DMSB Day

The study will leverage ONA to map employee work relationships and identify critical collaborative clusters. This data-driven approach will highlight which interactions are best suited for in-person versus virtual settings, balancing operational efficiency and potential collaboration with employee preferences for flexibility.

The research objectives include examining the influence of hybrid work models on engagement, analyzing key networks within a focal organization to identify influential employees, and developing best practices for hybrid work arrangements. By focusing on central connectors in social networks, the study aims to minimize the risk of attrition caused by forced office returns. Grounded in social network and motivation theories, the research will offer actionable insights for organizations seeking to retain top talent and foster innovation in hybrid work environments.

Our results show that HAID is a strong predictor of key market reactions, such as stock liquidity, abnormal returns, and analyst behavior, including forecast revisions and accuracy. These findings underscore the value of leveraging AI to enhance investor understanding of management communication, uncovering hidden insights that drive better decision-making and market outcomes.

This externality has heterogeneous real effects. Firms in proximity improve their plans and see real effects in increased productivity, profitability, and employee satisfaction. Our results show that labor activism is contagious and has real effects and that firms do well to stay ahead of the curve.

The high-tech trap is the tendency for manager and stakeholders to overestimate the ability of new high-tech tools to solve organizational problems at the expense of focusing on the tasks confronting organizations and recombining new and existing tools to solve these tasks. The high-tech trap is driven by “the liability of first wins” where stakeholder extrapolate an initial progress in the technology to signify that a more advanced version of the technology is just around the corner. For example, the release of ChatGPT generated a “first win” which make many stakeholders' extrapolate that artificial general intelligence is just around the corner. AI is a powerful tool, but only when it is applied to solve organizational tasks. To be successful managers need to focus on tasks – not tools.

Fine-tuning an LLM for a more nuanced task requires a substantial amount of labeled data that is often scarce. To address this, I plan to utilize a relatively new disclosure requirement, iXBRL, which mandates public companies to tag their financial reporting numbers and footnotes. There are many academic and practical applications for such a model, including automatic tagging of text, error detection and correction, consistency validation, and information extraction. These capabilities could be highly beneficial for financial statement preparers, analysts, and auditors.

The research will follow a three-part methodology. First, we will analyze AI usage patterns and cost structures through meta-data collection from partner companies, examining different pricing models against various AI usage load patterns. Second, we will investigate the relationship between AI usage and employee productivity, aiming to establish systematic methods for measuring return on AI investments at both organizational and departmental levels.

This research will contribute to the academic understanding of AI economics by providing empirical evidence of cost-productivity relationships and developing standardized measurement frameworks. The findings will advance our understanding of optimal AI resource allocation and usage patterns in organizational settings. This research has important implications for both academic literature and practical applications in AI economics, providing valuable insights into the relationship between AI implementation costs and productivity gains.

It also explores how joint decisions influence subsequent individual choices, as consumers shift between solo and joint decision-making contexts. These findings suggest that marketers could benefit from adjusting their strategies to reflect the social customer journey, where decisions are influenced by others at every step. By recognizing the social nature of decision-making, we can create marketing strategies that better align with how people actually make choices—together, not alone.

My research aims to uncover why people are reluctant to adopt project management technologies in personal contexts and how businesses can better support work-life balance by addressing these barriers. By understanding the psychological factors behind this resistance, my research can offer actionable insights for employers, developers, and potential users of such tools.

• Mr. Behenna – who grew up in nearby Belmont – is an entrepreneur who has more than 40 years of experience in corporate finance, distressed securities management, and purchasing and developing Federal Communications Commission (FCC) wireless licenses to construct and operate wireless networks. 
• Since 1996, companies he owns have acquired from the FCC and telecom companies wireless licenses covering 53 million people across 38 states. 
• Through Tiger Bay Management, a state-registered investment advisor, Mr. Behenna has provided financial advisory services to institutional investors, private investment partnerships, and private equity funds. For 15 years, David advised Pacific Investment Management Company (PIMCO) on stressed and distressed debt investments totaling $18 billion. He represented PIMCO in some of the largest bankruptcies in US history. He worked with creditor committees' legal and financial advisors to craft and execute strategies that maximized recoveries on PIMCO's clients' bond investments as well as those of similarly situated creditors. 
• Mr. Behenna started his career as an investment banker with Drexel Burnham Lambert. He later served on the small team that managed Drexel's $5 billion of distressed investments while it reorganized under bankruptcy protection. 
• In 1981, Mr. Behenna graduated from Northeastern University's D'Amore-McKim School of Business. He earned the President's Award and the Sears B. Condit Award. In 1985, he earned an MBA from Harvard Business School. 
• Mr. Behenna is the proud father of three adult children and the proud grandfather of a newly-arrived grandson … a future Red Sox prospect. In his free time, he hikes with his border collie, cycles along the New Hampshire seacoast, volunteers with Scouts BSA (formerly the Boy Scouts of America), and enjoys summers in Mattapoisett. David and his wife reside in Rye Beach, New Hampshire after raising their children on the Palos Verdes Peninsula in southern California.

