Dr. Nissen began his collegiate education with a BS in Business from UC Berkeley, with a penchant for information technology (IT). He then applied his Berkeley education and IT talent to analytic, management and executive positions in the aerospace and electronics industry, during which time he earned an MS in Systems Management—with emphases on Systems Analysis and R&D Management—at the University of Southern California (USC). He then quit his excellent job and earned a Ph.D. in Information Systems at USC, with heavy emphasis on artificial intelligence and machine learning (AIML).

Dr. Mary Beth McCabe joined PLNU in 2021 as a full-time professor of marketing. She came to PLNU with approximately 40 years of academic and marketing experience. From 1979-1993 she served as an account executive for television stations in both Chicago and San Diego. Since 1993, McCabe has been president of Sun Marketing were she has served more than 3,000 clients, including: Novartis, Sempra Energy, Weyerhaeuser, and PepsiCo. She began her academic experience as an adjunct professor from 2005 to 2010 at the University of San Diego.

Dr. Julia Dare came to the Fermanian School of Business at PLNU in 2021 with significant experience in both academia and strategic management. Most recently she served as a Visiting Professor of Management at Abilene Christian University, and as an Assistant Professor of Management at the University of Pacific. Before Dr. Dare began teaching, she worked in corporate strategy consulting and global management in the biopharmaceutical industry for Baxter BioScience, Allergan, Pfizer, Merck, and Charles River Associates.