About Me
Research Interests
Strategic Management with an ESG (environmental, social, governance) focus in the hospitality and tourism context.
The major themes center around my research are understanding the impacts of social, cultural, and economic capital on ethnic minority entrepreneurs’ access to financing, addressing the underutilization of resources in underserved groups, and attending to issues of equity as it relates to race and ethnicity. I am particularly driven by factors of change with implications for social and economic policies. My work contributes by informing the arrangement of social, economic, environmental, and political equity so that they are to the greatest benefit of the least advantaged.
Select Professional Experience
2023- Present
Assistant Professor
University of Hawai'i at Mānoa
2014-2020
Partner
Jade Hill Investments
2012-2014
Senior Associate
Jackson Cooksey (now Newmark)
Education & Board Positions
Ph.D. in Hospitality Administration
University of Houston
2023
MBA in Finance
University of Houston
2013
Immediate Past President
Hilton Alumni Association
2023 - Present
Advisory Board Member
PIMA Medical Institute
2015 - Present
Select Works
Published
Koh, Y., Mao-Clark, X., & DeFranco, A. Black Lives Matter movement and black entrepreneurs’ crowdfunding performance. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 111, 103472
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2023.103472
Manuscripts Under Revisions
Koh, Y., Mao-Clark, X., & DeFranco, A. The impact of relative prosperity and race on crowdfunding success. 3rd Round of revision at International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management (SSCI Indexed & Ranked A in ABCD)