A scholar of organisational communication for over 30 years, I have held positions at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Waikato University before taking up the role of Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Massey Business School from 2012 to 2018. I also served as Deputy Vice-Chancellor from 2015-2018. From 2018 to 2021, I served as Head Massey Executive Development, the unit responsible for MBA programmes and corporate executive education initiatives.

My research focuses on organisational communication, particularly communication practices that enhance dialogue, leadership, workplace wellbeing, and effective, ethical organisational change. I have served as editor of the journal Management Communication Quarterly, and am co-author of the textbook Organizational Communication in an Age of Globalisation. In 2006, I was honoured to receive the Frederic Jablin Award for Outstanding Contribution to Organizational Communication by the International Communication Association.

I have led a number of major externally funded research projects, including projects focused on organisational changes related to new technologies and an ageing population and public communication processes in the context of controversial science.

I am originally from the United States, but have worked in New Zealand since 1994. Before coming to Massey University, I was at Waikato University, where I served various roles including head of the Department of Management Communication and Associate Dean of the Waikato Management School.

My PhD in organisational communication is from the University of Kentucky, Lexington, as is my Master of Arts degree. I also have a BA in English Literature from the College of Charleston, South Carolina.