Program Faculty

Clarissa Beyah

Clarissa Beyah is a communications executive, educator, and nonprofit founder. Currently the chief communications officer for Union Pacific Railroad and a professor of professional practice of journalism at USC Annenberg, she helps leaders, students, and organizations use strategic communications to transcend.

Beyah’s expertise spans the professional services, healthcare, technology, transportation, and utilities sectors. Beyah is also an educator with a passion for engaging and empowering youth. She is the president and founder of the Writer’s Block Ink, Incorporated — a nonprofit organization dedicated to cultivating and launching diverse young leaders using the arts. Since its inception 17 years ago, the Writer’s Block has helped more than 1,000 at-risk youth use the arts to transform their lives. The Writer’s Block productions address social issues ranging from domestic abuse to genocide. Youth enter as artists and rise to become leaders; past Writer’s Block participants hold community leadership roles across the nation. Beyah has led teams on nearly every continent and served as a chief communication advisor for numerous Fortune 50 companies. Some of her prior roles include vice president, global communications, Aon; vice president, Pepco Holdings Communications, Exelon; chief communications officer, GE Transportation; global communications leader, GE Healthcare IT; and vice president, corporate communications, Northwestern Mutual. Beyah spent a decade at Pfizer and held several roles, including head of communications for Europe and of Pfizer’s first generics business unit, which grew from $2 billion to $18 billion in four years.

Beyah is a member of the Arthur Page Society and Leadership Greater Washington. She has a BA in English from Rowan University and an MBA in strategic management from the University of New Haven. She has three children and enjoys traveling, writing, and hiking.

Mitch Feinman

A leading voice at the intersection of media, technology and data with over 30 years of experience in online, mobile, connected TV and AI, Mitch Feinman’s accomplishments have ranged from running the American Idol text-message voting program to launching the first websites for ABCNEWS, The Academy Awards and Oprah Winfrey. Currently, Mitch is on the faculty at both USC, where he teaches Strategic Management and Innovation courses at Marshall Business School, and at UCLA Anderson advising Executive MBAs on their 6-month capstone research projects paid for by selected companies. He is also an advisor to the President of WeatherBug, the 3rd largest forecasts app and web site. Prior, and for 4 years each, Mitch oversaw Strategy and Business Development for The Weather Channel and before that at Factual, a “big (location) data” company founded by the inventor of Google AdSense.

Mitch also did a 5-year stint at YouTube building their TV-distribution business from scratch via partnerships with game consoles such as PlayStation, smart TV companies such as Roku and cable and satellite in North America, Western Europe and Japan and South Korea. This distribution now represents 40% of the company’s revenue. Before Google, Mitch was a Senior Vice President at News Corp., including founding and running Fox Mobile Entertainment. In addition to the American Idol text-message voting initiative, he launched FOX in Flight on JetBlue and oversaw development of what are still some of the best-selling mobile games including for The Simpsons, Family Guy and Ice Age. Mitch also worked as a Vice President at Disney’s ABC TV division, where he launched the first web sites for ABCNEWS.com as well as for ABC TV partners The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and Harpo Productions the first web sites for the Oscars and The Oprah Winfrey Show, respectively.

Subsequent to business school, Mitch was a senior consultant at Regis McKenna, a 50-year-old+, boutique marketing strategy consulting firm based in Silicon Valley that helped launch the MacIntosh computer. While there Mitch launched the first consumer electronic travel reservations service for a US airline and its partner British Airways as well as advised the Electronic Frontier Foundation on its anti-censorship, purple-ribbon campaign.. Mitch graduated magna cum laude with a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and also earned an MBA from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Mitch and his wife Abby, a trusts and estates partner at a national law firm, have 2 sons and 2 dogs (also boys!) and reside in Los Angeles.

Richard K. Green

Richard K. Green, Ph.D., is the Director of the USC Lusk Center for Real Estate. He holds the Lusk Chair in Real Estate and is a Professor at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy and the Marshall School of Business.

Prior to joining the USC faculty, Dr. Green spent four years as the Oliver T. Carr, Jr., Chair of Real Estate Finance at The George Washington University School of Business. He was Director of the Center for Washington Area Studies and the Center for Real Estate and Urban Studies at that institution. Dr. Green also taught real estate finance and economics courses for 12 years at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he was Wangard Faculty Scholar and Chair of Real Estate and Urban Land Economics. He also has been principal economist and director of financial strategy and policy analysis at Freddie Mac. More recently, he was a visiting professor of real estate at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, and he continues to retain an affiliation with Wharton. He is or has been involved with the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, the Conference of Business Economists, the Center for Urban Land Economics Research, and the National Association of Industrial and Office Properties. Dr. Green also is a Weimer Fellow at the Homer Hoyt Institute and a member of the faculty of the Selden Institute for Advanced Studies in Real Estate. He was recently President of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association.

