Faculty Profiles

Jeffrey Kaplan has over 25 years of executive experience that includes growing a startup from a $1,500 investment to an international business sold for over $1 million. As a faculty member in the University of Phoenix School of Business, he teaches courses online and at the Southern California Campus.

Jeffrey manages the training and development practice and leads the Greenlight Research Institute in his role as a partner at Ferrazzi Greenlight Consulting. In this position, he was a contributing author for the New York Times best-selling book Who’s Got Your Back and acted as a strategic consultant for companies such as Thomson Reuters Corp., US Bank, New York Stock Exchange, Bank of America and the US Army. Prior to his work at Ferrazzi Greenlight, Jeffrey managed the $500 million relationship with Microsoft Corp. for the global consulting firm Capgemini.

Jeffrey serves as a keynote speaker at over 60 conventions and corporate meetings annually. His areas of expertise include leadership development; sales optimization; team cohesion; strategic development and execution; thought leadership development and execution; and community identification, management and development.

He earned an MBA from the Graziadio School of Business and Management at Pepperdine University and a Doctor of Management in Organizational Leadership from University of Phoenix.

The information in this profile was provided by the subject.

Hector Garcia has more than 23 years of experience in law enforcement and security leadership and teaches criminal justice courses online. He is also the founder of a nationally recognized law enforcement and security consulting organization specializing in school and corporate safety and security.

His career experience includes serving as a chief of police, director of safety and security and vice president of operations with large organizations. Hector is a recognized subject matter expert and expert witness in the law enforcement and safety/security field.

He has a Doctor of Education in Organizational Leadership from Argosy University and a Master of Science in Criminal Justice from Lynn University. He serves the International Association of Chiefs of Police as a member of the Police Administration Committee and the Juvenile Justice Committee.

Ruby Rouse, who has held a variety of leadership positions in business and higher education, is a faculty member in the School of Advanced Studies where she facilitates doctoral-level courses. Ruby has more than 17 years of experience working as a director of marketing for various organizations, including a million-dollar dental practice in South Texas as well as a private investment firm in San Antonio. 

Her current research focuses on the Supervisor Leadership and Communication Inventory (SLCI), a diagnostic tool she developed to measure the influence of supervisor leadership and communication on employee behavior. Recently, she completed a national study of leadership during the financial crisis.

Ruby has been published in the areas of marketing, research, communication and health care and her articles have been featured in the Journal of Behavioral Medicine, Journal of Leadership Studies, Health Marketing Quarterly, Health Communication and Journal of Professional Services Marketing. 

Ruby received a bachelor's degree in journalism from Texas A&M University, a master's degree in speech from the University of Houston, and a doctoral degree in marketing communication from the University of Connecticut.

James Cunningham is an Industrial-Organizational Psychologist who works for the U.S. Department of Defense in leadership development, performance improvement, psychological assessment and 360-degree feedback. He served in the Air Force for 20 years working primarily in medical training.

James holds a Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from Capella University. He has been teaching for University of Phoenix both online and at the Columbia, South Carolina Campus since 2007. He is currently a Faculty Council member for the College of Social Sciences and has previously been a member for the Colleges of Arts and Sciences.

As an Organizational Psychologist, James conducts and interprets psychological assessments and performs executive coaching/360-degree developmental feedback for leaders in the Department of Defense. He facilitates a wide variety of leadership development, performance improvement and leader communication briefings in formal training environments. He also conducts research on the climate and culture of the organization he serves and makes recommendations to leadership for future improvements.

James is a member of the American Psychological Association and Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology.

Connie Lorthridge has spent over 36 years in public education and now teaches various courses in the Colleges of Humanities, Social Sciences, Nursing and Education at the University of Phoenix Central Florida Campus. She has a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership from the Teacher's College of Columbia University and has been teaching with University of Phoenix for over five years. She's also the Campus College Chair for the College of Education.

