Fintech Faculty

Payments Industry Faculty Helping KSU Grow

The faculty leading Kennesaw State University's fintech programs are all experts in their fields, having published research in distinguished academic journals. Their research covers various topics in the fintech space, including cybersecurity, information technology, digital currencies, blockchain, business intelligence, and more.

Meet the Fintech Faculty

Yolanda Li

Dr. Yolanda Li is an assistant professor in the Department of Information Systems at Coles College of Business. She received her PhD in Management Information Systems from the University of Arizona. Before her journey at the University of Arizona, she studied Communication Engineering at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China. Yolanda’s current research uses data science, network science, natural language processing, and machine learning to address business and healthcare challenges. In her past research, she has applied analytical and machine learning methods in social media analytics, contact tracing evaluation, and startup success prediction.

FinTech Courses taught by Dr. Yolanda Li:

FIS 6880: FinTech Payments for the Unbanked

FIS 6860: Emerging FinTech Payments Technologies

IS 7935: Business Intelligence - Traditional and Big Data Analysis

Meg Murray

Dr. Meg Murray is a Professor of Information Systems in the Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University. Dr. Murray has over 40 years of experience in academia and industry. She holds a Ph.D. in Information Systems, an MBA with a concentration in Banking and Finance, and a MS with a concentration in Computer Science. Dr. Murray specializes in the development and implementation of emerging technologies to meet educational, business, and societal needs. She is an early researcher of Bitcoin and wrote a seminal piece on the foundational technology of the blockchain. Her current research interest is on Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) and related US legislative initiatives. Dr. Murray teaches the payment processing course in both the undergraduate and graduate FinTech programs.

Solomon Negash

Professor Solomon Negash is an educator and certified Project Management Professional (PMP). He has 43 years of experience (21 years in industry and 22 years in academia). He is a professor and graduate faculty at Kennesaw State University (KSU), Coles College of Business, Department of Information Systems and Security.

He has published over 80 academic papers and two edited books with citations over 4,500 times as indexed by Google Scholar. His publication was recognized in September 2024 for the top-ten all-time downloads by the Association of Information Systems eLibrary (AISeL https://aisel.aisnet.org/).

He is the co-director of the Modular Agile Deployment Lab (madLab) at KSU and the founding Director of the KSU Fintech program. He championed and served as the founding international liaison of the Information Systems PhD program at Addis Ababa University. He is a founding member of the African Journal of Information Systems where he served as Editor-in-Chief and Managing Director. His contributions have been recognized where he received a distinguished intellectual contribution award, a distinguished e-learning award, a distinguished graduate teacher award, a distinguished service award, and an international goodwill and understanding award.

Professor Solomon has traveled to 89 countries. He is a metropolitan who loves travel, flourishes in diversity, and cherishes cultural experiences.

Animikh Sen

Dr. Animikh Sen is a professional with more than two decades of leadership experience in the Financial Technology industry. His experience ranges from leading complex digital transformations to launching global products and services. His current focus includes digital wallets, identity and authentication. Prior to that, he has worked in core payment networks and acquiring. He holds a global patent on payment tokenization. Outside of work, he is an avid photographer, and loves to travel, equally enjoying remote hikes to bustling city streets.

At KSU, he is engaged as an Assistant Professor at the Michael J. Coles College of Business, where he teaches the Compliance Policies in Payment Course. He assists in several other core courses including Emerging Fintech, Payment Processing and Payment Security. Additionally, he delivers a highly sought-after Payments 101 lecture to the undergraduate students at the department as part of the IS Engagement Series.

Jia Wei

Dr. Jia Wei is an Assistant Professor of Information Systems in the Department of Information Systems and Security at Michael J. Coles College of Business, Kennesaw State University. Jia received her Ph.D. in Information Systems from the University of Arkansas. Additionally, she obtained a Master of Information Systems from the University of Arkansas and a Master of City Planning from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Wei's research focuses on digital platforms, cybersecurity, the business value of IT, and privacy. Her work has been published in respected journals, including Energy Economics, Internet Research, Finance Research Letters, and the Review of Financial Economics. Additionally, her works have been presented at prominent conferences such as the International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS) and the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS).

Her teaching interests are in information systems and FinTech. In the FinTech program, she has taught courses such as FIS 6815 Blockchain for Business and IS 7060 Information Systems Development Methods and Technologies.