Columbia Business School is pleased to welcome seven outstanding new full-time faculty for the 2025–26 academic year. Representing a diverse range of disciplines, this new cohort brings research and experience that illuminate urgent questions at the intersection of business, society, and technology – many with a focus in the emerging field of artificial intelligence, or AI.
These faculty members reflect Columbia Business School’s commitment to rigorous research, pedagogical innovation, and a deeper understanding of global economic forces.
“From artificial intelligence and finance to education policy, ethics, and global markets, their research and teaching will enrich our community and inspire our students,” said Dean Costis Maglaras, the David and Lyn Silfen Professor of Business. “We are excited to welcome them and look forward to the new perspectives they bring to Columbia Business School.”
Read more about the group of incoming faculty below.
Malek Ben Sliman
Lecturer in Discipline in the Marketing Division
Malek Ben Sliman joins the Marketing Division as a Lecturer in Discipline after earning his PhD there in 2021 and serving as an adjunct since then.Previously, he earned an MS in Industrial Engineering from Ecole Centrale Paris and an MS in Operations Research from Columbia.
Ben Sliman’s expertise is working with new and unconventional datasets and supporting fields sometimes overlooked by digital transformation — whether it's the art world or manufacturing shop floors. Ben Sliman sees new technologies such as Generative AI as great opportunities to help businesses across all sectors evolve and innovate.
“I am thrilled to have been part of this community for over a decade and even more excited to contribute further in this new capacity,” Ben Sliman said. “I believe Columbia is uniquely positioned to lead the AI (r)evolution and I am eager to contribute to our growing curriculum in this area and to help our students tackle the next big problems that businesses and our society will face.”
Ben Sliman co-created and currently teaches an elective course on Generative AI for Business offered to MBA and EMBA students. He also teaches core MBA courses on Marketing and Business Analytics, a core course on Marketing Analytics for our M.S. in Business Analytics students, and a core boot camp course on Statistical Modeling and Decision Making for M.S. students.
Viola Corradini
Assistant Professor of Business, Economics Division
Viola Corradini earned her PhD in Economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2024, as well as an MSc and BSc in Economics from Bocconi University in Italy. Her research covers labor economics and the economics of education, particularly on how institutions and policies can reduce disparities in access to education, job opportunities, and income. Corradini joined Columbia Business School as a postdoctoral research scholar in 2024 and joined the full-time faculty in July 2025.
She currently teaches the Managerial Economics course at CBS.
“I’m truly excited to become part of the CBS community,” Corradini said. “I look forward to engaging with a global cohort of brilliant students and collaborating with my colleagues on research with meaningful societal impact.”
Mattan Griffel
Assistant Professor of Professional Practice, Decision, Risk, and Operations Division
Mattan Griffel has worked in the tech sector for more than 15 years and has founded several successful ventures. Most recently, he started Ophelia, a healthcare company that uses telemedicine to treat opioid addiction. He is a two-time Y Combinator-backed entrepreneur who raised over $75M in venture funding.
His focus is on how technology can accelerate product and business creation, including how AI tools are being used to build leaner, more agile, and faster-growing startups.
Griffel has been teaching at CBS as an adjunct professor since 2016, creating the popular Python for MBAs and Intro to Databases for Business Analytics electives. Recently, he began teaching the Foundations of Entrepreneurship course. He has twice been recognized with the Dean's Award for Teaching Excellence.
David Holtz
Assistant Professor of Business, Decision, Risk, and Operations Division
David Holtz joins Columbia Business School after working as an assistant professor at the University of California, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business. He received his undergraduate degree from Princeton University, as well as an MS and PhD in Information Technology group at Massachusetts Institute of Technology Sloan School of Management. He is also a research affiliate at the MIT Initiative on the Digital Economy at MIT, and has been a co-organizer of the MIT Conference on Digital Experimentation since 2022.
Holtz previously worked as a product manager and data scientist in Silicon Valley, working at Trialpay (acquired by Visa), Yub (acquired by Coupons.com), and Airbnb. At Airbnb, he co-founded the algorithmic pricing team.
His research broadly focuses on understanding the impact of new and disruptive technologies on business and society, with particular emphasis on the design of online marketplaces and platforms, the business and societal impacts of emerging technologies such as personalization algorithms and generative AI, and the development of experimental methods for complex, interconnected settings.
Holtz will teach the core Business Analytics course at CBS.
“I'm excited to join the Decision, Risk, and Operations division at CBS, where rigorous empirical methods meet real-world business challenges,” Holtz said. “The School's commitment to methodological excellence creates an ideal environment to advance our understanding of digital platforms and AI through sophisticated experimental approaches.”
Federico Mainardi
Assistant Professor of Business, Finance Division
Federico Mainardi joins Columbia Business School after receiving his PhD in Financial Economics at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business. His research interests lie at the intersection of macroeconomics and finance, with a particular focus on asset pricing, household finance, and public finance.
In the Spring term, Mainardi will be teaching the Capital Markets & Investments course as part of CBS’s MBA program.
“I look forward to continuing my work at Columbia, where the environment and interactions with the rest of the faculty create exceptional opportunities to advance research in macro-finance at the highest level,” Mainardi said.
Aamir Rehman
Associate Professor of Professional Practice, Finance Division
Aamir Rehman brings decades of private equity and corporate experience to CBS. As chair of Innate Capital Partners, he has invested in a wide range of private capital funds and has invested directly in over a dozen companies. He serves on the boards of directors of multiple asset managers and private equity owned portfolio companies.
Rehman began teaching at CBS as an adjunct faculty member in 2021. He has taught private equity courses to over 500 MBA and EMBA students.
Rehman holds an Ed.D. from Teachers College, Columbia University, an MBA from Harvard Business School, an AM from Harvard University, and an AB from Harvard College. His doctoral dissertation explored how private equity professionals develop acumen by learning from investment experience.
“I am excited to deepen my commitment to CBS and to serve as a bridge between academia and practice,” Rehman said. “The School is strongly poised to shape both future leaders and the industries in which they work.”
Milena Wittwer
Assistant Professor of Business, Finance Division
Milena Wittwer holds two PhDs in Economics, from Stanford University and from the European University Institute in Italy. Her research explores the intersection of finance, market design, and industrial organization, with a focus on how frictions and strategic behavior shape outcomes in financial markets. Prior to joining CBS, she was an assistant professor of finance at Boston College from 2021 and taught a course on investments.
She currently teaches the Foundations of Valuations course at CBS.
