KNOWLEDGE

Anton Korinek is a Professor in the UVA Department of Economics and Darden School of Business, as well as the Faculty Director of the Economics of Transformative AI (EconTAI) Initiative. He was named to the 2025 TIME100 AI list of the most influential people in artificial intelligence. He is a Visiting Scholar at the Brookings Institution, a Research Associate at the NBER, and a Research Fellow at the CEPR, and serves on Anthropic's Economic Advisory Council. Anton received his Ph.D. from Columbia University in 2007 after several years of work experience in the IT and financial sectors.

Jingjing Li is the Andersen Alumni Associate Professor of IT and Innovation at the McIntire School of Commerce, and the Academic Director of the M.S. in Business Analytics Program, which is jointly offered by the McIntire School and the Darden School of Business. Jingjing's research focuses on the design, development, and management of artificial intelligence and data analytics systems, with applications in healthcare, marketing, platforms, and public policy and appears in myriad prestigious journals. Before joining academia, she was a scientist at Microsoft, where she built large-scale machine learning/AI solutions for core products and services.

Chris Maurer has extensive experience in various cybersecurity-related fields, including risk management, vulnerability assessment, security awareness and training, business continuity planning, and IT governance. His research has appeared in MIS Quarterly; European Journal of Information Systems; and MIS Quarterly Executive and has been presented at leading international IS conferences. He is also a member of the Society of Information Management IT Trends Study research team. Prior to earning his Ph.D., Chris worked for KPMG as an IT Auditor and as the Director of Security and Controls for TRX Inc.

Reza Mousavi is an expert at the intersection of artificial intelligence (AI) and business. His work centers on the inner workings, applications, and societal impacts of AI, including large language models (LLMs), natural language processing (NLP), and deep learning. Reza's research has been published in premier journals, including Information Systems Research; Journal of Management Information Systems; Journal of the Association for Information Systems; and Journal of Marketing. His scholarly focus is grounded in real-world experience. Prior to his academic career, he served as Lead Data Scientist at State Farm Insurance Co. and advised leading consulting firms on AI initiatives.

Ryan Nelson is active in the undergraduate, graduate, and executive education programs at the McIntire School of Commerce. He serves as the Director of the Center for the Management of Information Technology, a position he has held since the founding of CMIT in 1991. During his tenure at McIntire, he has served as Associate Dean of the Undergraduate Program, Information Technology Area Coordinator, and Director of the M.S. in MIT Program. Ryan has published articles and cases on project management, product management, and IT adoption in a variety of academic and professional journals, including MIS Quarterly; Harvard Business Review; MIS Quarterly Executive; Journal of Management Information Systems; and many more. 

Chris Porter is a cybersecurity leader at Fannie Mae, where he is responsible for advancing and innovating the organization’s defense and response capabilities while promoting enterprise-wide awareness of information security. He brings over 15 years of experience across the IT and security landscape, including roles as an economist, system administrator, consultant, and researcher. Previously, he was a lead analyst at Verizon and a key author of the Data Breach Investigations Report, and co-creator of the VERIS Framework for standardizing security incident reporting. 

Since 1994, Dr. Barbara Wixom’s research has explored how organizations generate business value from data assets. Her methods include large-scale surveys, meta-analyses, lab experiments and in-depth case studies; five of her cases have placed in the Society for Information Management Paper Awards competition. Barb is a leading academic scholar, publishing in such journals as Information Systems Research; MIT Sloan Management Review; MIS Quarterly; and MIS Quarterly Executive. She regularly presents her work to academic and business audiences around the world.

Ryan Wright is Co-Director of AI Research @ UVA and Special Advisor to the Provost on AI Research at the University of Virginia, in addition to Professor of Commerce. He previously served as Associate Dean for Strategic Initiatives, Senior Associate Dean of Faculty and Research, and Area Coordinator for IT & Innovation, all at the McIntire School. In his current roles, Ryan leads University-wide strategic initiatives in artificial intelligence research and academics, oversees collaborative AI efforts across disciplines, and advises on the advancement of AI strategy and governance at UVA. He also serves as Associate Director for CMIT.