than 100 publications and several best-selling books—including a recent best-seller on the future of business schools—his work reflects long-standing thought leadership in entrepreneurship and innovation. His research focuses on innovation processes, the internationalization of start-ups and SMEs, new venture creation, and growth management. Known for strategic thinking in global contexts, he delivers lectures and keynotes across Europe, the U.S., Singapore, and Australia, and has spoken multiple times at the United Nations MSMEs Day on the link between small businesses and sustainability.

Herman Aquinis

Avram Tucker Distinguished Scholar & Professor of Management

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Herman Aguinis is the Avram Tucker Distinguished Scholar and Professor of Management at the George Washington University School of Business, with an additional appointment in Industrial and Organizational Psychology in the Department of Organizational Sciences and Communication. Before joining GW, he was the John F. Mee Chair of Management and Founding Director of the Institute for Global Organizational Effectiveness at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. He has been a visiting scholar at universities across China, Malaysia, Singapore, Argentina, France, Spain, Puerto Rico, Australia, and South Africa. His interdisciplinary research focuses on human capital acquisition, development, and deployment, as well as research methods and analysis, with recent work spanning corporate social responsibility, workforce diversity, staffing, training and development, and performance management. He is the author of three books and more than 130 peer-reviewed journal articles, and has consulted with organizations in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America, with his research featured widely in U.S. and international media.
Skye Blanks AI Ribbon

Skye Blanks

Chief Operations Officer, ICSB

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HSkye Blanks serves as the Chief Operations Officer for the International Council for Small Business (ICSB), the world’s oldest and largest nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing small businesses globally. In addition, Skye is the Director of the ICSB Knowledge Hubs (KHubs) program, a network of institutions and partnerships designed to capture, share, and exchange development insights to accelerate progress for micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) worldwide. Skye also serves as a start-up mentor for Yale’s Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking (Tsai CITY), supporting student innovators in transforming ideas into impactful solutions. Skye holds an MBA with a certification in Financial Management from the George Washington University.