On May 4th we hosted DePaul’s own Dr. Kelly Richmond Pope in the Economics and Strategy Talk series. In this eye-opening discussion, Kelly revealed details about her new book “Fool Me Once” and what she’s learned about fraud throughout her career.

It was great event!

Keep watching for announcements on our next speaker in this series.

Our next guest in the Economics and Strategy Talk series is award-winning educator, researcher, author, and documentary filmmaker​ Dr. Kelly Richmond Pope. She is the Dr. Barry Jay Epstein Endowed Professor of Forensic Accounting at DePaul University in Chicago, IL. Her presentation is entitled “The Who, What and Why of Fraud with Kelly Richmond Pope” and is adapted from her latest book Fool Me Once.

In Fool Me Once, this renowned forensic accounting expert, shows us fraud in action, uncovering what makes perpetrators tick, victims so gullible, and whistleblowers so morally righteous, while also encouraging us to look at our own behaviors and motivations in the hope of protecting ourselves and our companies. It’s sure to be a fascinating presentation with engaging Q&A as well.

This event will be held May 4th from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm CT in room 8206 at DePaul University’s Loop Campus DePaul Center building. There will be a reception and book signing following the event.

Tickets for this free event are available through the registration & RSVP links below. Please note that in person seating is limited and is on a first-come, first-served basis.

Fool Me Once is available at Barnes & Noble in the DePaul Center and at the book signing following the event.

Presenter Biography

Dr. Kelly Richmond Pope is the Dr. Barry Jay Epstein Endowed Professor of Forensic Accounting at DePaul University in Chicago, IL. Pope is a nationally recognized expert in risk, forensic accounting, and white-collar crime research, and an award-winning educator, researcher, author, and award-winning documentary filmmaker. Pope teaches managerial and forensic accounting both at the undergraduate and graduate level.

In 2020, the AICPA and the CPA Practice Advisor named Dr. Pope among the top 25 most powerful women in accounting. Her area of expertise lies in understanding and identifying financial fraud risk within financial statements, assessing corporate culture and compliance systems designed to confront internal control challenges. Pope’s research on executive misconduct culminated in directing and producing the award-winning documentary, All the Queen’s Horses which explores the largest municipal fraud in U.S. history. Pope’s TED Talk entitled “How Whistle-blowers Shape History” has been viewed over 1.6 million times, translated into 20 languages, and serves as a resource to help organizations and individuals embrace internal whistleblowing.

On October 20th the Economics and Strategy Talk series hosted Amy Bucher, Chief Behavioral Officer at Lirio and author of “Engaged: Designing for Behavior Change”. Amy discussed the intersection of behavioral science and design, what she’s learned over her career in the field, and how her book explains the process she has developed over that time.

Amy’s book is available HERE.

A 20% discount is available using the discount code: DEPAUL1020 (expires 12/31/22)

Keep watching for announcements on our next speaker in this series.

Our next guest in the Economics and Strategy Talk series is behavioral scientist Amy Bucher. Amy is Chief Behavioral Officer at Lirio and author of “Engaged: Designing for Behavior Change”. Her presentation is entitled “Designing for Behavior Change: Using Behavioral Science to Create Engaging and Effective Experiences”. This online event will be held on October 20th from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm CT.

Digital apps and experiences can support people in making all kinds of positive behavior changes, but in order to do that, they have to be both engaging and effective. That means designers need to focus on creating something compelling that addresses the reasons why people struggle to achieve their goals. Behavior science offers several frameworks that can layer onto a design process to create products that are not just engaging to use, but actually help people perform the behaviors that lead to better outcomes for health, wealth, and happiness. Learn about best practices from COM-B, the self-determination theory of motivation, and behavioral economics to help you design for lasting behavior change.

Amy’s book is Engaged: Designing for Behavior Change 

Behavior change design creates entrancing—and effective—products and experiences. Whether you’ve studied psychology or are new to the field, you can incorporate behavior change principles into your designs to help people achieve meaningful goals, learn and grow, and connect with one another. Engaged offers practical tips for design professionals to apply the psychology of engagement to their work.

A 20% discount is available using code: DEPAUL1020

Tickets for this free event are available through the registration & RSVP link below.

Presenter Biography

Amy Bucher, Ph.D., is Chief Behavioral Officer at Lirio, where she leads a team of behavioral scientists and health experts focused on designing AI-powered behavior change journeys to drive better personal and population health. She brings over 15 years of experience in digital health product design and research coupled with deep behavioral science training.