Her career in public education has spanned from administrative roles to teaching in regular and special education classrooms. She's a former New York state public school superintendent, middle school vice principal, elementary principal and assistant superintendent for elementary and curriculum and instruction.

Connie has a Certificate of Advanced Study in Educational Administration from the School Administrators Association of New York State. She's a member of the American Association of School Superintendents and the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Her areas of expertise include leadership, coaching, teamwork, curriculum design and strategic planning.

JoAnn Zerwekh is an educator, author and consultant with over 40 years of experience in nursing. She primarily teaches graduate-level nursing practicum courses online. She is the executive director of a nursing education consultant company that publishes books and provides NCLEX review courses for graduate nurses.

She has a master's in nursing from University of Texas at Arlington and a Doctor of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from Texas A&M. JoAnn is the author of numerous textbooks including NursingToday: Transition and Trends and eight volumes of Memory Notebook of Nursing review books for the RN and PN level. She also consults with nursing programs on curriculum development and analysis, as well as test construction and incorporating eLearning into the curriculum.

JoAnn is involved with state student nurse associations as an exhibitor and speaker and is a consultant for eLearning with Elsevier. She has been teaching with University of Phoenix since 1993.

Vlad Genin is an innovator in higher education and global business development with over 30 years of experience.

Vlad serves as the Chair of the University of Phoenix School of Business and the College of Information Systems & Technology at the Bay Area Campus. Since 2001, he has taught both undergraduate and graduate courses in Global Business Management, Decision Making and Project Management. He’s been recognized by University of Phoenix as Outstanding Faculty of the Year in 2004 and Most Valuable Leader in 2006 and 2009.

In addition to a Master of Science in Marketing and a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering, Vlad has a Ph.D. in Technical Science/Engineering and Management from The Moscow State University of Civil Engineering.

At Stanford University’s Institute for International Studies, Vlad formed an international think tank on defense conversion consisting of 36 U.S. and international statesmen, directors of research centers and institutes, diplomats and world-famous scholars. He served as the general editor of the book The Anatomy of Russian Defense Conversion and has authored more than 100 scholarly publications, articles, reports, studies and curricula.

Vlad was also selected as a Fulbright Senior Specialist by the William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board and the U.S. Department of State.

The information in this profile was provided by the subject.

Reginald Gardner is a senior business executive with a 30-year track record in the successful delivery of business solutions, predominately through the use of information technology. He has served in a leadership capacity for Fortune 500 companies in the retail, oil and insurance industries, including Sears Holdings Corp. and Allstate Corp. Reginald holds a doctoral degree in Management and Organizational Leadership from University of Phoenix and is certified in Leadership and Management from the Executive Education Program at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

Reginald is currently the vice president and chief information officer of a privately-owned luxury motor coach company. He also serves on the corporate board of Rock Solid Janitorial Inc, a multi-million dollar company based in Hampton, Va. In addition to teaching business and research courses, Reginald is the Campus College Chair for the School of Business at the Columbus Ohio Campus. He was also a 2009 Senior Research Fellow Nominee for the School of Business.

He's a member of both the Academy of Management and Boardroom Bound, a non-profit organization committed to corporate board governance and increased membership of women and minorities on corporate, for-profit boards. He's also been listed in the "International WHO'S WHO of Information Technology."

In 2008, Reginald authored his first book entitled "Corporate Leadership Selection: Impact on American Business, Employees, and Society."

Nancy Clifton-Hawkins has been a faculty member in Axia College, the College of Natural Sciences and the College of Nursing at University of Phoenix for over five years. She is also the principal at Clifton-Hawkins and Associates, a public health consulting firm.

She has master's degrees in both health education/promotion and international health, with an emphasis in maternal and child health from Loma Linda University. She's a Certified Health Education Specialist, as well as a Certified Lactation Educator.

Nancy received the 2001 Health Educator of the Year Award from the Southern California Chapter of the Society for Public Health Education. In 2006 she was honored with the Gerald Wagner Excellence in Health Education Award by the Orange County Health Care Agency and the Orange County Coalition for Health Education.