Full-Time MBA Leadership Team

Behind a great educational experience are strong leaders.

Members of the Eccles MBA leadership team are groundbreaking researchers, proven instructors and accomplished industry professionals. As a team they ensure that the Full-Time MBA program will prepare successful industry leaders and provide lasting educational experiences. Members shaping the future of our MBA program include:

Taylor Randall

Dean of the David Eccles School of Business

Taylor_RandallTaylor Randall has built a distinguished career that served as ideal preparation to lead the David Eccles School of Business. He has served on the faculty of the University of Utah’s School of Accounting for the past ten years, being named a George Eccles Emerging Scholar as Assistant Professor, and a David Eccles Faculty Fellow as Associate Professor. 

Randall has served as the Faculty Director for the University Venture Fund since 2003, leading its growth into the largest independent student-run venture capital fund in the country, with more than $18.3 million under management. With research interests focusing on economic and performance impact of operational strategies, strategic performance measurement and econometric research in operations management, he is widely published in journals on operations management and marketing. 

Randall’s professional honors from the University of Utah include the EMBA Distinguished Teaching Award, Masters Teaching Excellence Award, Brady Faculty Superior Teaching Award, and Marvin J. Ashton Teaching Excellence Award. The national recognition and respect he garnered in his multifaceted teaching experience have resulted in invitations accepted to serve as a visiting faculty member at INSEAD, the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania, and Washington University.

Randall holds a bachelor’s degree with honors in accounting from the University of Utah and an MBA, master’s and doctorate degrees in operations and information management from the Wharton School of Business. Born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, Randall is a third-generation member of the David Eccles School of Business and an avid supporter of University of Utah athletics. His father, Reed Randall, served as a professor and director of the School of Accounting. Randall’s grandfather, Clyde Randall, was a professor and dean of the Business School.

Scott Schaefer

Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, Professor of Finance

Scott_SchaeferAs a highly respected professor of finance and David Eccles Faculty Scholar at the University of Utah’s David Eccles School of Business, Scott Schaefer draws upon a rich set of expertise for his role as Associate Dean Academic Affairs.

An investigator with the University of Utah’s Institute for Public and International Affairs and an Associate Editor for the Journal of Labor Economics, Schaeffer joined the David Eccles School faculty in 2005, where he teaches managerial economics in the MBA program. His previous appointment was at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, where he held the Richard M. Paget Chair in Management Policy from 2001 to 2005. At Kellogg, Schaefer developed and taught MBA electives on strategic organization design and human resource management, and led a Ph.D. seminar on organizational economics. He received Kellogg’s Sidney J. Levy Teaching Award three times, and was a four-time finalist for the Lawrence Lavengood Professor of the Year Award. 

Schaefer’s research focuses on the economics of organization, with an emphasis on understanding employment relationships and decision-making inside firms. He has published widely in top academic journals in economics, management, finance and accounting, and is co-author of “Economics of Strategy,” a leading textbook in the field of strategic management.

Schaefer earned a Ph.D. in economic analysis and policy from the Stanford Graduate School of Business in 1995, and a bachelor’s degree in economics and math from Stanford University.

Sarah Johnston

Director of Business Career Management Center

Sarah_JohnstonSince Sarah Johnston joined the David Eccles School of Business as Director of Business Career Management (BMCM) in August, 2011, she and her team of full-time professionals and career coaches have created a culture of unique dedication to developing customized career plans for students at the university. Under her direction, the BCMC has developed highly effective approaches that guide corporate recruiters and students alike to achieve mutually beneficial career placement opportunities.

Johnston’s primary objectives include satisfying the needs of corporations and entrepreneurial organizations already hiring candidates from the David Eccles School of Business, while attracting new companies to interview its students. In addition, she collaborates closely with administrators, faculty and students to ensure that the students are fully prepared, well-rounded candidates ready to assume challenging professional positions and internships.

Before joining the David Eccles School of Business, Johnston was Senior Vice President at Citibank Morgan Stanley Smith Barney in Chicago, where she led a team in the commercial banking group. Prior to Citibank, she held positions with Merrill Lynch in middle market corporate banking; and with Harris Nesbitt, where she conducted business development and relationship management, primarily with Fortune 1000 companies.

Johnston also spent two years in Zurich early in her career as an International Relationship Manager for Credit Suisse, working with US multinationals and their European subsidiaries. Her years of experience in corporate relations, team management and deal negotiation bode well for successful employment results for the David Eccles School of Business.

Johnston received her MBA from UCLA and her BA from the University of North Carolina as a Morehead Scholar. She moved to Park City, Utah with her husband and four daughters in August 2010.

Linda Wells

Director, Full-Time MBA Program

Linda_WellsLinda Wells joins the David Eccles School of Business team fresh off a highly successful 10-plus-year stint serving as Executive Director of the Stanford Graduate Business School’s Center for Entrepreneurial Studies. At Stanford, she directed the creation and implementation of courses and programs, and provided counsel and resources to aspiring entrepreneurs. Under her dynamic leadership, the center provided students, faculty and business leaders in the community with opportunities to collaborate in the development of hands-on entrepreneurship-related education courses, evolving from infancy to its current stature as a mature, universally respected program.

Prior to her leadership role at Stanford, she built her career as Director of Product Management at Informed Access Systems, a healthcare IT startup; and as a project engineer for DuPont. She holds an MBA from Stanford University and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Georgia Tech University.

Wells’ new full-time position at the David Eccles School of Business signals the end to 12 years of commuting to Stanford from her home in Park City, Utah, where she and husband Doug are raising their two children.

Cole Holmes

Director of Advising

Cole_HolmesCole Holmes comes to the David Eccles School as Director of Advising from the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas Austin, after serving seven years in the same role and nearly two decades advising college students.

At UT Austin, Holmes coordinated the academic advising division in the Undergraduate Program Office, providing advising and retention services to more than 4,000 undergraduates. As Director he managed an annual budget and facilitated the hiring, training, supervision and evaluation of ten professional advisers.

In addition to developing and directing the Freshman Interest Group program for business majors, Holmes coordinated all orientation activities for incoming first-year and transfer students. He also developed and coordinated the Comprehensive Advising, Retention, and Enrichment (CARE) program, a comprehensive initiative targeting students at risk of academic probation and dismissal.

Holmes was instrumental in revamping advising delivery services, transitioning from a total intake model to a self-contained model. He holds a BS in education from UT-Austin, and MA from St. Edwards University and an Ed.D. in educational administration from UT-Austin.