Executive Education

Faculty

Adib Farhadi, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor & Faculty Director of Executive Education

Dr. Adib Farhadi

CV:  View CV
Email: farhadi@usf.edu
Office: CPR 468F

Dr. Adib Farhadi is a tenured Associate Professor of Peace and Conflict at the University of South Florida, where he also serves as the Faculty Director of the Executive Education Program. His research adopts an interdisciplinary approach, examining the complex intersections of geoeconomics, geopolitics, and human dynamics, with a particular emphasis on the Great Power Competition in the "Silk Road" region of Central and South Asia. In addition to his academic roles, Dr. Farhadi serves as Editor-in-Chief of The Great Power Competition book series, Co-Principal Investigator for the Great Power Competition Initiative and the Global Influence Index, and Faculty Advisor to the Global and National Security Institute.

Dr. Farhadi was awarded the prestigious ÉîÒ¹¿´Æ¬ Distinguished Service Award for 2022-2023.

Formerly, Dr. Farhadi served in senior positions for Afghanistan and extensively advised and contributed research for the United States government, the United Nations, and other international organizations. He is a frequent presenter on religion, conflict and peacebuilding, Great Power Competition, Sustainable Development, Countering Violent Extremism (CVE), and the geoeconomics of the Middle East and CASA region.

Adib Farhadi speaking at podium

Recent Courses

Books

The Great Power Competition Volume 5: The Russian Invasion of Ukraine and Implications for the Central Region

Farhadi, A., Grzegorzewski, M., & Masys, A.J. eds.(2023) Great Power Competition Volume 5: Russia's Invasion of Ukraine. Springer Press.

The Great Power Competition Volume 5 cover image

GREAT POWER COMPETITION VOLUME 4: LESSONS FROM AFGHANISTAN: AMERICA'S LONGEST WAR

Farhadi, A. and Masys, A. J. eds.(2023) Great Power Competition Volume 4: Lessons from Afghanistan: America's Longest War. Springer Press

GREAT POWER COMPETITION VOLUME 3: CYBERSPACE: THE FIFTH DOMAIN

Farhadi, A., Sanders, R. & Masys, A.J. eds.(2022) Great Power Competition Volume 3: Cyberspace: The Fifth Domain. Springer Press.

GREAT POWER COMPETITION VOLUME 2: CONTAGION EFFECT: RADICALIZATION, UNREST, AND COMPETITION IN THE COVID-19 ERA

Farhadi, A. and Masys, A.J. eds.(2021) Great Power Competition Volume 2: Contagion Effect: Radicalization, Unrest, and Competition in the COVID-19 Era. Springer Press.

GREAT POWER COMPETITION: REGIONAL PERSPECTIVES IN THE CENTRAL REGION

Farhadi, Adib and Masys, A. J. eds.(2020) Great Power Competition: Regional Perspectives in the Central Region. Springer Press.

COUNTERING VIOLENT EXTREMISM BY WINNING HEARTS AND MINDS

Farhadi, A. (2020) Countering Violent Extremism by Winning Hearts and Minds. Switzerland: Springer Press

Peer-Reviewed Book Chapters

Coming Soon

  • Farhadi, A. (2023) Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: Evolving Influence Dynamics in the Central Region. In: Farhadi, A., Grzegorzewski, M., & Masys, A.J. (eds.) Great Power Competition Volume 5: Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine. Springer Press (In press). 

 

Lt. Gen. Martin R. Steele (Ret.)

Senior Fellow
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Born in Philadelphia, Penn., and raised in Fayetteville, Ark., Lt. Gen. Martin R. Steele enlisted in the Marine Corps in January 1965. He rose from private to three-star general, culminating his military career as the deputy chief of staff for plans, policies and operations at Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, in Washington, D.C., in August 1999. A decorated combat veteran with more than 34 years of service, he is a recognized expert in the integration of all elements of national power (diplomatic, economic, informational and military) with strategic military war plans and has served as an executive strategic planner/policy director in multiple theaters across Asia. His extraordinary career was chronicled as one of three principles in the award-winning military biography "Boys of '67" by Charles Jones.

