Leadership
Universities should be laboratories for the future.
A leadership approach that connects research, teaching, industry, government, entrepreneurship, and place into one operating model.
Approach
Capability over announcement
Most institutions do not lack ideas. They lack the mechanisms that turn an idea into a standing capability: a budget line, a governance path, a hiring plan, a partner who renews. Leadership, in practice, is the work of building those mechanisms.
I look for the places where research, teaching, and practice can be made to reinforce one another — a studio whose client is a partner city, a lab whose data becomes a course, a policy engagement that produces both a report and a dissertation. When those loops close, a university stops describing the future and starts rehearsing it.
The measure is durability. A program that survives its founder, a partnership that renews without a champion, and a research agenda that keeps answering questions after the initial grant ends.
Proof areas
Five things I am consistently asked to do
Program direction
Professor and program director/chair work at the University of San Francisco, spanning public administration, engineering, management, and entrepreneurship and innovation.
Accreditation
Leading NASPAA accreditation and self-study, with participation in AACSB, ABET, and WASC processes across professional and technical programs.
Founding platforms
Founder and director of Autonomous Vehicles & the City, a platform connecting research, policy, training, and consulting on automated mobility.
Capital projects
Former Principal Planner at UC Berkeley, working with campus leadership on design review, major capital projects, and a multi-billion-dollar building portfolio.
Partnerships & convening
Faculty governance, conference organization, and external partnerships with cities, industry, and international consortia that outlast any single grant.
Domains
The full scope of the work
Academic program direction
Director of the MPA program at the University of San Francisco, with faculty appointments in engineering and the School of Management — curriculum architecture, faculty staffing, enrollment, assessment, and revision against outcomes.
Accreditation & quality assurance
Responsible for NASPAA accreditation and self-study, and contributing to AACSB, ABET, and WASC processes — using accreditation cycles as genuine opportunities for redesign rather than compliance theater.
Faculty governance
Chairing committees, negotiating curricular change across departments, and building the trust required for faculty to adopt shared standards without losing disciplinary identity.
Interdisciplinary education
Constructing degrees and concentrations that genuinely cross design, engineering, policy, and business — including the credit, budget, and workload mechanics that usually kill them.
Research leadership
Directing the Autonomous Vehicles & the City Initiative and a funded portfolio spanning Waymo, Cruise, the Mineta Transportation Institute, and the California Strategic Growth Council — including $1M+ in research and student support at USF.
Capital projects & campus planning
As Principal Planner at UC Berkeley (2008–2014), working with the Vice Chancellor, Campus Architect, and Design Review Committee on major capital projects within a $2.2B building portfolio.
University–industry–government partnership
Structuring sponsored research, testbeds, international consortia, and student pipelines with firms and public agencies — designed for renewal, not one-off announcements.
Conferences & convening
Organizer of the annual Autonomous Vehicles & the City Symposium and the Innovate for Good conference, plus track and program committee roles at TRB and ACSP.
Selected leadership experience
Timeline
Professor & Program Director/Chair, University of San Francisco
Directing the MPA program with responsibility for NASPAA accreditation, and contributing to AACSB, ABET, and WASC review across engineering and management.
Professor, USF Engineering
Tenured full professor teaching and advising across engineering and urban systems.
Professor, USF School of Management
Faculty in management, entrepreneurship and innovation.
Director, Autonomous Vehicles & the City Initiative
Organizer of the annual AV&City conference and the Innovate for Good conference, connecting universities, cities, industry, and international partners.
Research Associate, Mineta Transportation Institute
Funded research on automated mobility, accessibility policy, and transportation behavior.
Principal Planner, UC Berkeley
Reporting to the Vice Chancellor and Campus Architect; Design Review Committee and major capital projects including Haas expansion, Memorial Stadium renovation, Girton Hall, and the Spieker complex, within a $2.2B building portfolio and roughly $3M in grants secured.
Assistant Professor, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
City and regional planning faculty.
Principal & Director of Research, INTNCITY
Applied research and advisory practice with cities, agencies, and industry.