Steven Gal is a career entrepreneur and professor. He currently teaches entrepreneurship and innovation at Cornell Tech and Cornell University’s Johnson Graduate School of Management, and serves as Vice Chairman at HangIt, an early-stage mobile technology company where he was the startup CEO. He has spent more than two decades as a technology entrepreneur and board director, serving as a senior operating executive or CEO at seven venture-backed technology companies. Three of these firms he co-founded, leading to over $100 million in venture financings, five successful sales and a NASDAQ IPO. He holds a Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from University of Southern California School of Law and a Bachelor's degree from Cornell University, where he serves as Chair of the Entrepreneurship@Cornell Advisory Council.

Professor Bingsheng Teng is Professor of Strategic Management at CKGSB and the Associate Dean for CKGSB Europe. He formerly served as a tenured Professor of Strategic Management at George Washington University (GWU), where he was a doctoral advisor and lead professor of the departmental doctoral program. Teng has published over 20 articles in academic journals including Academy of Management Review and Organization Science. His research is included in most textbooks on strategic management. An authority on strategic alliances, he has been interviewed by media such as The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post. Teng is a member of the Academy of Management and serves on the editorial board of International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal. He has received many rewards for his research, including the Wendell and Louis Crain Research Scholar at the GWU School of Business. His biography appears in Who's Who in America and Who's Who in American Higher Education.

Daniel G. Van Der Vliet is Executive Director of the Smith Family Business Initiative at Cornell University. Launched in 2014 and housed at the S. C. Johnson Graduate School of Management, the Smith Family Business Initiative at Cornell develops programs, courses and content for students, business owners and next-generation thinkers in today’s global economy. As director of the Family Business Initiative at the University of Vermont (UVM) from 2003-2014, Mr. Van Der Vliet worked with business owners and their successors to find solutions that work for both family and business. He developed and taught Leading and Managing the Family and Closely Held Business, a course at UVM from 2004 to 2013. Previously—as founding Director of the Vermont Business Center— Mr. Van Der Vliet oversaw the launch and growth of the executive education curriculum and management development seminars at UVM.

Professor Li Yang is Associate Professor of Marketing at CKGSB. He received his Ph.D. from Columbia Business School and taught undergraduate and MBA classes before returning to China. His research focuses on big data marketing analytics, with an emphasis on pricing, consumer choice and competitive strategy. Professor Li has published In leading academic journals such as Management Science and Journal of Marketing Research, and provided reviews for Operations Research and Management Science. At CKGSB, Professor Li teaches marketing management, marketing research, managerial statistics for MBAs, big data marketing and Internet marketing for Executive Education. Prior to joining business academia, Professor Li had earned a Bachelor’s degree in electronics science from Peking University, a Master’s degree in biomedical engineering from Columbia University, and had worked for the United Nations in New York. He consulted for Tencent, Baidu and Yonghui Groups, and currently holds a U.S. patent.

Risa Mish teaches courses in team leadership and critical and strategic thinking, in addition to serving as Faculty Director of the Johnson Leadership Fellows program. Professor Mish also runs a management consulting and training practice providing strategic advice and training to senior executives and human resources teams on a wide range of human capital issues, including effective team leadership; leading organizational culture change; critical thinking and problem solving; persuasion and influence; employee recruitment, motivation and retention; employee assessment, coaching, and performance management; resolving employee and team conflicts; and minimizing employment litigation risk. Before returning to Cornell, Mish was a partner in the New York City law firm of Collazo Carling & Mish LLP, where she represented management clients on a wide range of labor and employment law matters. Mish earned a BS with Distinction from Cornell University and a JD cum laude from Cornell Law School.

Uniting the strengths of three top-ranked business schools: Dyson, the Hotel School, and Johnson, the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business enhances collaboration and innovation across industries while preserving each school's individual excellence. The Smith Family Business Initiative at Cornell is dedicated to supporting and strengthening the network of owners, leaders and alumni that work in, with or for a family business.