Faculty & Staff Directory

Leah Daniel is Batten’s Salesforce Manager. Prior to joining Batten, Leah was Senior Financial Analyst and Salesforce Administrator at UVA School of Medicine, Department of Pediatrics. She brings years of database management experience to Batten from her role as database manager at both the Darden School Foundation (1997-2003) and the UVA Law School Foundation (2004-2017). Leah holds a B.S. from the University of South Carolina.

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Tim Davis

Timothy
L.
Davis

Associate Professor of Leadership and Public Policy
Garrett Hall

Tim Davis is an associate professor of leadership and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia.  A clinical psychologist, Davis helps students, executives and teams increase their effectiveness by building resiliency, strengthening community and expanding self-awareness. At Batten, he teaches courses on team leadership, group dynamics and emotional resilience.  

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Alec Davis headshot

Alec
Davis

Lab Manager, CHIP and Motivation Science Labs

Alec Davis is the Lab Manager for the Culture, History, Identity, and Policy Lab and the Social Motivation Lab in the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy.

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Jim Detert

James
R.
Detert

Professor of Business Administration and Public Policy

Jim Detert is the John L. Colley Professor of Business Administration in the Leadership and Organizational Behavior area at the Darden Graduate School of Business Administration and professor of business administration and public policy at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. Detert's research focuses on workplace courage, ethical decision-making and behavior, improvement-oriented voice (why people speak up or stay silent at work) and other leadership-related topics.

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Kyle Dobson

Kyle S. H.
Dobson

Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Psychology

Kyle S. H. Dobson is an assistant professor of public policy and psychology at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia.  Dobson takes an interdisciplinary approach to organizational studies, focusing primarily on occupations where employees sacrifice their well-being in service to others. His work has focused on police departments primarily, with expansion to schools and other organizations. 

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Heather Downs

Heather
Downs

Director of Academic Operations

Heather Downs joined Batten in December 2023 as the Director of Academic Operations. She has served UVA Athletics since 2013, most recently as the Executive Director of Student Development.

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Sean Michael Flattery

Sean Michael
Flattery

Assistant Director of Events and Operations

As assistant director of events and operations, Sean Michael supports the Batten School’s mission by ensuring the efficient planning and execution of key events and daily operations. Before joining Batten, he was assistant technical director at the Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Va., and previously toured nationally as an actor and deck manager, coordinating performances and technical operations in over 100 venues across 36 states, Toronto and off-Broadway.

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regina ford

Regina
Ford

Business Services Specialist

Regina Ford is the Business Services Specialist for the Batten School and supports multiple areas of our Finance and Business Servcies team.  She has extensive knowledge and experience as a fitness professional in health and wellness ranging from management to multi-faceted trainer and instructor. She also has more than 17 years of experience in the trade show industry. 

She earned her bachelor's degree in social work from Shippensburg University with a minor in psychology and art.

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Brian Ford

Brian
Ford

Senior HR Business Partner

As an HR leader with 20 years experience, Brian Ford currently is the Sr. HR Partner for the Batten School and McIntire School of Commerce. Prior to UVA, he led the Employee Experience function for the eastern US region at VMLY&R. In this capacity, he and his team drive culture, talent management and the overall employee experience for offices such as New York, Atlanta & Miami. Prior to VMLY&R, Brian was Chief People Officer at Fusion Media Group and had sr. leadership roles at Ogilvy, LG Electronics and Mercedes-Benz USA.

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George Foresman

George
Foresman

NSPC Executive Director & Senior Advisor

George Foresman has over three decades of leadership experience in government and business. While serving as Virginia’s homeland security secretary, Foresman was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to serve as undersecretary at the Department of Homeland Security.

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Galen Fountain

Galen Fountain is a lecturer at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy. Previously, he served for nearly two decades as Clerk of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies and prior to that as Counsel to the Senate Committee on Small Business. 

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Leora Friedberg

Leora
Friedberg

Associate Professor of Economics and Public Policy

Leora Friedberg is an associate professor of economics and public policy at the Batten School and an associate professor and Vice Chair at UVA's Department of Economics. Her focus is on labor economics, including research on social security, aging and retirement economic impacts.

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