Profile
Dr. Arabella Pollack is a distinguished lecturer in the Department of Economics at Hunter College and serves as the director of the Certificate in Business Studies program, which officially launched in the fall of 2020. As director of the program, she works closely with the Cooperman Business Center to ensure alignment with the activities and resources to support students considering business careers at Hunter College. Additionally, Dr. Pollack serves as an advisor for students who are considering joining the program. She teaches courses in Creating Value Through Marketing, Introduction to Entrepreneurship, and Capstone and Internship in Business Studies.
In her previous role as academic director of Columbia's MS in strategic communication, Dr. Pollack spearheaded the development and rollout of a modernized curriculum and launched two new part-time formats: one face-to-face, and one hybrid instruction, expanding access to students across the United States.
Dr. Pollack has over 20 years of experience with leading companies in the business world, including the Boston Consulting Group, Diageo, and PepsiCo, in roles including finance, sales and marketing. In particular, she has deep expertise in guiding business decisions through consumer insights. Dr. Pollack has worked extensively with consumer research (qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods) both vendor- and client-side. Some of the many brands she has worked with over her career include ABSOLUT Vodka, Baileys, Pepsi, KIND and Bath & Body Works.
Having transitioned from the corporate world into academia, Dr. Pollack is most interested in the intersections between the two, examining questions like: How can higher education best prepare students for the realities of the professional world, while still maintaining academic rigor and pedagogical excellence? How can a more applied business education complement the strengths of a traditional liberal arts education?
She holds a particular passion for innovation that inspires consumers, and ensuring that innovation is founded in deep consumer understanding. Dr. Pollack leads custom workshops to help organizations ideate better, and to develop sound consumer-driven strategy. She is also a certified trainer for Andromeda's Income|Outcome simulation, which trains students and professionals in accounting fundamentals in a business-oriented, engaging manner.
In academia, Dr. Pollack enjoys getting to know her students and inspiring their growth, both intellectually and professionally. She finds it especially rewarding to see them start drawing connections between their academic experience and the world that awaits them beyond Hunter, and to provide them with the knowledge, skills and guidance to launch into the post-graduation world and excel.
Dr. Pollack holds a BA and MA from from Cambridge University and obtained her MBA from the Darden Business School at the University of Virginia. She is currently conducting research towards earning a PhD in management from the Rotterdam School of Management at Erasmus University in the Netherlands.