Nikhil Celly

Instructional Assistant Professor – Director of Global Initiatives

Dr. Celly is a competitive strategy and international business professor with a keen interest in smart technologies. He also leads Global Initiatives for the Bauer College and the Office of Global Initiatives. He has a PhD in General Management from the University of Western Ontario, an MS in EE from the University of Rochester with a specialization in Medical Imaging, and a Bachelor of Engineering degree. Nikhil conducts multidisciplinary research on firm competitiveness, restructuring, ambidexterity, innovation and emerging markets strategy. For his research he has employed large data sets and interviews with executives of firms in the US, Canada, India, China, Hong Kong, Russia and Japan. This research has been published (or forthcoming) in top academic publications such as the Strategic Management Journal, the Journal of the Association for Information Systems and the Journal of Management Studies, and presented at numerous conferences including the Academy of ManagementAcademy of International Business and Strategic Management Society conferences. Nikhil has also authored several strategy cases on mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures and diversification of multinationals such as Eli Lilly, Huawei, Tencent, Haier and Bharti- Airtel. These have been featured in various strategic management texts and employed in MBA and corporate training programs.

Dr. Celly has taught strategic management and international business courses at various universities in North America and Asia. Prior to joining the C. T. Bauer College of Business, Nikhil taught for six years in the top ranked MBA (FT and Economist global Top 30) program at the University of Hong Kong. He has conducted executive education on strategy and emerging markets for Sinopec China, Sothebys UK, Bahrain banking executives and non-profits in Canada, Hong Kong. Nikhil sits on the board of a non-profit and has consulted for select organizations including Cisco on smart cities, and The World Bank on distance learning.

Prior to academia, Nikhil was a senior executive in a software and people management-consulting firm, two international education startups with $10 million venture funding including from the International Finance Corporation (IFC), and co-founder of an international education and training consulting firm.