• Nancy Brown, a General Partner at Oak HC/FT, joined the firm in 2014 and focuses on growth equity and early-stage venture opportunities in healthcare.
• Ms. Brown currently serves on the Boards of Firefly Health, Groups Recover Together, InterWell Health, Maven, Oshi Health, Regard and Unite US. Nancy is also actively involved with Noom, TurningPoint Healthcare Solutions and Wayspring. Her prior investments include Limeade (ASX: LME), OncoHealth (acquired by Arsenal Capital Partners) and OODA Health (acquired by Cedar).
• Prior to joining Oak HC/FT, Nancy was Vice President of Strategy and Business Development for McKesson Corporation Technology Solutions. Previously, Nancy was Chief Growth Officer at MedVentive, which was acquired by McKesson in 2012. Before joining MedVentive, she served as Senior Vice President of Corporate Development as well as Senior Vice President of Clinical Service of athenahealth.
• Prior to joining athenahealth in 2004, she was a Senior Vice President at McKesson Corporation, focused on marketing and strategic planning. She joined McKesson in 1999 when it acquired a company she co-founded, Abaton.com, a provider of internet-based clinical solutions for the ambulatory market. Earlier, she spent eight years at Harvard Community Health Plan where she held several senior management roles.
• Nancy is also a member of the Dean's Executive Council at the D'Amore-McKim School of Business at Northeastern University and the Future of Healthcare Founder Residency program at the Roux Institute in Portland, Maine.
• Nancy received a Bachelor of Science (Zoology) degree at the University of New Hampshire and an MBA from Northeastern University.

• A native of New England, Ron Caplan studied business management at Northeastern University before relocating to the Philadelphia area and launching his career in real estate development.
• In 1978, what started with the purchase of several single-family homes soon expanded into a collection of multi-unit housing ventures located throughout the city of Philadelphia.
• Ron founded PMC Property Group (then called Philadelphia Management Company) in 1981 when the number and size of his properties had grown robust enough to require the services of a management company.
• Since that time, Ron has also assembled a general-contracting division within PMC Property Group, making the company a full-service developer focused on adaptive-reuse projects spanning the East Coast. Known for a skillful attention to details, Ron takes a detailed, personal approach to overseeing PMC's extensive real estate holdings and the company's future growth. Under his strategic direction, the company has become the largest owner/operator of rental units in the city of Philadelphia.
• Ron has been a long time member of the D'Amore-McKim School of Business Dean's Executive Committee (DEC), and he has been a long-time supporter of the IDEA Gap Fund, and of Entrepreneurship studies at DMSB.

• Gerry Cox was the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Velesco Pharmaceutical Services, a pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), acquired by Pace Life Sciences in 2021.  
• Prior to founding Velesco Pharma, Mr. Cox worked in a range of financial leadership roles at Pfizer.  
• Mr. Cox earned an M.S. from Northeastern's Graduate School of Professional Accounting and a BA in Economics from the College of the Holy Cross.
• Gerry Cox was the Co-Founder and Chief Operating Officer of Velesco Pharmaceutical Services, a pharmaceutical contract development and manufacturing organization (CDMO), acquired by Pace Life Sciences in 2021.  
• Prior to founding Velesco Pharma, Mr. Cox worked in a range of financial leadership roles at Pfizer.  
• Mr. Cox earned an M.S. from Northeastern's Graduate School of Professional Accounting and a BA in Economics from the College of the Holy Cross.  He also serves as a Vice Chair of the D'Amore-McKim School of Business Boston Executive Leadership Council (ELC).

• Ms. DeStefano is currently self-employed.
• For ten years, Ms. DeStefano served as the Senior Director of Human Resources and Employee Engagement at Clean Harbors. She has deep experience in human resources and consulting, especially employee engagement, diversity and inclusion, improving business processes, and utilizing data for decision-making.
• Prior to her time at Clean Harbors, she worked in a variety of consulting and project management roles, including her own consulting company. 
• Ms. DeStefano has an undergraduate degree from SUNY Binghamton and completed her MS in Innovation at D'Amore-McKim in 2018.  

