He teaches in the area of the social, political, ethical and legal environment of business. He began his academic career as an assistant professor in the University of Washington's School of Business Administration, where he spent eight years teaching courses in business, government, and society, environmental management, and the politics of business regulation. While there, he conducted research primarily in business political strategy and corporate environmental management, and co-founded the first MBA Environmental Management program in the U.S. He received both his Ph.D. (in business & public policy) and his MBA from University of California, Berkeley. He also received his master of public policy degree from the University of Michigan.