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Michael E. Porter  -  Biography 
Institute Director
Phone: 617 495 6153   Fax: 617 547 8543
email: mporter hbs edu

Michael E. Porter is the Bishop William Lawrence University Professor, based at Harvard Business School. A University professorship is the highest professional recognition that can be awarded to a Harvard faculty member. Professor Porter is the fourth faculty member in Harvard Business School history to earn this distinction, and is one of about 15 current University Professors at Harvard. In 2001, Harvard Business School and Harvard University jointly created the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, to further Professor Porter’s work.  continued

 

Jennifer Baron
Senior Researcher

Phone: 617 495 6657   Fax: 617 384 7268 
email: jebaron hbs edu

Jennifer Baron is a Senior Researcher at the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, managing a growing body of domestic and international health care work. Her current research includes US and other advanced economy health system analysis; health care policy and reform; and framework development for evaluating and improving health care delivery in resource-poor settings. Jennifer has also supervised and authored a number of completed and ongoing case studies highlighting organizations working to implement value-based care delivery models. She has worked previously with organizations including the private nonprofit organization Management Sciences for Health and the Boston Public Health Commission’s HIV/AIDS Program. Jennifer earned her M.B.A. from the Yale School of Management, an M.P.H. from the Yale School of Epidemiology and Public Health, and a B.A. from Georgetown University. She resides in Brookline with her husband.

 

Richard Bryden
Director of Information Products

Phone: 617 495 6777   Fax: 617 496 7392
email: rbryden hbs edu

Rich Bryden is Director of Information Products at the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness.  His responsibilities include the continuing development of the Cluster Mapping Project as well as the broader effort to enhance the distribution of the Institute’s agenda of research and economic analysis.  Prior to joining the Institute, Rich worked for eight years in product management and marketing roles for ventures in the field of on-line publishing.  He earned an M.B.A. with highest honors from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 2001.  His areas of concentration were in Analytical Finance and Economics with a significant emphasis on econometric methods.  He also holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Lehigh University.  Rich enjoys racing Soling class sailboats in Boston Harbor.

 

Kathleen Custodio
Programs Coordinator

Phone: 617 384 5938   Fax: 617 384 7268
email: kcustudio hbs edu

Kathleen Custodio is the Programs Coordinator at the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness. She provides administrative support for the ISC and for the Microeconomics of Competitiveness (MOC) course both at Harvard and at affiliate schools around the world. Kathleen obtained a dual BA in American Studies & Ethnicity and Mathematics from the University of Southern California in 2003 and her MA in Asian American Studies at the University of California Los Angeles, USC’s infamous crosstown rival, in 2005. A native of perennially sunny San Diego, California, Kathleen relocated to the Boston area in the fall of 2005 and is still adjusting to the inclement winters New England is known for. In her spare time, she enjoys reading, watching movies, trying different ethnic foods, traveling, studying new languages, and playing the game Rock Band on the XBox 360.

 

Carolyn Daly
Research Associate

Phone: 617 495 4846   Fax:  617 384 7268
email: cdaly  hbs edu

Carolyn Daly joined the Institute in December 2008 as a Research Associate focusing mainly on health care delivery. Before joining the Institute, she spent a year in southern Morocco on a Rockefeller Fellowship examining the intersection of religious based, indigenous, and conventional medicines and healing methods. Carolyn graduated from Harvard University in 2006 with a B.A. in History and Science. She grew up in Massachusetts, and now lives in Brookline. Despite her current proximity to home, she loves to travel, and her voyages have fueled a budding interest in photography and graphic design.

 

Sinead Fitzmaurice
Assistant Director, Course Administration
Phone:  617 384 8045    Fax:  617 384 7268
email: sfitzmaurice@hbs.edu

Sinead Fitzmaurice is the Assistant Director, Course Administration at the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness. She is responsible for the general oversight of both Professor Porter’s Harvard-based Microeconomics of Competitiveness course and the management of the global MOC affiliate network.  Prior to joining the Institute, Sinead worked for seven years as the Director of Faculty and Staff Administration for the College of Engineering at Boston University.  Sinead received her BA from University College Dublin and studied for her master’s degree in English at Clark University as a Fulbright Scholar.  Originally from Dublin, Ireland, Sinead has now lived in the US for many years, and has subsequently lost all traces of a “brogue”.  In her free time, when she is not locked in psychological combat with her crazed Australian Shepherd rescue, Jackson, she enjoys reading, music and cooking.  She is also something of an aficionada of many genres of film.

 

Hannah Ginley
Administrative Manager
Phone:  617 495 6153    Fax:  617 547 8543
email: hginley hbs edu

Hannah Ginley is the Administrative Manager at the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness. She manages the administrative, financial, and human resources functions for the Institute and also assists in the planning of all Professor Porter’s activities. Hannah attended the University of California, Los Angeles and then transferred to Boston University, where she graduated with honors in psychology and special education. A classically trained ballerina, Hannah extends her knowledge and love of dance to adult students through a Marblehead-based program, Dancenergy. She has two college-aged children and resides in Topsfield, MA.