• Joe Gibbons is a leadership and organizational development practitioner with thirty-plus years of extensive internal and external global consulting experience. He focuses on accelerating leadership excellence and strategic organizational transformation.
• Mr. Gibbons approaches organizations holistically, aligning teams and individuals, developing strategies, ensuring organizational and individual competency, driving change, designing interventions, and instituting performance metrics. With practical business experience and a research-based background, Joe puts theory into practice. He partners with senior leaders and teams to identify opportunities for growth, lead transformational change, and drive business results.
• Mr. Gibbons specializes in: Organizational Assessment and Design, Executive Assessment and Development, Executive Coaching and Consulting, Team Effectiveness, Change Management and Leadership, Action Learning, Innovation Management, Strategic Goal and Performance Alignment, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and Employee Engagement.
• His past corporate roles have included Global Leader, Organization Development Effectiveness at IBM Corporation, and Vice President of Organization and Leadership Development at Fresenius Medical Care, Nuance Communications (Microsoft), Covidien (Medtronic), and Deloitte.
• Mr. Gibbons has worked in the following sectors: Banking and Finance, Professional Services, Healthcare/Medical Devices, Technology, Pharma, and Retail.
• Mr. Gibbons has an M.S. in Management, Summa Cum Laude, from Lesley University and his B.S. in Business Administration, Cum Laude, from Northeastern University.
• In addition to his service as a Member of the D'Amore-McKim School of Business Board of Visitors, Mr. Gibbons served as Sitting Chair and a Charter Member of Harvard University's Learning Innovations Laboratories (LILA); a Certified Practitioner of Myers-Briggs Type Indicator, Return on Character^® (ROC) Individual Certified Provider, ATD Expert Coach Program, Leadership Coaching Training, Kegan & Lahey's Immunity to Change Process – Certified Coach/Facilitator

• John Hartz is President of Sloane & Company, a strategic public relations firm. He focuses on a range of the firm's corporate clients including New York Life, the largest mutual life insurance company in the U.S., and Insight Enterprises, a Fortune 300 technology provider.
• Mr. Hartz also designed and led a multi-year campaign to position American Express as a leader in customer service not just in the card industry, but among all customer service luminaries.
• For these companies and others such as Staples and HelloFresh, Mr. Hartz has developed and executed integrated public relations campaigns designed to raise company profiles, protect and enhance reputations, facilitate marketplace positioning and drive thought-leadership.
• He holds an MBA from Northeastern University and a B.A. in Political Science from the College of the Holy Cross, and he was the recipient of a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship to conduct a year of international research on the role of subway systems in urban development.  He also serves as a dual member of the D'Amore-McKim School of Business Boston and NYC Executive Leadership Councils (ELC).

• From 2006 to 2018, Mr. Montoni was CEO and President of Maximus, Inc., which provides operations program management and consulting services to state and local government agencies, federal agencies, and commercial customers.
• Rich is recognized for driving significant growth during his tenure, taking Maximus from just under $600 million in annual revenue to more than $2.4 billion in fiscal 2017 ⏤ achievements Montoni attributes to teamwork.
• Prior to his service as CEO and President, Rich served as chief financial officer and treasurer of Maximus from 2002-2006.
• From 1996 to 2002, Rich served as CFO and executive vice president for CIBER, Inc., and as director of the company until 2002. He was also CFO and EVP for Managed Storage International from 2000-2001.
• Rich's first job was at KPMG, where he worked for nearly 20 years.
• Prior to graduating with an M.S. in Accounting from Northeastern, Rich received his BA in Economics from Boston University.
• Mr. Montoni has served on the DMSB Dean's Executive Committee (DEC) for years, and he is currently Chair thereof.

• Gurpreet is the Managing Partner of R Squared Holdings, a special situations investment firm focused on private equity, venture capital, and credit. Known for scaling international organizations, he blends technological expertise with strategic insight. Gurpreet holds key investments in Zepto, India's fastest-growing e-commerce company, as well as in xAI, SpaceX, and Worldcoin.
• His career spans strategic roles in major institutions such as Bank of Montreal, UBS, Macquarie, Credit Suisse, and Citigroup, where he led large-scale digital transformations. As a Private Equity investor with Arrow Capital, he bid on $10 billion in Nigerian energy assets and advised on restructuring non-performing loans in Nigeria's aviation and manufacturing sectors.
• With strong ties across the Middle East and Asia, Gurpreet is a recognized leader in capital raising and strategic investment. He is a member of the Arab American Business Organization and French American Foundation and Vice Chair of Northeastern University's New York Alumni Council.