Amy is a recognized expert on applying the psychology of motivation to design, and authored Engaged: Designing for Behavior Change published by Rosenfeld Media and named one of Kirkus’ favorite indie books of 2020. Prior to joining Lirio, Amy was Vice President of Behavior Change Design at Mad*Pow, a strategic design consultancy. Amy also served as Senior Manager of Specialty Pharmacy Strategy for the CVS Health Digital Innovation Lab, and as Associate Director of Behavior Science for the Johnson & Johnson Health and Wellness Solutions Group. Amy earned her PhD and MA in Organizational Psychology from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and her AB magna cum laude in Psychology from Harvard University

Our latest guest in the Economics and Strategy Talk series was John A. List, the Kenneth C. Griffin Distinguished Service Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago. This well attended online event was held May 6th, 2022, and included a fascinating presentation adapted from Dr. List’s new book The Voltage Effect followed by a lively Q&A session.   

Keep watching for announcements on our next speaker in this series.

The next guest in our Economics and Strategy Talk series is John A. List, the Kenneth C. Griffin Distinguished Service Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago. His presentation is entitled The Voltage Effect and the Scalability of Business Experiments. This online event will be held on May 6th from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm CT.

“Scale” is probably a term you’ve heard before—a buzzword amongst Silicon Valley entrepreneurs and tech start-up circles. But at its core, “to scale” simply means to achieve a desired outcome when you move from a small group—of customers, students, or citizens—to a much larger one. And it’s not just for start-ups. Scaling ideas underpins all social and technological progress, since, as List says, “the innovations that change the world are those that reach the largest number of people.”

In his recent book The Voltage Effect, List reveals why some ideas take off (or scale) and why others fall flat using a mix of original research and real-world anecdotes from working with companies like Uber, Lyft, and Tinder. His ideas are brought to life in this engaging presentation with actionable, science-backed take-aways for leaders, teams, and organizations in all sectors looking to take their ideas to the next level.

Tickets for this free event are available through the registration & RSVP link below.

Presenter Biography

John A. List is the Kenneth C. Griffin Distinguished Service Professor in Economics at the University of Chicago. He received his B.S. in economics at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and Ph.D. in economics at the University of Wyoming. List joined the UChicago faculty in 2005, and served as Chairman of the Department of Economics from 2012-2018. Prior to joining the University of Chicago, he was a professor at the University of Central Florida, University of Arizona, and University of Maryland.

List was elected a Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2011 and a Fellow of the Econometric Society in 2015. He is currently the Visiting Robert F. Hartsook Chair in Fundraising at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. He received the Arrow Prize for Senior Economists in 2008, the Kenneth Galbraith Award in 2010, the Yrjo Jahnsson Lecture Prize in 2012, the Klein Lecture Prize in 2016, and the Hartsook Growing Philanthropy Award in 2017. He received an honorary doctorate from Tilburg University in 2014 and from the University of Ottawa in 2017. John was also named a Top 50 Innovator in the Non-Profit Times for 2015 and 2016 for his work on charitable giving. He served in the White House on the Council of Economic Advisers from 2002-2003 and is a Research Associate at the NBER, a Research Fellow at the Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), a University Fellow at Resources for the Future (RFF), and a University Fellow at Tilburg University in the Netherlands.

His research focuses on questions in microeconomics, with a particular emphasis on using field experiments to address both positive and normative issues. For decades his field experimental research has focused on issues related to the inner-workings of markets, the effects of various incentives schemes on market equilibria and allocations, how behavioral economics can augment the standard economic model, on early childhood education and interventions, and most recently on the gender earnings gap in the gig economy (using evidence from rideshare drivers).

His research includes over 200 peer-reviewed journal articles and several published books, including the 2013 international best-seller, The Why Axis: Hidden Motives and the Undiscovered Economics of Everyday Life (with Uri Gneezy).

The next speaker in our Economics and Strategy Talk series was David Reiley, Distinguished Scientist at SiriusXM Pandora, who presented his research related to consumer demand and sensitivity to paid advertisements. This event was held on Zoom on February 25th from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm CT.

