Faculty
The University of Exeter Business School's first-class academic reputation attracts internationally renowned researchers and skilled educators, with 92% of Business and Management research rated as world leading or internationally excellent in the Research Excellence Framework (REF) 2021.
On The Exeter MBA, you will benefit from direct and immediate access to top researchers in the teaching team and work with experts in the latest business ideas, theories and approaches. You will discuss and debate the current challenges and opportunities facing businesses with some of the top business professionals and leading business academics in the world, sharing insights from their vast and varied years working in industry around the globe.
The Exeter MBA Director
Professor Donald Lancaster
Having driven corporate and marketing success for advertising agencies over 35 years in many parts of the world, Donald has significant experience and expertise internationally in the practice of marketing communications, management, leadership, presentation, coaching and training, alongside other skills. He led well-known agency offices such as JWT, Ogilvy and Lowe, working with diverse brands including HSBC, Unilever, P&G, Mars, Mazda and Toyota.
Curiosity led Donald to translate and test some of that practice experience through Doctoral research at Bath in 2014. His PhD unearthed new insights into the relationships between global advertisers and their agencies, applying academic theory to new areas of the practitioner arena. He subsequently became an associate Professor, is a Fellow of the Higher Education Authority, Fellow of the Worshipful Company of Marketors and a Certified Management & Business Educator, and lectures in Marketing, Advertising and Brand Management.
Previously as Director of Teaching for MBAs at Bath, he joined Exeter in 2022 to lead the development of The Exeter MBA programme suite.
Email: D.Lancaster@exeter.ac.uk
Senior Lecturer in Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Dr William Casely
William Casely leads our popular module 'The Entrepreneurial Mind-set', and is the academic tutor for our Executive MBA students. Prior to joining the Business School, William gained 28 years’ experience working in the retail industry, 16 of them in Senior Management roles.
Trained at Harrods, he has worked with a mix of retail names across a mix of retail sectors. Career progression with Debenhams culminated in him managing their Oxford Street store, before he moved across town to Kingston as General Manager of Bentalls. As Chairman of Kingston Town Management Ltd he developed one of the earliest town centre management organisations in the country. He returned to Knightsbridge appointed as the first General Manger of Harvey Nichols and during this tenure became a Group Director at the Oxford Retail Summer School, Keble College. Returning to his roots in the South West, William became Managing Director of the Otter Nurseries Retail Group.
He completed his MBA at the University of Exeter in 2012 graduating with a Distinction. William’s research interest lies within the fields of Entrepreneurship and Corporate Entrepreneurship and is currently working on his PhD thesis centring on ‘The Entrepreneurial Process and Intelligent Failure’.
Email: D.Lancaster@exeter.ac.uk
Professor of Circular Innovation
Professor Fiona Charnley
Fiona joined Exeter Business School in May 2019 after working for eight years at Cranfield University as a Senior Lecturer in Circular Innovation. Fiona has a background in Industrial Design and has established herself as a thought leader in the Circular Economy, working at the interfaces of Design, Innovation and Manufacture.
Fiona is an investigator on a number of research grants including the EPSRC funded projects 'Circular4.0: Data-Driven Intelligence for a Circular Economy', ‘Small is Beautiful’ and 'Manufacturing Immortality'. Fiona also successfully led the EPSRC funded Network in Re-Distributed Manufacturing, Big Data and Consumer Goods (RECODE) and is a member of the management group for the Connected Everything Network Plus.
Fiona has extensive experience of working with organisations from across sectors to identify new approaches to design, innovation, manufacture and business modelling to transform resource use and value creation. She has also led multiple education and executive training programmes to support future leaders in developing the skills and capabilities necessary to transform our industrial system from linear to circular. In 2018 Fiona was recognised as one of the Top 50 Women in Engineering by the Women's Engineering Society and the Telegraph for her contribution to Circular Economy research and education.
Email: F.Charnley@exeter.ac.uk
Professor of Circular Innovation
Dr Cécile Emery
Cécile Emery joined the Business School in May 2019 as a Senior Lecturer in Leadership. Previously, she has held posts at the University of Surrey, University of Greenwich and London School of Economics & Political Science. Her research uses advanced social network techniques - exponential random graphs and longitudinal network analysis - to study relationships in the workplace and, more precisely, the relationship that leaders develop with their followers. Cécile has published her work in outlets such as the Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, Organization Science, Journal of Applied Psychology, and Social Networks.