• In September 2024, Vivek Sharma joined Suven Pharma as their Executive Chairman.
• Mr. Sharma most recently served as CEO of Saama, a role from which he just stepped down on February 16, 2024.  Vivek's expertise in private equity, pharma services, data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI), combined with over 25 years of life science and financial industry operational experience have resulted in a business philosophy that aligns investor, customer and employee interests while creating significant business value.
• Prior to his service at Saama, Mr. Sharma served as CEO at several preeminent organizations, including Decision Resources Group (DRG), Piramal Pharma Solutions, and Piramal Critical Care, in addition to his time as Managing Director at Thomas H. Lee Partners.
• At DRG, Mr. Sharma implemented a highly effective, growth-oriented strategy supported by data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), pharma insights, market access and an unwavering commitment to customers. Under Vivek's leadership, DRG advanced the company's mission to empower pharma customers with invaluable information and data access to inform impactful, patient-first commercial strategies. His tenure at DRG culminated in the successful sale of DRG to Clarivate.
• In 2015, Mr. Sharma was recognized as “Global CEO of the Year” by CPhI Pharma Awards, and he is said to lead with inspiration.
• At D'Amore-McKim School of Business, Mr. Sharma is a Vice Chair of the DMSB Boston Executive Leadership Council, and a Board Member of the Center for Emerging Markets, where he has established the Vivek and Vandana Sharma India Initiative, a groundbreaking package of programs that will expand and deepen the school's engagement with economic and business issues in India.  
• Mr. Sharma's daughter, Arshia Sharma, just started her DMSB academic journey in Rome in September 2024.
• Mr. Sharma earned an Executive Masters of Business Administration (MBA) in International Management from the Thunderbird School of Global Management. He is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA).

• Tom Stanford is the Founder & President of Nuvolo Technologies and has more than twenty-five years of experience in building new technology ventures. Tom is responsible for overall leadership and management of the organization. His new venture development activities include SaaS, enterprise software and professional services. Tom holds a graduate and undergraduate degree from Northeastern University.

• Alfston Thomas is the Co-Founder and General Partner of Huntington Avenue Ventures, an early-stage fund dedicated to investing in Northeastern University-affiliated entrepreneurs
• Mr. Thomas is also a Senior Analyst at TREO Asset Management, a special situations asset management firm based in New York. 
• Mr. Thomas' previous experience has spanned investment banking and investing in early-stage venture and private credit.
• He is a DMSB graduate with a concentration in Finance and a minor in Computer Science.  

• Mark Walsh is a Partner and Global Sales Leader for Deloitte – the largest Professional Services Partnership in the world with Sales of $60 Billion.  He is a member of the Deloitte Global Growth Executive and Deloitte Global Consulting Executive. In these roles, he works with a diverse team to help identify, prioritize, and win Deloitte's most Strategic Global Client Opportunities. He also leads a diverse team to help identify, prioritize, and close Deloitte Consulting's most Strategic Acquisitions and Senior Hiring globally to help drive growth throughout the Deloitte Global Network.
• Mark has more than 30 years of Consulting and Industry experience working with Clients and within Deloitte to drive step-change organic and inorganic growth, and efficiency at all levels. Mark also works closely with Deloitte's Global Ecosystems and Alliance team to drive strong market collaboration with Deloitte's most strategic Alliance Partners, and serves an Executive Sponsor to some of Deloitte's most strategic Alliance Partners. Before joining Global leadership, Mark held several Deloitte executive roles in the US and Germany, including US M&A and Restructuring Practice Leader, US Enterprise Performance & Technology Portfolio Leader, US Energy, Resources & Industrial Industry (ER&I) Leader, and Germany Consulting Chief Operating Officer (COO).  Mark has also served on the Deloitte US Consulting Board of Directors. As a US Partner, he has had the privilege of serving some of Deloitte's largest clients (Commercial and Private Equity) supporting their Mergers, Acquisition, Divestitures, Restructuring, and Technology-enabled Transformation programs.  He has helped clients successfully complete over 200 complex Mergers, Acquisitions, and Divestitures.
• Mark is married with three adult children. He is passionate about mentoring and challenging people and organizations to reach their full potential. He also supports non-profit organizations focused on children and groups in need of financial and emotional support, and serves on the board of the Northeastern University D'Amore McKim School of Business.
• Mark holds an MBA from Columbia Business School, a CSS in Business Management from Harvard University Extension School, and a BS in Engineering from Northeastern University.