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Ahmet H. Kirca is an associate professor of international business and marketing at Michigan State University.
Currently, he is serving as the marketing doctoral program director and holds a doctor of philosophy degree from
the University of South Carolina, Columbia. Prior to joining MSU in 2006, he worked at the George Washington
University, Washington, DC. His research focuses on international business and marketing strategy with a special
emphasis on firm internationalization, innovation and organizational culture. He has several published or
forthcoming articles in top academic journals including the Academy of Management Journal, Journal of Marketing,
Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of World Business and Journal of Management, among
others. He teaches international business, marketing research and marketing strategy courses in various
undergraduate and graduate programs at MSU. Dr. Kirca also had extensive managerial experience in textile and
tourism industries in Istanbul before joining the academia. A native of Turkey, Kirca fluently speaks English, French,
and Italian. He also has working knowledge of Spanish and Japanese.
Alex Bamiagis has been an attorney-advisor in the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) Branch of U.S. Customs and
Border Protection (CBP) since December of 2008. During that time, Mr. Bamiagis also served on a temporary detail
as a policy advisor for the first U.S. Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator, in addition to serving a short time
as an attorney-advisor in CBP’s privacy branch. In the IPR branch, Mr. Bamiagis works on CBP’s enforcement of
trademarks, copyrights, patents, DMCA devices, and exclusion orders issued by the U.S. International Trade
Commission. Mr. Bamiagis’s education includes a bachelor’s in molecular biophysics & biochemistry (Yale
University), master’s in health policy (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health), and a juris doctor from
the George Mason University School of Law. Currently, Mr. Bamiagis is an active member in good standing with the
Virginia State Bar.
Anastasia Kononova is an assistant professor of advertising at Michigan State University. Media multitasking is an
overarching focus of Kononova's interdisciplinary and international research that lies in the intersection of three
areas: media and technology use across different cultures and social groups; psychological responses to media
devices and persuasive messages; and advertising and digital literacy. Kononova's primary research interest is
related to exploring media multitasking behavior, i.e. using/being exposed to multiple media at the same time.
Studying media multitasking patterns reflects idiosyncrasies and commonalities of media use across markets. Such
knowledge helps enhance international communication, especially with regard to using multiple platforms to
convey messages effectively. Kononova has studied media multitasking not only in a cross-cultural setting but also
across the lifespan, focusing on media use behaviors of older adults. A large body of Kononova's media multitasking
research is devoted to exploring the effects of this behavior on cognition, emotion, rationalization, and resistance to
persuasion. Kononova has found that switching between online tasks and using multiple screen devices at the same
time negatively affect memory for mediated content, elicit less skeptical responses to persuasive messages (e.g.,
health and advertising messages), and hinder rational choices (e.g., choice of healthful snacks). In a related area of
research, Kononova has explored how individuals cognitively and affectively respond to advertising messages
placed in congruent and incongruent online contexts. In a recent project, Kononova focused on the use of health
mobile applications (apps) and privacy concerns associated with sharing personal information via smartphones,
exploring credibility judgments that individuals made of sponsored health mobile apps. Kononova's work appeared
in highly ranked peer-reviewed journals, such as Computers in Human Behavior, Cyberpsychology, Behavior, and
Social Networking, International Journal of Communication, Journal of Health Communication, Journal of Medical
Internet Research: mHealth and uHealth, and others. Before joining the Department of Advertising and Public
Relations at Michigan State University, Kononova worked as an assistant professor of communication and media at
the American University of Kuwait. She earned a doctoral degree at the University of Missouri’s School of Journalism
and a master’s degree at Oklahoma State University. Before graduate school, Kononova studied in Rostov State
University (Southern Federal University since 2006) in Russia, where she also worked as a corporate communication
specialist.
Andrew Love is the brand security/global investigations manager at Specialized. He created the Specialized Brand
Security Department in 2008 and currently leads a 14-member team patrolling in 7 languages. In this position, he
has seized over 2 million dollars from counterfeiter’s finances, is active daily on 85 e-commerce websites and social
media and his team averages 60 takedowns per day, $49 million USD value annually. Andrew has been a guest
speaker or presenter at Europol, IACC, Consero, IQPC anti-counterfeit forums, DHS international law enforcement
trainings in Mexico and Colombia, guest faculty at the National Advocacy Center DOJ training facility, and has been
a regular A View From the Field columnist in The Brand Protection Professional produced by the Michigan State
University's A-CAPP Center. He's been recognized in the media as “the cycling industry’s leading anticounterfeit
crusader” (The New York Times), “The cycling industry’s foremost counterfeit investigator” (Bicycling Magazine), “a
shining example” (Velo Magazine), “hunched over his laptop computer, Andrew Love leads a team of 14 at
Specialized who monitor 85 e-commerce websites around the world” (NPR), and "Andrew Love is the industry’s Dog
the Bounty Hunter" (Bicycle Retailer and Industry News).
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