A randomized experiment with almost 35 million Pandora listeners enables us to measure the sensitivity of consumers to advertising, an important topic of study in the era of ad-supported digital content provision. The experiment randomized listeners into nine treatment groups, each of which received a different level of audio advertising interrupting their music listening, with the highest treatment group receiving more than twice as many ads as the lowest treatment group. By keeping consistent treatment assignment for 21 months, we can see that the long-term effects of a change in “ad load,” or number of ads per hour, take over a year to be fully realized. We estimate a demand curve that is strikingly linear, with the number of hours listened decreasing linearly in the number of ads per hour (also known as the price of ad-supported listening). We also show the negative impact on the number of days listened and on the probability of listening at all in the final month. Using an experimental design that separately varies the number of commercial interruptions per hour and the number of ads per commercial interruption, we find that neither makes much difference to listeners beyond their impact on the total number of ads per hour. Lastly, we find that increased ad load causes a significant increase in the number of paid ad-free subscriptions to Pandora, particularly among older listeners.

Presenter Biography

David Reiley, Distinguished Scientist at SiriusXM Pandora has a PhD in Economics from MIT and a A.B. in Astrophysical Sciences from Princeton. He is an economist in the advertising-science group at Pandora and an Adjunct Professor at the UC Berkeley School of Information. He previously spent more than seven years at Google and Yahoo! Research, primarily working on experiments to measure the effects of online advertising. He started his career as an economics professor at Vanderbilt University and at the University of Arizona.

David is passionate about the use of field experiments in economics and the social sciences and has spent his career promoting their use. Before his dissertation at MIT in 1996, field experiments were quite rare in economics. Now there are dozens of people regularly performing field experiments to learn about economic and social behavior. Most people still consider economics to be an observational rather than an experimental science, but that has been changing significantly.

The Economics & Strategy Talk: Strategy & Innovation in the Automotive Industry will be held on October 29 at 6:00pm to 7:30pm CT via Zoom.

This panel discussion is a part of the quarterly Economics & Strategy Talks hosted by DePaul University’s Department of Economics Business Strategy & Decision-Making Program. This panel of automotive industry experts will discus the most pressing topics related to automotive strategy and innovation. Some topics may include supply chain, the role of OEMs, electrification, automation, and trends in wholesale, resale, and digital.

• Brittany Strebel – Lincoln Operations Manager at Ford Motor Company
• Brett Strebel – Market Representation Manager at Ford Motor Company
• Chris Schaafsma – Global Innovation Director at ITW
• Neil Feuling – Senior Director of Strategy & Business at FYUSION

This panelists will discuss prepared questions for 1 hour which will be followed by a 30-minute audience Q&A. If you’d like to submit a question before the event, please fill out the form here.

Brittany Strebel of Ford Motor Company

Brett Strebel of Ford Motor Company

Brett is a facilitator for Ford Advocates for Belonging, was a Ford Motor Company Capstone Project participant, and enjoys giving back through volunteering at the Greater Chicago Food Depository and serving as a fundraising runner for Advocate Health Care.

Chris Schaafsma of ITW

After additional roles at ITW’s corporate Innovation Center, and managing innovation at one of ITW’s other automotive businesses, he moved into his current position as Global Director of Innovation at ITW Seats, Safety & Motion, where he is responsible for leading a team, establishing processes and building strategies that will create valuable new products for ITW’s automotive OEM customers. Chris holds a BS in Physics from Greenville University, BS in Mechanical Engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and MBA in Leadership & Change Management from DePaul University.

Neil Feuling of FYUSIO

Neil is currently Senior Director, Strategy and Business Development at Fyusion – a computer vision and machine learning technology company that enables the creation of high resolution, optimized 3D images with deep AI understanding. With over 150 patents, Fyusion builds next-generation applications with a focus on automotive vehicle inspections, intelligent damage detection and 3D digital merchandising.

Fyusion was recently acquired by Cox Automotive in January 2021 and Neil now leads growth initiatives leveraging Fyusion technology across Cox Automotive business units spanning wholesale, retail, sell and trade, rental, mobility, repair and service, insurance and more.

Prior to Fyusion, Neil served as VP, Business Development at Autolist, a fast-growing mobile app for car searchers. In addition, he has held positions at LeEco / Faraday Future, a global autonomous electric vehicle OEM, Beepi, a venture backed peer to peer vehicle marketplace to buy and sell cars online, and Cars.com, a leading digital marketplace that connects car shoppers with sellers. He earned his MBA in Marketing and Entrepreneurship and MS in Finance from DePaul University, Kellstadt Graduate School of Business.

While at DePaul, Neil was Founding President of Kellstadt Markeing Group, was the graduate assistant to the Chair of the Entrepreneurship Program, and taught entrepreneurship classes. Neil was a Founding Partner of the Coleman Circle supporting the Coleman Entrepreneurship Center at DePaul and has been an Advisor focused on strategy, marketing and finance to many startups.