Upon his retirement from active duty in 1999, he served as president & CEO of the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum in New York City. Under his leadership, they adopted the mission statement of "Honor our heroes, educate the public, and inspire our youth about the price of freedom." This creative branding strategy resonated with all audiences and was the early catalyst for the transformation of the Intrepid from just another New York City destination location to the near icon status it enjoys today among educators, historians, international visitors and military veterans. Shortly after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, Steele invited the FBI to use the Intrepid to conduct their investigations. Within 48 hours, Intrepid was once again in service as the temporary headquarters for more than 750 FBI agents.

 

Ambassador Michael Ranneberger

Senior Fellow
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A highly experienced Senior Foreign Service executive, with the rank of Career Minister, who has led major U.S. foreign policy initiatives both in Washington and abroad. The leadership of large U.S. Missions and their inter-agency teams to new levels of success, often in conflict and crisis situations. Distinguished record leading policy formulation and implementation in Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East, frequently involving high profile, politically sensitive issues. Skilled at analyzing complex issues and identifying operationally effective courses of action to achieve results. Efforts are considered a worldwide model for other U.S. Missions of fostering a highly cohesive inter-agency ("whole of government") approach to development and implementation of major programs. Recipient of the State Department's Distinguished Service Award, its highest; two Presidential Meritorious Service Awards; the Wellstone Anti-Slavery Ambassador of the Year Award; and numerous others, including an honorary doctorate for support for peace and reconciliation during the Kenyan post-election crisis. Held fellowships at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York and at the University of Virginia.
Professional Experience
• Senior State Department Policy Adviser to U.S. Central Command 2011 to 2016
• U.S. Ambassador to Kenya 2006-11
• Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for African Affairs 2005-6
• Special Representative on Sudan 2002-5
• U.S. Ambassador to Mali 2000-2
• Coordinator for Cuban Affairs 1995-9

  

Peter Berardi, Ph.D.

Senior Fellow
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Peter Berardi, Ph.D. is a Senior Fellow at USF and former Navy SEAL. He is the faculty expert in Leadership and Teamwork Development. Dr. Berardi specializes in integrating the ethos and organizational dynamics of Navy SEALs and other Special Operations Forces (SOF) into a perspective that enables participants to achieve their personal best. Dr. Berardi is also a Senior Partner at CEO Effectiveness where he works with corporate organizational leadership in achieving exponential levels of success. He is the author of "Examining the Relationship between Emotional Intelligence and Authentic Leadership in Naval Special Warfare Leadership", "The Path" (2017), as well as the author and facilitator of the "Leadership Development Workshop" provided at the U.S. Special Operations Command. Dr. Berardi currently teaches a course in Conflict Resolution and a course in International Management at the USF. Whether an athlete, corporate executive, student or otherwise, Dr. Berardi's approach provides a proven system for both personal and organizational success that will enable your organization to develop the proper culture and skill sets to get you much greater results than you are currently achieving.

 

William D. Anton, Ph.D.

Senior Fellow
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William D. Anton, Ph.D., is a renowned clinical psychologist, psychoanalyst, and former director of the counseling center AVP for the ÉîÒ¹¿´Æ¬. He is the founder of CEO Effectiveness, LLC (CEOE), and has a thriving practice working with top business leaders and executive coaches. Bill designed CEOE to elevate the purpose of business for the benefit of society. His most recent book titled, Ascend, Forging a Path to Your Truer Self (2015), offers an innovative way to explore the path to self-knowledge through an ingenious storyline of a novel. He is also the author of Business Success through Self-Knowledge (2013) and many other significant publications in professional psychology. He is senior author of The College Adjustment Scales and The Employee Assistance Program Inventory, both of which are widely used throughout the world. Bill is in demand as a speaker. He also serves as the treasurer of the Sant' Yago (St. James) Educational Foundation, which has awarded more than $2 million to deserving college students to enable them to complete their college education.

 

Felicia Watson, Esq.

