Our certificates are designed by full-time instructors with extensive industry experience and research accomplishments. All courses are also supported by course facilitators, who are members of the DePaul community and business leaders.
Sina Ansari
Assistant Professor
Academic Degrees
PhD, Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences, Northwestern University, 2018
MS, Industrial Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, 2011
BS, Industrial Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, 2009
Biography
Sina Ansari is an assistant professor at the Driehaus College of Business. He received his PhD from the Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences at Northwestern University and worked as a postdoctoral research fellow at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. During his PhD, he served as the president of INFORMS student chapter at Northwestern University. He also worked with the Northwestern Memorial Hospital Emergency Medicine on projects such as improving patient waiting experience and reducing discharge opioid prescribing. Prior to pursuing his PhD, Ansari was a cofounder and a manager at a supply chain management consulting company in Iran.
Ansari teaches courses in business analytics, decision-making and operations management, and his research has led to the development of mathematical models and practical policies to optimize the operational performance of systems in service and health care.
His work has been published in the Naval Research Logistics, Transportation Research Part B: Methodological and Journal on Quality and Patient Safety, among other journals. He is an active member of several academic communities including the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences, the Production and Operations Management Society and the Decision Sciences Institute.
Bruce Leech
Senior Instructor, Director of the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center
Academic Degrees
MBA, Finance, DePaul University, 1981
BA, Finance, Michigan State University, 1978
Professional Certifications
Owner/President Management Program for Executives, Harvard Business School, 2004
Biography
Bruce Leech leads the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center at DePaul, which helps students and alumni develop their entrepreneurial skills, launch and grow ventures and network with Chicago’s vibrant entrepreneur community. The center’s robust programming encompasses workshops, speakers and entrepreneurship competitions, as well as DePaul’s memberships in local business incubators, including 1871, Chicago’s premier business and technology start-up hub. As a faculty member, he teaches courses in strategic entrepreneurship and business plan development. An experienced entrepreneur, Leech is the founder of CrossCom National, an information technology data/voice company, and co-founder of Evolve USA, a membership organization for business owners. He has been inducted into the Chicago Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame. Leech earned an MBA in finance from DePaul and a bachelor’s degree in finance from Michigan State University. He completed the Owner/President Management Program at Harvard Business School.
Maija Renko
Professor, Coleman Chair of Entrepreneurship and Director of the MS in Entrepreneurship Program
Maija Renko
Professor, Coleman Chair of Entrepreneurship and Director of the MS in Entrepreneurship Program
Academic Degrees
PhD, Business Administration, Florida International University, 2008
DSc, Business Administration, Turku School of Economics, Finland, 2006
MSc, Economics & Business Administration, Turku School of Economics, Finland, 2000
Biography
Maija Renko is a professor and the Coleman Chair of Entrepreneurship at the Driehaus College of Business, where she teaches entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship courses. Renko also serves as director of the Master of Science in Entrepreneurship program. Renko joined DePaul in 2019 from the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she was the recipient of multiple research and teaching awards, including Favorite MBA Professor (voted by students).
Renko’s research focuses on the early stages of business development, factors contributing to successful business start-ups and the role of entrepreneurship in bringing about social change. She has been published in numerous management and entrepreneurship journals and has received many Best Paper Awards, including one in 2016 for the most relevant research in social entrepreneurship. Over the years she has received many grants to support her research, including a $2.4 million grant in 2019 to study entrepreneurship as a pathway to employment for people with disabilities.
Renko is passionate about understanding how entrepreneurs build successful businesses that not only generate financial rewards for those involved but contribute to the advancement of society and positive change, particularly for marginalized members of the community.
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To learn more about the online certificates offered by the Driehaus College of Business at DePaul University and download a brochure, please fill out the form. You can also get in touch with a program advisor directly by calling (877) 646-9594.