Faculty

Tom Hunsaker is an Adjunct Professor of Global Marketing at Thunderbird School of Global Management. He is a student and teacher of companies and their leaders—how they rise, why they fall, and what patterns can predict these outcomes. He first grew interested in the subject while doing Ph.D. research on the question, “What conditions best foster innovation success?” Tackling a related question, “How can similarly resourced firms have such dramatically different outcomes over time?”, helped to highlight the vital importance of maximizing innovation capacity, consistently. Few companies or industries stay great for long; they rise and fall based on innovation capacity. Professor Hunsaker’s work focuses on the behaviors and practices (in managers and firms) that make ongoing innovation success more likely.

Beyond his teaching and scholarship pursuits, Professor Hunsaker has been highly active in entrepreneurial and training endeavors. He has worked with major Fortune 500 companies on issues of emerging market expansion, and has consulted with or participated in ventures ranging from the start-up to the mature market firm seeking to enhance its growth multiple.

In addition to his Ph.D. work in sociology—focusing on organizational innovation and leadership dynamics—Professor Hunsaker holds advanced degrees concentrated in Economic Development (MA) and Management (MBA), each earned as a merit fellow appointee while working with and learning from incredible people linked to the father of the Diffusion of Innovation concept, EM Rogers, at the University of New Mexico. He speaks English and Spanish, addressing major forums in each. Professor Hunsaker is widely traveled and enjoys a particular expertise in Latin America.

Professor Hunsaker is a noted speaker and teacher who focuses on making complex concepts simple and targeting the ideal innovation points in dynamic situations.