Senior Fellow
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Felicia Watson is a Senior Faculty member at Corporate Learning Hub in Leadership, Negotiations and Women's Diversity and Inclusion. She is the Managing Director of TechUp Events LLC and the Corporate Learning Hub LLC. and the managing partner of her law offices in Southport, Connecticut. Ms. Watson has been a practicing attorney in the areas of entrepreneurship, corporate and commercial law, and business and real estate development companies for over 25 years. Prior to establishing her law firm, she held the position of Assistant Attorney General for the State of Ohio and conducted criminal investigations and trials in Medicaid Fraud. Her criminal fraud experience was invaluable in her pursuits in handling complex insurance claims and litigation for the different Underwriters at Lloyds of London while working at the law firm Mendes and Mount in New York City. She has served on the Board of Directors for the Bridgeport Big Brother Big Sister of Southwestern Connecticut, The Housatonic Girl Scout Council, The Chimney Hill Association, Logan Street Association. She was a former elected official for the Town of Fairfield, she served on the Town Planning and Zoning Commission and currently serves on the Fairfield Conservation Commission. She has volunteered for numerous local organizations and enjoyed running the Hartford, New York City and Paris Marathons.
Watson has a Masters of Science in Real Estate Development from New York University, a Juris Doctorate from Ohio Northern University and a Bachelors of Arts in History from St. Bonaventure University. She is licensed to practice law in the State of Ohio, New York, and Connecticut and she holds a Real Estate Broker's license in the State of New York.

 

Scott Mann, Lieutenant Colonel (Ret.)

Senior Fellow
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Scott Mann spent 23 years in the United States Army, 18 of those as a Green Beret in Army Special Forces, where he specialized in unconventional, high-impact missions all over the world including Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Scott's problem-solving abilities were honed during long deployments in places where trust was absent, conflict rampant, and only seconds to make real connections with local communities using his head, his heart—and when threats closed in against these communities—his hands. With those skills, Scott now helps organizations gain a better understanding of their internal culture and their external relationships while exposing the potential for conflict that exists when trust has deteriorated.

In the same way, he empowered local tribes in Iraq and Afghanistan to make transformative decisions—using very few resources, Scott teaches corporate leaders, special operators, law enforcement, and high-performance entrepreneurs and their teams to create strategic opportunities through the relationship-building techniques that drove so many of his successful Special Forces experiences.

He is the author of two Amazon #1 international best-selling books: Game Changers, Going Local to Defeat Violent Extremists and Mission America, Straight Talk about Military Transition.

Scott appears frequently on CNN, Bloomberg, Fox and Friends, Fox Business News, News Max, and dozens of syndicated radio shows including National Public Radio, Wall Street Journal Radio,

Fox News Radio, and the Jim Bohannon Show. His op-eds have appeared in the Tampa Tribune, Washington Post, and the Small Wars Journal. Scott lives in Riverview, Florida with his wife Monty and his three sons—Cody, Cooper, and Brayden.

 

Margie L. West, M.Ed, M.A.

Senior Fellow
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As a Senior Fellow at the ÉîÒ¹¿´Æ¬ and Senior Leadership Development Facilitator with the Center for Transformation and Innovation, Margie West designs and facilitates practical workshops in business communication, team and collaboration effectiveness, and leadership. She brings expertise in the communication skills needed to effectively lead, influence, and collaborate with others, and in the design of innovative and experiential adult learning.

Margie has 23 years of experience as a learning and performance consultant in the public and private sector, specializing in team effectiveness, communication, and leadership and management skills development. She has served as an internal learning and organization development leader with Fidelity Investments, the University of South Florida, and Catalina Marketing Corporation, and has facilitated performance improvement initiatives for business, education, and healthcare organizations throughout the U.S. In addition, Margie has served as a university instructor for courses in business communication and leadership development.
She received a Master of Education degree in Counseling and Career Development from Colorado State University and a Master of Arts in Communication from the University of South Florida, specializing in Organizational Communication.

Margie is a certified facilitator of the Everything DiSC ® Assessment, the DeBono Six Thinking Hats® process, Talent Smart's Emotional Intelligence curriculum, and the Birkman Method ® assessment.

 

Martin Hannratty, Ph.D.

Senior Fellow
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Dr. Hanratty began his 50-year international development carrier as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Nigeria in 1966. He went on to earn his MSc and Ph.D. in Economics at Michigan State University, where he taught as an Assistant Professor. More recently, Dr. Hanratty served as a Senior Fellow at the U.S. Army's School for Advanced Military Studies, Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, where he was awarded a second MSc degree in Military Arts and Science.

