Law, Management & International Business Faculty & Staff
Robert B. Bennett, Jr. is a Professor of Business Law in the Lacy School of Business at Butler University. He is a graduate of Davidson College and the University of Georgia Law School and is licensed to practice in Indiana and North Carolina. He is a Past President of the Academy of Legal Studies in Business and former Editor‑in‑Chief of the Journal of Legal Studies Education. As a professor at Butler, he has taught Legal Environment of Business, Business Law, Business Ethics, International Law, Sustainability in Institutions, Modernizing & Contemporary Europe, Change & Tradition, Leadership London, Religion and the Corporation, Public Policies Toward Business, and Business in the European Union. He has also taught as a visiting professor at Helsinki School of Economics, Zeppelin University, and SRH Hochschule in Heidelberg. Prior to coming to Butler, he spent 11 years in the private practice of law in the Charlotte, North Carolina, firm of Horack, Talley, Pharr & Lowndes, P.A.(now Offit/Kurman), where he earned an AV professional practice rating from Martindale Hubbell, and spent 4 years as Of Counsel to Sommer & Barnard(now Taft/Indianapolis).
He is the author or presenter of more than eighty books, articles, speeches, or presentations before academic and professional audiences, primarily on topics relating to real property, contracts, and jury decision-making, six of which have won awards. His publications include: Robert B. Bennett, Jr., A Sustainability Manifesto, 27 Midwest Law Journal 1 (Summer, 2017); Robert B. Bennett, Jr., Three Stories and Their Morals, 11 ATLANTIC LAW JOURNAL1 (2009); Robert B. Bennett, Jr., Trade Usage and Consequential Damages: the Implications for Just in Time Purchasing, 46 AMERICAN BUSINESS LAW JOURNAL179 (2009); Jordan H. Leibman, Robert B. Bennett, Jr., & Richard E. Fetter, The Effect of Lifting the Blindfold From Civil Juries Charged with Apportioning Damages in Modified Comparative Fault Cases: An Empirical Study of the Alternatives,35 AMERICAN BUSINESS LAW JOURNAL 349 (1998); DAVID REITZEL, ROBERT B. BENNETT,JR., & MICHAEL GARRISON, AMERICAN LAW OF REAL ESTATE, SOUTH-WESTERNPUBLISHING (2002); Robert B. Bennett, Jr., Just-In-Time Purchasing and the Problem of Consequential Damages, 26 UNIFORM COMMERCIAL CODE LAW JOURNAL332 (1994); and Jordan H. Leibman, Robert B. Bennett, Jr., & Richard E. Fetter, Blindfolding Comparative Fault Juries on the Percentage of Negligence: Should Indiana Follow the Lead of Illinois? 41 RES GESTAE 24 (May,1998).
Hilary is the Associate Dean of Academics at Butler University’s Lacy School of Business. She is an Associate Professor of Business Law and regularly teaches courses in Business Law and Business Ethics. Before joining Butler, Hilary practiced law at Ice Miller LLP where she specialized in business litigation, product liability defense, franchisor-franchisee disputes, and complex commercial cases, including insurance coverage disputes. She also regularly counseled clients on litigation avoidance strategies. Hilary graduated summa cum laude from DePauw University in 1999 and obtained her J.D. summa cum laude from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 2002.
Craig Caldwell began his role as Dean of the Lacy School of Business in April of 2022. Since joining Butler in 1999, Craig Caldwell has demonstrated his commitment to students in a variety of roles, including Adjunct Faculty, Lecturer, Visiting Professor, Assistant Professor, Associate Dean of Graduate Programs, and currently Associate Professor of Marketing and Management. He also served as Chair of the Marketing and Management Department for three years. In the Indianapolis community, he serves as a member of the Board of Directors of Goodwill of Central & Southern Indiana and the International School of Indiana.
Caldwell teaches in the MBA and Master of Science in Risk and Insurance programs, delivering classes on Leadership, Strategy, and Organizational Change. Caldwell has won seven teaching awards, four advising awards, and was elected by the student body as the faculty speaker for the 2015 commencement ceremony.
Craig had a leadership book being released in February of 2018 titled, “The Catalyst Effect” that talks about how you can lead from anywhere in an organization. Craig’s other research includes academic articles in Journal of Risk Education, Business and Society, Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, The Monitor, Business and Society Review, Management Accounting Quarterly, and Journal of Corporate Citizenship.
Dr. Caldwell’s consulting and executive education activities focus on strategy development, leadership, and organizational change. He has worked with client firms in logistics, manufacturing, food service, life-sciences and architecture. In addition to strategy development, Craig’s leadership works includes human capital strategy, employee engagement, and building high-performance teams. Dr. Caldwell works with organizations to develop strategic direction, link implementation steps to strategy, identify organizational culture, and develop processes to bring about organizational change.
Craig holds a Doctorate from the University of Pittsburgh, an MBA from Virginia Tech,and a BA from Anderson University.
