Learn from the Best: The MBA at Sacred Heart University

Thought leaders, top researchers and successful entrepreneurs share their expertise at SHU.

Sacred Heart University offers a unique approach to business education, blending managerial and technical skills to meet the needs of today’s business leaders. With full- or part-time options, SHU’s forward-thinking, flexible program takes full advantage of the Welch College of Business & Technology (WCBT), a world-class facility offering a makerspace, AI and finance labs and more at the former global headquarters of GE.

But the MBA, named one of Princeton Reviews’ best in 2024, has another surprise in its toolkit: its faculty. Hailing from careers at the many Fortune 500 companies that call Connecticut home, our professors are well-versed in the corporate and manufacturing industries and are happy to share what they’ve learned and researched with their students. At SHU, you’ll have the flexibility to learn in person or fully online. The common denominator? You’ll be learning from the best.

Kanwalroop Kathy Dhanda, Ph.D.

Professor, MBA Program

Kathy Dhanda is passionate about the environment and the protection of natural resources, focusing her professional work on the role of business and policy in the transition towards sustainable economy. Having published more than 30 scholarly journal articles, she teaches courses in operations management, supply chain management and sustainability. She developed and taught courses in sustainability and leadership at American University in Paris and the Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. This fall, she is headed to Iceland as a Fulbright Scholar to research the impact of climate change on the supply chains.

Raymond Curatolo, MA

Adjunct Professor, MBA Program

Raymond Curatolo is a senior level executive who has successfully led the development, market penetration and industrialization of innovative solutions across multiple industries while uncovering significant cost savings for clients. Currently president of Next Health LLC, a medical device manufacturer, he spent nearly 30 years as a director and manager at IBM, founding the company’s Global Expense Reporting Solution Practice, a driving advancement into e-commerce, including procurement card and travel solutions that were pioneering in the travel expense management industry. Curatolo teaches commercial tech innovations at SHU.

Valerie Christian, MBA

Clinical Assistant Professor, Management

Valerie Christian joined the WCBT faculty after more than 20 years in corporate America. A former vice president of finance and planning at Columbia House Company, she worked with this joint venture of Sony Music and Time Warner on direct marketing, strategic planning, acquisitions/divestitures, financial analysis and more. With an MBA from Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College, she decided to make the career transition from corporate work to education after teaching as an adjunct faculty member at New York University.

Christian teaches graduate courses in international business, organizational management, and strategy, including supervising MBA teams doing consulting projects for nonprofit organizations and small businesses as part of their MBA capstone course.

Gregory Kesler, MA

Adjunct Professor, Management

With more than 30 years of organizational development experience, Gregory Kesler has co-written three books on organization design. The cofounder of Kates Kesler Organization Consultants, LLC (acquired by Accenture in 2020), this C-suite adviser has deep experience in brand and consumer products companies, health care and life sciences and has held senior assignments at multinational companies based in the U.S. and Europe. Awarded Forbes Best Management Consulting Firms award four years in a row, Kates Kesler served senior leaders at Nike, PepsiCo, The Coca-Cola Co., Merck, Kimberly-Clark and more.

He will begin teaching in SHU’s MBA program in fall 2024.

Want to know more about the MBA at Sacred Heart University?

Find out if our flexible, full- and part-time programs are right for you. Reach out to Ed Nassr, associate director of graduate admissions, at 203-396-6877, nassre@sacredheart.edu or schedule a virtual appointment today!