Paul N. Friga PhD, MBA

Dr. Paul N. Friga is a Clinical Associate Professor at the Kenan-Flagler School of Business at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he teaches courses in management consulting and strategy. He leads numerous strategic planning initiatives on campus and has served as the Special Advisor to the Provost for Online Education. He served on the UNC Faculty Athletics Committee, UNC CIBER Operations Committee, Senior Advisor Committee of the Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise, and was the Director of the STAR and STAR Global Programs – approximately 25 semester-long consulting projects with MBAs and Undergraduates. He serves on the Executive Board of Directors for the Rams Club (UNC Athletics Educational Foundation). He was a faculty advisor in the UNC Global Immersion Electives Program with past visits to China, India, and the United Arab Emirates. He researches strategic decision-making, knowledge transfer, intuition, management consulting processes, entrepreneurship, and higher education and has presented at numerous conferences throughout the world. He is the recipient of the UNC Chapman Family Undergraduate Teaching Award (2017), the IU Trustee Teaching Award (2008), IU Kelley School of Business Innovative Teaching Award (2006), and the UNC Kenan-Flagler Ph.D. Teaching Award (2001). He co-founded and served as the first chair of the Strategic Management Society’s Strategy Teaching Community. He offered an annual AACSB Seminar to faculty and administrators as part of the Curriculum Development for Experiential Learning Program – in the US and abroad. He has also served as a Trustee for Saint Francis University. He is the Co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer of ABC Insights with a mission to improve the sustainability of higher education by making universities more efficient and effective.

Dr. Friga has focused his research on helping higher ed over the past 6 years and has authored over 13 articles(primarily in The Chronicle of Higher Education) and hosted 15 webinars on strategies for universities to handle the impact of COVID-19 during the spring and summer. His work has been published in The Academy of Management Learning and Education, Research ∙ Technology Management, and two books by McGraw-Hill, The McKinsey Mind (2001) and The McKinsey Engagement (2008). He also authored two book chapters – one in The Handbook of Strategy Process Research and one in Entrepreneurial Learning: Conceptual Frameworks and Applications. He served as an editor on the Editorial Board of The Academy of Management Learning and Education and his work has been cited in the Economist, CFO Magazine, and other journals. He completed his Ph.D. and MBA at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (Beta Gamma Sigma) and previously worked as a management consultant for PricewaterhouseCoopers and McKinsey & Co. Dr. Friga’s undergraduate degree (Honors Program) is from Saint Francis University, where he graduated Magna CumLaude with a double degree in Management and Accounting. He also earned CPA and CMA designations.