Oklahoma State University: Spears Business Welcomes Cohort X Executive Doctorate
Monday, October 11, 2021
Media contact:
Terry Tush | Director, Marketing and Communications | 405-744-2703 | [email protected]
Oklahoma State University’s Spears School of Business welcomes Cohort X to the
doctorate in the Business for Executives program.
Students will begin their AACSB-accredited three-year doctoral program for the period 2021-2022
academic year. This program allows the leaders of organizations to obtain a doctorate while
pursue their career full time. The program is designed to bridge the gap between university studies
and doing business through a rich, research-based program.
“We are delighted to welcome the 10th cohort to our nationally renowned setting
doctoral program, ”said Ken Eastman, dean of the Spears School of Business. ” This
diverse group of executives from diverse backgrounds including oil and gas,
higher education and technological and medical fields. We can’t wait to see what lies ahead
them.”
Executives of cohort X (2021-2024)
Prashant Budhale: Budhale is the VP of Technology for SONIC / Inspire Brands and is responsible
for all aspects of technology supporting over 3,500 restaurants, over 300
franchisees and over $ 5 billion in revenue. He worked for Pizza Hut, Fujitsu America
and Capgemini US. Budhale received his MBA (finance) from Butler University.
Lance R. Coffman: Coffman is the Regional Business Advisor for the Missouri SBDC at Missouri State University
in Springfield, Missouri, where he helped business owners increase sales
over $ 10.7 million last year. He accomplished this through individual counseling
and expand experiential learning programs to match clients with several new classes
and departments. Coffman received his MBA from MSU.
Bill Fairhurst: Fairhurst is president / co-founder of Riverford Exploration, an oil and gas exploration company
and a production company and an oil and gas consultancy firm with offices in the
Woodlands, Austin and Dallas. Fairhurst also held positions at the University
of Texas-Austin, Lee College and Eagle Oil & Gas, Co. He holds an MBA (finance) from
the University of Houston and a master’s degree in geology from the University of
Missouri-Colombia.
Dan Grégoire: Gregory is vice president of administration at Concordia University in Texas, where he
serves as the operational and strategic leader for facilities management, capital projects,
land development and acquisition, campus police, auxiliary businesses, environment
stewardship, risk management, insurance, compliance, contracts and legal matters. Gregory
received a master’s degree in industrial technology from the University of Texas-Austin
and a master’s degree in construction engineering management from the University of Alabama
in Birmingham.
Jesse D. Meldru: Meldru recently became CFO at StaffDx. He has over two decades of diverse experience
lead management and financial success with global and national organizations in
a variety of industries, including healthcare. Meldru obtained a master’s degree in
Professional Accounting (Focus on Taxation) from Colorado State University and a
MBA (Focus on Finance) from Georgia State University.
Natasha P. Poularikas: Poularikas is an instructor for the marketing and supply chain division at the
University of Oklahoma. She previously worked for MidFirst Bank, the Hess Corporation
and Burlington Resources. She received her MBA (finance) from Vanderbilt University.
Dr Robert E. Sapién: Sapién is Emeritus Professor of Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics at the
University of New Mexico and serves as the Chief Medical Officer for sapienWELLNESS. Sapien
received his medical degree from the University of New Mexico School of Medicine,
and a master’s degree in medical management from the University of Southern California Marshall
Business school. He has been a practicing physician since 1986. Sapién has completed
trained in hypnotherapy at the Hypnotherapy Academy of America in 2005 and is a co-founder
of the International Council of Hypnotherapy.
Angela T. Schwartz: As a service practice leader for Microsoft Corporation, Schwartz leads an organization
of 300 consultants, engineers, project managers and technical delivery managers working
with federal government customers to migrate platforms to the cloud, infrastructure
modernization, strengthening of cybersecurity, including people change management,
processes and governance aspects of cloud service migrations. She obtained her MBA from
Mercer University.
The executive doctorate. program is also accepting applications for fall 2022. Applications
are due February 1. For more information visit: https://business.okstate.edu/execphd/application-process.html.
This press release was produced by Oklahoma State University. The opinions expressed here are those of the author.
