Patrick J. Johanns
Patrick (Pat) Johanns is an Associate Professor of Instruction in BusinessAnalytics at the Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa, where hehas taught since 2014. He served as Faculty Director of the ProfessionalBusiness Analytics Graduate Program from 2019 to 2024, leading it to nationalrecognition. The department won the INFORMS UPS George D. Smith Prize forexcellence in preparing students for operations research and analytics careers.He was honored as the program’s Best Core Course Instructor for 2024–2025.
Pat holds a PhD in Operations Management, an MBA, and a BS in Microbiologyfrom the University of Iowa. His diverse academic background informs hisinterdisciplinary approach to teaching. His academic career has spanned fivecontinents and includes nearly a decade at Melbourne Business School, one ofAustralia’s highest-ranked business schools. A passionate educator, he hasreceived multiple teaching awards, including at Purdue University’s DanielsSchool of Business, where he taught from 2003 to 2014. This global perspectiveenriches his teaching, bringing his students a wealth of internationalinsights.
He is coauthor of AI in Business: Creating ValueResponsibly with Artificial Intelligence (McGraw-Hill) and authorof Management Science with Spreadsheet Modeling(Kendall Hunt). His work bridges technical rigor and real-world relevance,helping students make sense of emerging technologies like AI, blockchain, andpredictive analytics and how those technologies can be effectively implementedin business.
Beyond the classroom, Pat has led entrepreneurship and analytics workshopsin Kenya and served on multiple U.S. State Department public diplomacy grants.He is also the author of Distilled, a Substack seriesof 100-word micro-memoirs capturing life lessons, humor, and personaltransformation.
A lifelong enthusiast of board games, Pat is an expert-level player, havingcompeted in national championships in both the United States and Australia. Heplaytests upcoming titles for game designers and enjoys the strategic depth andsocial interaction that board gaming offers.
Pat lives in North Liberty, Iowa, with his wife,Barbara, whom he first met in a second-grade Christmas play. They have threechildren and one grandchild. He enjoys traveling, writing, and camping in hisAirstream,
DaystreamBeliever.
James W. Chaffee
James (Jim) Chaffee is an Associate Professor of Practice in BusinessAnalytics at the Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa, where hehas taught and led technology initiatives since 2007. Over his extensivecareer, he has guided strategic projects transforming how emerging technologieslike artificial intelligence, blockchain, and virtual reality are integratedinto business education. In his previous roles of leading technologyimplementation, Jim has been instrumental in designing collaborative learningspaces, launching technology-forward curricula, and spearheading safety andfacilities management strategies for Tippie.
Jim holds an MA in Educational Technology from the University of Illinoisand a BS in Secondary English Education from Penn West University. He hasdeveloped and taught a wide array of courses, including Emerging TechnologyDriving Business, Innovations in Technology, and Video Games as Learning Tools,bringing practical, hands-on insights into the classroom. His research andpresentations have explored topics ranging from online education through gamingsystems to the transformative power of XR and AI in business.
Beyond his work at the university, Jim co-hosted the PBS show Bits& PCs, presented at national conferences, and contributedthought leadership pieces to publications like University Businessand BizEd Magazine. He has served on numerous committeesdedicated to advancing educational excellence and has advised studentorganizations fostering leadership and innovation.
A passionate advocate for harnessing technology to improve teaching andlearning, Jim brings a unique blend of academic expertise, operationalleadership, and a love for empowering others to everything he does. He lives inWest Branch, Iowa with his wife Tammy and their little dog Moriyah.
Jackie Rees Ulmer
Jackie Rees Ulmer has served as the Glenn E. Corlett Dean of the College ofBusiness and a Professor of Analytics and Information Systems at OhioUniversity since 2021. Previously, she served the Ivy College of Business atIowa State University in various administrative roles, including Associate Deanand Department Chair. She was a professor of Information Systems and held theUnion Pacific Professorship in Information Systems. Before joining Iowa State,she was a tenured faculty member in the Management Information Systems area inthe Krannert School of Management (now the Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr., School ofBusiness) at Purdue University for 17 years.
She holds a PhD and BSBA in Decision and Information Sciences from theWarrington College of Business at the University of Florida. Her early exposureto machine learning via expert systems led to a career-long interest in AI,particularly machine learning. Her doctoral dissertation focused on geneticalgorithms as a computational model for how teams exchange ideas in search of asolution.
Her research focus is in Cybersecurity Risk Management and analytics,particularly machine learning models. Her research has been published injournals such as Information Systems Research (ISR),Management Information Systems Quarterly (MISQ), Journal of ManagementInformation Systems (JMIS), ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems(ACM-TMIS), Decision Sciences (DS), Decision Support Systems (DSS), EuropeanJournal of Operational Research (EJOR), and several other outlets.
Her teaching interests include Introduction to Programming, DatabaseManagement Systems, Information Security Management, Business Analytics, andStrategic Use of Information Systems. Jackie enjoys “pulling the curtain back”on what can seem like mysterious technologies and empowering learners throughthe use of data, technology, and systems.
She serves on several boards of directors and is an active peer reviewer andcommittee member for AACSB.
She and her husband Mike live in Pickerington,Ohio, with the youngest of their three children and their dogs Bruno (GreatPyrenees) and Melon (Golden Doodle).
