College of Business Dean Finalists Announced

After a national search, three finalists have been named in the College of Business dean search.  

Each candidate will take part in an open forum in person on the Pocatello campus. All are welcome to meet the candidates and ask questions. Feedback opportunities will be available online after each forum.

Raj Suri: Thursday, November 6 from 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. in BA 506
As Senior Vice Provost, Rajneesh Suri, Ph.D., leads the Innovation Engine initiative as well as the research and curricular innovation arm of the Drexel Solutions Institute. Prior to coming full time into the Provost's Office in June of 2022, he served as Interim Senior Vice Provost for Academic Industry Partnerships, in addition to his ongoing role at the Drexel Solutions Institute, as well as Vice Dean for Research & Strategic Partnerships and a professor of marketing at the LeBow College of Business. 

Suri has authored several research publications, presentations and book chapters on topics related to consumer behavior and pricing and promotions. His research has been presented before various international associations in Asia, Europe and North America and his teaching and research have received national awards. Suri has worked in managerial roles with global firms including McKinsey & Company, Unilever, HCL Technologies and Suzuki Motors.

Suri’s work focuses on how consumers form value using price and brand drivers. His work examines consumer experiences, and the effects of price and other marketing communications on consumer decision making. In addition to traditional methods, his current interdisciplinary research involves neuroimaging (fNIR: functional near infrared spectroscopy, and EEG) and other physiological tools to test predictions. His work has been cited by national and local media outlets. He co-authored a book and has articles in publications that include Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Retailing, Journal of Service Research, Journal of Business Research, and Psychology & Marketing. His research has been awarded one of the highest citations (2014-16) in the Journal of Retailing and has received the Literati Award of Excellence from Emerald Publishing. He was the Research Fellow at the Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell University (2001-2002) and with the Center for Research Excellence at LeBow (2005-2007).

Suri teaches consumer behavior and behavioral pricing. His teaching has been recognized with the 2015 Lamb-Hair-McDaniel AMS Outstanding Marketing Teacher from the Academy of Marketing Science and the 2009 Hormel Meritorious Teaching Award from the Marketing Management Association. He has been a teaching fellow twice (2006-08; 2014-16) at the Center for Teaching Excellence at LeBow. His academic credentials include a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) from the Delhi College of Engineering (University of Delhi), an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta, and a Ph.D. in Marketing from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Alex Bolinger: Monday, November 10 from 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. in BA 506
Dr. Alex Bolinger is the Idaho Central Credit Union Endowed Professor of Management at Idaho State University. His research focuses on team dynamics, leadership, and entrepreneurship, and has appeared in the Academy of Management Review, the Academy of Management Discoveries, Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, and the Harvard Business Review, among other outlets. Bolinger also serves on the review boards of the Academy of Management Discoveries and the Academy of Management Learning and Education and he is an associate editor of the Journal of Management Education. 

Bolinger has taught executive education for organizations throughout the state of Idaho. At ISU, he teaches advanced courses in leadership, negotiations, teamwork, and decision-making, as well as the Introduction to Business course for first-semester undergraduate students. An advocate of active, experiential approaches to teaching, Bolinger regularly teaches an Honors course on collaborative creativity in which students have worked together in teams to write and publish several books. Students in his classes have also participated in the “Make-a-Wish Challenge” to raise money for local children facing life-threatening illnesses in partnership with the Make-a-Wish Foundation of Idaho. For the past decade, he has served as adviser for teams of ISU students that have brought home over two dozen trophies from the International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition in Anaheim, California.

Sam Beldona: Thursday, November 13 from 4:30 – 5:30 p.m. in BA 506
Dr. Sam Beldona has over thirty years of experience in higher learning. He has collaborated with administrators, faculty, alums, staff, and students throughout his career to affect transformational change across public and independent institutions. He has successfully created academic and extracurricular programs that promote globalization, innovation, student success, and collaboration with external stakeholders.

Beldona is a Professor of Business Administration at Leo J. Meehan School of Business Administration. Beldona joined Stonehill College in 2022 as Dean and Professor of Business at Leo J. Meehan School of Business. As a faculty member, Beldona is an award-winning instructor often selected by student groups for having embedded hands-on learning experiences with significant global components. Beldona has been recognized for his scholarly contributions at many national and international conferences, and multiple grants from the federal government have supported his research. Beldona currently serves Stonehill College as a Special Advisor on Strategic Issues to the Vice President of Academic Affairs. Beldona holds degrees in Physics (B.Sc.) and General Management (MBA) from Karnatak University in India. He earned an M.S. in International Business and a Ph.D. in Business Administration from Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.