Welcome! I am an Associate Professor of Management at the Martin V. Smith School of Business & Economics at California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI) in Camarillo. I have been teaching at CSUCI since 2007. 

My path to academia is not a conventional one, but I am certain that all my previous experiences have given me a deeper perspective of the business reality and have better prepared me to be the best, well-rounded professor that I can be.

After getting my Law Degree from Universidad Pontificia de Comillas (ICADE) in my native Spain in 1993, I worked for a Spanish bank, Bankinter, where I helped to develop the first online banking system in Spain (and one of the first in Europe).

Later, I moved to London to work for Visa International in the marketing department, where I was involved in the development of Visa New Products for their Bank Members. In this position, I had the opportunity to learn about different aspects of marketing, from product development to pricing, including promotion, research, and marketing intelligence. At the end of 1997, I was awarded a Fulbright scholarship and moved to the United States to get my MBA.

After graduating with Honors from Boston University in Massachusetts, I pursued a career in consulting (Gemini Consulting in the US and Indra in Spain), helping banks and other organizations to use technology to achieve their business objectives.

I moved to California in 2006 from Europe and started to teach at CSUCI. In 2017, I successfully defended my dissertation at IE Business School and kicked off my tenure-track path as an Assistant Professor of Management. My research interests include hybrid organizations, social enterprises, social entrepreneurship, certified B Corps, etc. I have ventured now into necessity entrepreneurship and conducted fieldwork in Tijuana (Mexico) till COVID knocked on our doors. I have published in the Case Research Journal, the Journal of Social Entrepreneurship, the Journal of Development Entrepreneurship, the Case Journal, Entrepreneurship Education & Pedagogy, and the Journal of Social Business, among others.

I am actively involved on campus and off campus. I am excited to be part of the B Academics Founding Board, and  I also served as the 2021 USASBE Social Entrepreneurship SIG Chair. As part of my engagement with the case research community, I serve on several editorial boards (Emerald Emerging Markets Case Collection, Wine Business Journal, El-Khazindar Business Research, and Case Center), is the Chair of the Social Impact track for North America Case Research Association (NACRA) and the co-editor of the SAGE Social Impact Case Collection. I also serve as a board member for The Case Centre and Women Economics Ventures. My cases have won several awards in both NACRA and USASBE annual conferences.

I am also committed to expanding international opportunities for our students through study abroad programs or COIL projects. I was honored to represent my campus in the CSU-wide Academic Council on International Programs (ACIP). 

As part of CI’s Teaching & Learning Innovations faculty team, I am especially interested in using emerging technologies in the classroom, online, and blended learning, as well as the adoption/creation of #OER in higher ed. During the 2021-2022 academic year, I served as a Business Digital Learning Mentor (DLM), and since January 2022, I have been one of the Faculty Lead in CI Solutions, our student-run agency. 

I can easily get in touch via email at maria.ballesteros-sola@csuci.edu, or we can connect on LinkedIn.