Dr. Green earned his Ph.D. and M.S. in economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He earned his A.B. in economics from Harvard University. His research addresses housing markets, housing policy, tax policy, transportation, mortgage finance and urban growth. He is a member of two academic journal editorial boards, and a reviewer for several others. His work is published in a number of journals including the American Economic Review, Journal of Economic Perspectives, Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Journal of Urban Economics, Land Economics, Regional Science and Urban Economics, Real Estate Economics, Housing Policy Debate, Journal of Housing Economics, and Urban Studies. His book with Stephen Malpezzi, A Primer on U.S. Housing Markets and Housing Policy, is used at universities throughout the country. His work has been cited or he has been quoted in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, the Christian Science Monitor, the Los Angeles Times, Newsweek and the Economist, as well as other outlets. He recently gave a presentation at the 31st annual Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City Economic Symposium, where his work was cited by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. The National Association of REALTORS, the Ford Foundation, and the Lincoln Institute for Land Policy have funded grants to support some of Dr. Green’s research. He consults for the World Bank.

Kevin McBride

Kevin McBride is an accomplished financial executive with extensive experience in various leadership roles. Currently serving as Senior Vice President of Finance, Corporate Controller, and Chief Accounting Officer at ServiceNow since November 2021, Kevin has a robust background in finance and accounting from a long tenure at Intel Corporation, where positions included Vice President of Finance, Corporate Controller, and several controller roles. Additionally, Kevin's career includes experience as an Industry Fellow at FASB, a Sales Operations Manager at Corillian, and an Audit Manager at KPMG Peat Marwick. Kevin began the professional journey as an Assistant Controller at Cascade Microtech and held the position of Audit Senior at KPMG Peat Marwick. Holding a BS in Accounting from Oregon State University, Kevin possesses a strong foundation in the field.

Michael Paranal

Prof. Michael C. Paranal is a CPA and a lawyer admitted to practice law in New York, California, and England & Wales, and is a multi-awarded faculty at the Marshall School. He has an extensive career in finance and law, working at Deloitte before joining Latham &Watkins as a capital markets attorney in London, UK. His expertise insecurities regulation, law, and accounting led to his work as the only non-EU citizen at the Finance Law Division of the European Central Bank (ECB) at the height of the European Debt Crisis. Prof. Paranal holds a Master of Business Taxation from the University of Southern California, a JD and MBA from the Wharton School of Business and the University of Pennsylvania, and a Post graduate Diploma in Law from the University of Oxford.

At USC, he serves as the Director- Office of Culture and Community Success for the Leventhal School of Accounting and is the founder and director of the Guiding Exceptional Minds to Success (GEMS) program, a prestigious human leadership initiative for high-performing students. He is also the founder and director o fthe Real-World Ready financial literacy program, which has empowered over hundreds of high school students in Los Angeles with essential financial skills. Prof. Paranal is the creator of "Accounting Without Walls" Festival, the first of its kind celebration of community and belonging in the accounting industry, which was nationally recognized by Diversity Inc. Magazine and the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

Recognized for his leadership and impact, Prof. Paranal was named a 2023 Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Champion by the State of California Treasurer’s Office and was honored with the 2024 Filipino Young Leader Award by the Philippine Government and the U.S. Embassy for his exceptional contributions to education, equity, and leadership development. At USC, Prof. Paranal has been awarded numerous teaching, mentoring and service awards. Over the course of his career, Prof. Paranal has held key leadership roles and has worked at some of the world’s leading organizations,including Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, SpaceX and the NFL.

Brent Woodford

Brent A. Woodford is Executive Vice President, Controllership, Financial Planning and Tax for The Walt Disney Company. Woodford oversees company-wide controllership and related shared service financial activities as well as the tax function. He is responsible for the company’s external and internal financial reporting and plays an integral role in developing the company’s operating profit, cash flow and capital spending plans. Woodford also provides administrative oversight of Management Audit.

Prior to joining Disney in October 2003, Woodford was Vice President, Controller of Yum! Brands, Inc., a spin-off from PepsiCo, and the Controller of PepsiCo’s international restaurant division, serving 10 years with the PepsiCo and Yum! organizations. Woodford also spent time as an equity securities analyst with A.G. Edwards & Sons, as a financial consultant with Coopers & Lybrand and in the audit practice at KPMG in its Dallas and London offices.

Woodford is a CPA and a Chartered Financial Analyst. He is a member of the Financial Executives International Committee on Corporate Reporting and of the AICPA, serving on its Accounting Standards Executive Committee from 2003 to 2005. He also served on the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council of the Financial Accounting Foundation from 2006 to 2009. Woodford has a B.A. in accounting from Michigan State University and an M.B.A. from St. Louis University.