We were thrilled to host DePaul MBA Alumnus Tanner Krause, CEO of Kum & Go for the Economics & Strategy Talk on May 7, 2021.

Kum & Go is a Midwest-based convenience store chain that sells gasoline and retail items. Tanner offered a candid conversation about his background, strategic vision, and the forces influencing innovative decisions for Kum & Go.

Presenter Biography

Tanner Krause is the CEO of Kum & Go, headquartered in Des Moines, IA. He is the fourth generation to lead in the family-owned business. As CEO, Tanner oversees the marketing, operations, human resources, information technology, finance and store development functions. Together, these teams provide support to 5,000 associates in 400 stores across 11 states.

Tanner’s work experience with Kum & Go dates back more than twenty years, when he began working part-time in stores. With nearly ten years of store experience, plus four different internships with Kum & Go, he became a District Supervisor in the Des Moines, IA area in 2013. Following completion of his MBA, he became Kum & Go’s Director of Operations in 2016. In January of 2017, Tanner became the Senior Vice President of Grow People leading all of the human resources functions of the business and in June 2018, Tanner was named President of Kum & Go. In January 2021 Tanner succeeded his father as CEO. Tanner’s passion for Kum & Go’s associates and stores is a highlight in every role he has held within the company. Tanner also provides strategic direction and support to several other businesses in the Krause Group portfolio.

Prior to his Kum & Go history, Tanner worked through the E. & J. Gallo Winery’s Management Development Program, working as a Sales Representative for Wirtz Beverage Group (IL) for two years before joining Empire Merchants (NY) as a Field Sales Manager. He appreciates the opportunities provided to him by the Gallo family, as well as their commitment to skill development and career pathing.

Tanner received two Bachelor’s in Business Administration degrees from Loyola University in Chicago in 2010 – Finance and Economics. Additionally, Tanner is a member of the most successful graduating class in Loyola Ramblers Men’s Soccer history. In 2016, he graduated with a Master’s in Business Administration from DePaul University, concentrating in Business Strategy.

Living in Des Moines, IA with his wife, Hannah, the two share a passion for community betterment. Tanner is a board member of the Boys & Girls Club of Central Iowa. Hannah is a board member of the Food Bank of Iowa. The couple have a young daughter.

Our next Economics & Strategy Talk hosted Professor Joseph Harrington from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania who presented “Algorithmic Pricing & Market Competition” on February 19, 2021.

As a result of Big Data and AI, firms can condition prices on high frequency data, tailor prices to narrow submarkets, and more effectively learn in order to discover the most profitable pricing rules. While there are potential efficiency benefits from these advances, concerns have been raised about possible consumer harm. Enhanced price discrimination fueled by customer-specific data may result in a transfer of surplus from consumers to firms. Automated pricing could make markets more efficient by increasing the speed of response to demand and supply changes but could also undermine price competition. Learning algorithms could discover more profitable pricing rules but that could be because they facilitate collusion. Competition authorities have expressed concern with the growing role of algorithmic pricing and there is an active policy debate as to whether legal and enforcement regimes are equipped to deal with it. This talk reviewed the emergence and effect of algorithmic pricing in a variety of markets including pricing by platforms such as Uber, bidding at Google sponsored search auctions by digital marketing agencies, and the use of a third party’s pricing algorithm such as at Amazon Marketplace and in retail gasoline markets. Also explored was a recent case in which firms colluded by coordinating their pricing algorithms and the prospect of collusion autonomously achieved by AI.

Presenter Biography

Professor Joseph Harrington is the Patrick T. Harker Professor at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He is considered one of the world’s leading authorities on collusion and cartels. Prof. Harrington has published more than 80 scholarly papers and given keynote lectures on five continents including addresses at the annual meetings of the European Association for Research in Industrial Economics, the Chilean Economic Association, and the German Economic Association.

He has presented before or advised more than a dozen competition authorities including those of Japan, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, and the U.S. He has served as President of the Industrial Organization Society and been a member of the editorial boards of all major journals in industrial organization. He is the author or co-author of Economics of Regulation and Antitrust, The Theory of Collusion and Competition Policy, and the forthcoming Hub-and-Spoke Cartels: Why They Form, How They Operate, and How to Prosecute Them. Reflecting his general interest in strategic decision-making, he has also written Games, Strategies, and Decision Making.