Following his departure from Michigan State in 1976, Dr. Hanratty joined the Ford Foundation where he provided support to Gamin Bank in Bangladesh. The Bank's founder, Dr. Mohammad Yunus, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for his pioneer efforts in promoting microfinance lending worldwide. Dr. Hanratty joined USAID in 1983 serving in Indonesia, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Iraq, Washington, and Tampa. At USAID, he has held a variety of different and challenging positions including managing economic growth, agricultural development, private sector development, and democracy and governance support offices in four overseas mission; serving as the Agency's senior Agricultural Economist in the Office of the Administrator; and as the Agency's Acting Environmental Officer representing USAID at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in Paris. In 2005, served in Iraq, where he managed USAID's $950 million Provincial Reconstruction Team to support local communities in stabilization and governance.

Upon his return from Iraq, where he was wounded in the line of duty, he served as the Agency's Senior Development Advisor to the Commander of U.S. Central Command. At the Command, he was one of the lead architects of the New Silk Road initiative that sought to facilitate Afghanistan's reentry into the regional trading network, which eventually was adopted as part of the U.S. foreign policy by State Department.

During his carrier, Dr. Hanratty has been the recipient of numerous USAID and Department of Defense awards including Award for Bravery in Iraq and Joint Civilian Service Commendation Award and medal at U.S. Central Command.

 

K. Doreen MacAulay

Senior Fellow
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K Doreen MacAulay is an instructor in the Department of Information Systems Decision Sciences, teaching organizational behavior analysis and strategic management.
Her research focuses on the areas of organizational change and history. MacAulay holds a Ph.D. in management from St. Mary's University in Nova Scotia, an MBA from the University of New Brunswick, and a Bachelor of Science in psychology from St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia.
MacAulay has teaching experience at St. Mary's University and the University of New Brunswick, where she was also the director of undergraduate studies. MacAulay has served on the USF Muma College of Business case competition committees since 2011 and is a member of the Academy of Management Association and the Southern Academy of Management Association. She has also served as a reviewer for several conferences and journals.

 

Joseph Catalino, Ph.D.

Senior Fellow
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Dr. Joseph Catalino specializes in security and stability, partnering, and capacity building for both government and non-government clients. In a series of senior executive positions, he has served as principal advisor for combating terrorism authorities, programs, and intelligence; building partner capacity; congressional funding and authorities; project management, and U.S. foreign policy.
Currently, he is the Senior Advisor to the Director, Defense Security Cooperation Agency where he is developing and deploying the Global-Theater Security Cooperation Management Information System; the Department of Defense's enterprise-wide information technology capability for all security cooperation programs, events, and activities across the world.
Previously, Dr. Catalino served as Director, Counterterrorism Partnership Program Office in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Special Operations and Low-Intensity Conflict. This $1.3 billion counterterrorism initiative developed a sustainable, partnership-focused approach to counterterrorism allowing the U.S. government to respond more nimbly to evolving terror threats.

Dr. Catalino also served as head of the Pentagon's economic development task force of over 300 staff where he directed all operations and projects across Afghanistan through its closure in March of 2015. The agency focused on economic stabilization in Afghanistan to reduce violence, enhance stability, and restore economic normalcy to counterinsurgency and reverse the synchronous downward spiral of economic hardship and violence.

Dr. Catalino developed and led the Private Sector/NGO coordinating element at U.S. Northern Command where he championed Fortune 100 companies and top NGOs. He is credited with improving the nation's "whole of society" approach to multi-sector collaboration for numerous National Special Security Events and National Level Exercises. He has advised numerous government agencies, including multiple Combatant Commands, as well as private sector organizations on planning and execution of complex interagency operations, strategies, and continuity of operations and was named a "Homeland Security Professional to Watch" by The Year in Homeland Security 2009.

Dr. Catalino holds a Ph.D. and MPA in Public Policy/Health Services from Walden University, an MSA in Health Services Administration from Central Michigan University, a BS in Workforce Education Development from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, and is a graduate of the United States Air Force, Air War College. He is an adjunct professor where he teaches courses on critical incident management, threat and strategic planning, risk mitigation, and human security.