He received his PhD from the University of Arizona. His research examines the rise of transnational private regulation of labor and environmental conditions. Comparing across cases, this work seeks to explain the emergence of new regulatory fields and to untangle the complex and evolving relationships between public and private forms of governance. His publications include "Certifying Forests and Factories: States, Social Movements, and the Rise of Private Regulation in the Apparel and Forest Products Fields" (Politics & Society), "Corporate Accountability and the Privatization of Labor Standards: Struggles over Codes of Conduct in the Apparel Industry" (Research in Political Sociology), and "Regulating American Industries" (with Marc Schneiberg, American Journal of Sociology).