Lawrence J. Lad is Associate Professor of Management at the Lacy School of Business. He teaches undergrad and graduate courses in Strategy and Leadership. Larry has taught in Executive Education programs for Purdue, Indiana, LSU, and Harvard. He has international teaching experience in Finland, Slovenia, Germany, The Netherlands, and China.
Dr. Lad’s research includes a book on teaching Mindfulness and Management and a book on Industry Self-Regulation. His academic articles have appeared in Organizational Aesthetics, Business and Society, Academy of Management Review, Research in Corporate Social Performance and Policy, Business Ethics Quarterly, and Futures Research Quarterly. He is an active volunteer on the hunger issue in Indianapolis. Larry is a published poet and a practicing artist with a studio in the Circle City Industrial Complex in Indianapolis.
Larry had a Doctorate and MBA from Boston University and an MPA and BS from Michigan State University.
Mike Lewinski is a lecturer in the Lacy School of Business. Mike graduated from Wabash College in 1982 where he received his AB, summa cum laude, and was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa. While at Wabash College he was a member of Beta Theta Phi Fraternity in which he held a number of offices. He graduated from Indiana University Mauer School of Law in 1985, where he received his JD, cum laude. While at IU Bloomington Law School, Mike served on the Indiana University Law Journal and was president of the Delta Theta Phi Legal Fraternity. He began his legal career with Ice Miller LLP in May 1985 where he practiced for 32 1/2 years before taking early retirement to accept a full-time lecture position at Butler University. Mike is also Butler University’s Pre-Law Advisor. In addition to his work at Butler, Mike practices law at Lewis Wagner, LLP, where his practice is primarily in dispute resolution involving real estate issues.
Dr. Marleen McCormick Pritchard is an Associate Professor of International Business and Strategy in the Lacy School of Business. She holds a Ph.D. in Business Administration (International Business) from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Dr. McCormick Pritchard’s primary teaching areas are International Business, Strategy Capstone, and International Strategy. Her main areas of research are on international entrepreneurship, international strategy in emerging markets, and international business education. Her research has been published in Global Strategy Journal, Small Business Economics, European Business Review, Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice, and Journal of International Business Education.
Dr. McCormick Pritchard is the Outreach Editor of the ie-scholars.net online academic community.
Dr. Peg Padgett is an Associate Professor of Management. At the undergraduate level, she teaches Organizational Behavior and Honors Thesis Research Methods. At the graduate level, she teaches Multi-directional Leadership and Talent Management as part of the Masters in Management program. She has been actively involved in the Butler University Honors Program and has served as the Faculty Thesis Advisor for more than 20 undergraduate honors students. Several of these students have presented their thesis at a professional academic conference and/or have had their thesis published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Dr. Padgett received her Bachelors degree in Psychology from Hanover College and her MBA and Ph. D. (with a major in Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management and minors in Statistics and Organizational Psychology) from Michigan State University. Her research interests focus on how gender influences the work experiences of women and has addressed issues such as gender-role stereotypes for leaders, how adopting a flexible work arrangement influences the career advancement of women, discrimination against mothers, and factors influencing the career aspirations of women. Additional research interests include how practicing nepotism in the hiring process influences perceptions of those who benefit from their family connection and how feedback influences student learning and academic performance. Her research has been published in the Journal of Business and Psychology, Human Resource Development Quarterly, Journal of Leadership and Organizational Studies, Journal of Organizational Psychology, Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, and Journal of Higher EducationTheory and Practice.
Peter is an Associate Professor of Business Law. At Butler University, he regularly teaches courses on the legal environment of business, business law, the economic analysis of the law, and the economics of the public sector. His research interests include tax law, tax policy, the economics of tax and fiscal policy, and business pedagogy. He has published articles in Public Finance Review, Journal of Regional Analysis & Policy, Studies in Higher Education, Journal of Business Ethics Education, Journal of Legal Studies Education, Florida Tax Review, Nebraska Law Review, Mississippi Law Journal, Indiana Law Review, and Temple Law Review. Peter also served as the President of the Great Lakes Academy of Legal Studies in Business.
Prior to joining Butler, Peter taught tax law and contract law as an Associate Professor at Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law. He has also worked as a tax professional for a “Big Four” public accounting firm, a large Texas-based law firm, and ExxonMobil. Peter earned a B.A. in chemistry and physics from Augustana College (Sioux Falls, SD), a M.S. in chemistry from the University of Chicago, a Master in Professional Accounting from the University of Texas at Austin, and a J.D. from the University of Houston Law Center.
Laura is a Lecturer of Business Law and Ethics at Butler University’s Lacy School of Business. She is also a faculty lead for the Leadership London study abroad program. Before joining Butler, Laura practiced family law at Church, Church, Hittle & Antrim. Laura graduated from Indiana University in 2009 and earned her J.D. from the Indiana University Robert H. McKinney School of Law in 2014.