Faculty profile
Thought leadership and teaching excellence
Accomplished, internationally recognised faculty lead our classes. Classrooms are alive with debate as faculty and students apply cutting-edge research and their experience to the challenges of business.
Our faculty are not only distinguished for their pioneering research, they are also highly sought-after opinion leaders with consulting and
boardroom experience.
As a student you will have the opportunity to learn from professors who address the challenges facing today’s business leaders. Faculty members with a particular interest in innovation include:
Michael Vitale
PhD (Dartmouth), MBA (Harvard), BA (Oakland)
Director – Innovation Research Program
Research interests
- Commercialisation of biotechnology innovation
- IT governance and innovation in the public sector
Industry experience
- Chairman of a public biotechnology firm
- Board member of a private biotechnology company
- Former Vice President of Technology and Corporate Services at the Prudential Insurance
- Company of America
- Professorial appointment at the Australia New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG)
- Former faculty member at Harvard Business School and the University of Melbourne
Joshua Gans
PhD (Stanford), BEcon (Qld)
Professor of Management - Information Economics
Professor Joshua Gans is a highly experienced economic researcher and consultant.
At MBS, and previously at the University of New South Wales, Joshua has taught across a wide range of subjects and courses, including managerial economics, the economics of innovation, competition and regulation, incentives and contracts and advanced game theory.
Joshua's research interests are diverse, ranging from the economics of innovation to game theory and intellectual property. Widely published in journals and book chapters, as well as in the popular press, Joshua has written papers on economic growth, industrial organisation, intellectual property and various aspects of the regulation of market power.
Joshua is also founder and director of CoRE Research, where he advises on all aspects of infrastructure development and regulation, as well as trade practices and competition policy. Joshua has consulted across a wide range of industries, to numerous clients including the BHP, United Energy, Fairfax, the National Australia Bank and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
John Onto
PhD (Ariz), MBA, BCom (Melbourne University)
Professor - International & General Management
John Onto joined Melbourne Business School in early 1995 following his return from the United States where he was for eight years on the faculty of the business school at Georgetown University as a Distinguished Professor in Management.
While at Georgetown he was variously Associate Dean for Graduate Business Studies and Director of the Center for International Business & Trade. In this latter role he developed and conducted conferences and executive development programs in international business.
In 1995, John was BP Visiting Professor of International Management at UFSIA in Antwerp, Belgium. In 2000 he was for three months a visiting professor at Freiberg University in Germany.
In addition to the USA, John has designed and led programs in international business and negotiations in Australia, Belgium, France, Germany, New Zealand, Trinidad and Mexico.
Formal qualifications include B.Com, MBA (Melbourne University) and Ph.D. (Arizona State).
Within MBS, John teaches the MBA subject, Negotiations, Process and Strategy and Industry Studies in Asia.. He is also active in the School's executive development programs and consults to a range of corporations in the field of negotiations and international business.
John is a Director of Texas Utilities (Australia) Pty Ltd and the Melbourne Business School Ltd. He is a member of the advisory board of a private investment company and principal of his own consulting practice which specialises in executive development, in particular in the field of negotiations and general management.
Peter Cebon
PhD (MIT), SM (MIT), BE (Civil)
Senior Lecturer - Organisations & Innovation
Peter Cebon is a highly experienced researcher, consultant and advisor in the field of organisational innovation.
Peter’s professional expertise includes using organisational innovation to create safer and cleaner operations, and he has completed extensive research at both MIT and Harvard, as well as in Switzerland. Peter’s research interests include the problem of ‘late adoption’ during the diffusion of administrative innovations, and knowledge management in safety and environmental management. His current research involves examining the way new management practices diffuse through populations of organisations, and the role of consultants in that process.
Prior to joining Melbourne Business School, Peter worked at the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Science and Technology, leading a team of 50 scientists and researching innovation in transportation in response to global warming issues.
Peter has consulted on organisational and innovation-related matters for various Australian organisations, and he has also worked extensively for the Victorian Government.