Email: c.emery@exeter.ac.uk
Professor of Economics
Professor Oliver Hauser
Dr. Oliver Hauser is a Professor in Economics at the University of Exeter Business School. His research focuses on understanding the moral underpinnings of both individuals and societies — when we help others, why we cheat, and what we can do to reduce inequity. He has previously taught and researched at the Harvard Business School, Harvard Kennedy School of Government and Harvard Extension School. He received his Ph.D. in Biology from Harvard University in 2016 and his B.Sc. in Physics at the University of Innsbruck in 2010.
Oliver's research combines game theory with laboratory studies, field experiments, big data and machine learning. He has worked with some of the world's leading organisations, such as Unilever, BlackRock, Deloitte, GE and Yelp; with governments in the U.K. (Behavioural Insights Team, aka “Nudge Unit”) and Australia, and the New Mexico state government in the U.S.; and charities such as GlobalGiving, DonorsChoose.org and Kiva.
Email: O.Hauser@exeter.ac.uk
Distinguished Research Professor
Professor Hannes Leroy
Hannes completed his PhD in authentic leadership development at the University of Leuven in 2012. After that he worked at Cornell University (Johnson School of Business) before continuing his academic journey at Rotterdam School of Management, currently as an Associate Professor.
Hannes Leroy is interested in authentic leadership and how to develop it. That interest includes not only a passionate and critical view of the concept of authenticity but his past work also includes a better understanding of its unique outcomes (e.g., safety, error hiding and work engagement), antecedents (e.g., mindfulness training), and similarities and differences from related concepts (i.e., leader behavioral integrity, leader communication transparency). On the development side he is passionate about authenticity both in terms of developing leaders to use their unique or authentic self as a source of their leadership strength as well as the idea of real (i.e., actually moving the needle) leadership development.
Email: O.Hauser@exeter.ac.uk
Associate Dean (Professional Education), Senior Lecturer in Management
Dr Stuart Robinson
Stuart joined the Business School in 2012 as a Practitioner Research Fellow following an industrial career in telecom and finance.
He started work with BT as a sponsored student and after finishing his engineering degree at Oxford worked for the company in marketing and product management roles. Between 1996 and 1998 he completed an Executive MBA at London Business School. Subsequently he spent 10 years in the Netherlands working for Telfort, a mobile telecom business, here he was initially financial controller and then managed large teams in billing, IT and network technology. During this period he formed an interest in IT outsourcing and its longer term implications for business performance.
In 2007 Stuart returned to London where he took up a role as senior research analyst for Alliance Bernstein, an international asset management firm. At Bernstein he was responsible for European investments and holdings in telecom, media and technology stocks a role which required him to become familiar with many of the larger listed firms operating in these sectors as well as the competitive and regulatory issues that drive the industry.
Email: s.robinson@exeter.ac.uk
Professor in Digital Economy
Professor Mark Thompson
Mark Thompson is a Professor of Digital Economy in INDEX (Initiative for the Digital Economy). He holds a BA in Human Sciences from University of Oxford, an MSc in Development Studies from SOAS, and a PhD in Information Systems from University of Cambridge. Mark’s research draws on practice-based theories to investigate the intersection between emerging digital business models, and organisational innovation and transformation.
Mark has published articles in a broad range of journals including Information and Organization, Academy of Management Review, Organization Science, Journal of Public Administration Research and Theory, Government Information Quarterly, Public Administration, Human Relations, Journal of International Development, and Journal of the Association of Information Systems.
He is acknowledged in the public domain as one of the architects of Digital service redesign within the UK public sector, and blends the roles of academic, practitioner, and policy commentator. He has chaired several of the large annual conferences on Digital in the UK public sector including the annual National Digital Conference, and contributes to Computer Weekly and a range of other practitioner publications.
Mark combines his University role with other roles as Board Member of TechUK, and Strategy Director for Methods, Methods Analytics, and Core Azure. He has held previous roles as Senior Lecturer in Information Systems at Cambridge Judge Business School, and Change Management Consultant at Accenture.
Email: M.Thompson6@exeter.ac.uk
Adjunct Lecturer in Developing an Ethical Perspective
Morgen Witzel
With an international reputation for innovative thinking on a range of management issues, Morgen has written or co-written 18 books, published articles in leading business magazines (such as the FT and the LA Times) and since 1999 has served as editor-in-chief of Corporate Finance Review. Morgen has undertaken numerous business research and consultancy projects, with clients including the Tata Group, McKinsey & Company, the Indian School of Business, Rabobank International and Ernst & Young. Morgen is also a Fellow of the Business School’s Centre for Leadership Studies.
Email: M.Witzel@exeter.ac.uk