 

Sachin H. Jain
Research Fellow
Phone: 617 495 5954   Fax: 617 384 7268
email: sjain hbs edu

Sachin H. Jain is a member of faculty of the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness of Harvard Business School and a resident in the Department of Medicine at the Brigham and Women's Hospital. His work focuses on health system strategy and health care policy in the United States and in resource-poor settings. He holds his bachelor's degree magna cum laude in government from Harvard College and his MBA from Harvard Business School, where he was recipient of the Dean's Award. He received his MD from Harvard Medical School, along with the Henry Asbury Christian Award. A Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow, Dr. Jain has worked previously at McKinsey and Co, WellPoint, and the Institute for Healthcare Improvement; he has also participated in an expert consultancy for the World Health Organization.  Dr. Jain was a founder of ImproveHealthCare.org and maintains a an advisory role for select health care organizations. In addition to authoring Harvard Business School cases, his writing has appeared in Healthcare Financial Management and the Harvard Health Policy Review.  Dr. Jain was a co-editor of the book, "The Soul of A Doctor" (Workman Press: New York).

 

Christian Ketels
Principal Associate
Phone: 617 384 5935   Fax: 617 384 7268
email cketels hbs edu

Dr. Christian Ketels is a member of the Harvard Business School faculty at Professor Michael E. Porter’s Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness. He holds a PhD (Econ) from the London School of Economics and further degrees from the Kiel Institute for World Economics and Cologne University. He is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Strategy and Competitiveness at the Stockholm School of Economics and a Director of The Competitiveness Institute, a not-for-profit global network of cluster practitioners and researchers. He has led cluster and competitiveness projects in many parts of the world, has written widely on economic policy issues, and is a frequent speaker on competitiveness and strategy issues.

Dr. Ketels currently serves on the advisory boards of The Baltic Development Forum, the Center for Strategy and Competitiveness at the Universidad de los Andes, ORKESTRA The Basque Competitiveness Institute, the academic advisory council of Invest in Sweden Agency, is a special advisor to the Asia Competitiveness Institute, chairs the selection committee of RegioCluster.NRW cluster funding competition in Nordrhein-Westfalen (Germany), and is a member of the selection committee for the excellence cluster initiative launched by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Germany).

 

Alexander Muggah
Research Associate

Phone: 617 496 3383   Fax: 617 547 8543
email: amuggah hbs edu

Alex Muggah is a Research Associate at the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, supporting the Institute’s work in cluster competitiveness and economic development. Prior to joining the Institute, Alex worked for the Canadian Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, as part of a team negotiating a free trade agreement with the Republic of Korea. Alex graduated with a MSc. in Management Economics from Queens University in 2004, with a focus on international political economy and trade. An avid athlete, Alex plays on a touring ultimate frisbee team, as well as continuing to enjoy soccer, hockey, and squash. Alex lives in Cambridge with his partner, who is currently working towards her PhD in Organizational Behavior at the Harvard Business School.

 

Jorge Ramirez-Vallejo
Visiting Associate Professor
Phone: 617 496 3429   Fax: 617 384 7268
email: jramirez hbs edu

Dr Jorge Ramirez-Vallejo is a Visiting Associate Professor at the Harvard Business School working at the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness.  Dr. Ramirez-Vallejo has been a Visiting Scholar at the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies and Visiting Scholar at the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard University.  He worked previously at the Colombian Federation of Coffee Growers (FEDERACAFE) as director of the competitiveness program. He was CEO of the National Development Bank in Colombia, FINDETER; Director General of the Irrigation and Land Improvement Institute and Director of Agricultural Planning of the country.  He also worked as an economist for the Inter-American Bank.  He holds a PhD in Applied Economics from the University of Minnesota and degrees in Engineering from Colorado State University and Escuela Colombiana de Ingenieria.  He is an Associate Professor at the School of Management at Universidad de los Andes in Colombia, and founder and former director of the Center for Strategy and Competitiveness at the University of los Andes in Colombia. 

Martha Strom
Executive Assistant to Professor Porter

Phone: 617 495 6408   Fax: 617 547 8542
email:
mstrom hbs edu

 

Emmy Yamaguchi
Office Assistant

Phone: 617 384 8050   Fax: 617 496 7392
email: eyamaguchi hbs edu

Emmy Yamaguchi assists with organizing and maintaining the various forms of data at the institute.  She focuses on keeping the resources at the institute up to date and readily accessible.  Prior to working for the institute, Emmy was an account manager at an insurance firm that specialized in employee benefits.  She obtained her B.A. in International Studies – Political Science from University of California, San Diego and is currently attending Boston Architectural College for a Master’s degree in Architecture.  Her favorite pastime is snowboarding.    

 

Please note that the at sign "@" and period "." have been removed from the email addresses above in an attempt to limit junk mail.

 

 
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