William Brake

Dr. William Brake is an associate professor of the finance, economics, and analytics department in the Baldwin Wallace Carmel Boyer School of Business. Brake brings over 25 years of manufacturing and innovation experience to BW. Most recently, he served as executive vice president of global metallic at Cleveland Cliffs (CLF). At Cliffs, Brake served as chief technical officer and EVP of Human and Technical Resources. He was chairman of Renewafuel, an innovative biomass fuel manufacturer and served on the executive leadership team.

Prior to joining Cliffs, Brake was executive vice president of Mittal Steel USA with full operating responsibility for all of Mittal's domestic steel operations. In this role he oversaw the largest steel industry consolidation in the nation's history integrating the former LTV Steel, Bethlehem Steel, Inland Steel, Weirton Steel, Lukens Steel and many others into a single company. The combined entity included 14 plants in 9 states with over $14 billion in annual sales.

He began his career at LTV Steel and, following its acquisition by International Steel Group (ISG), led the restart of the Cleveland, Ohio facilities where he became vice president and general manager. Following ISG's purchase of Bethlehem Steel, he was promoted to executive vice president of operations for ISG.

Brake is a past member of the Association of Iron and Steel Engineers and a past chairman of the Ohio Steel Industry Advisory Council, appointed by the governor of Ohio. He is also a past member of the board of directors of the Great Lakes Science Center, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Cleveland and WIRE-Net. He recently served on multiple commissions for the City of North Olmsted.

Brake holds a Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering, an MBA and Ph.D. from Case Western Reserve University. He was a visiting professor of research analytics in the doctoral program a Weatherhead School of Management until 2022.

Areas of Expertise

Corporate strategy, change management, leadership and followership, project management, risk management, mergers and acquisitions, business analytics, quantative research methodologies, entrepreneurship.

Courses

Undergraduate

• Business Analytics (BUS-365)
• Data Visualization (BIS-340)
• Project Management (MGT-325)

Graduate

• Systems Management and Organization Theory (BUS-501, BUS-702)
• Operations Management (BUS-526, BUS-749)
• Data Visualization (BUS-623)
• Applied Analytics (BUS-626 (Brazil))
• Project Management (BUS-645)
• Global Business (BUS-591)
• Entrepreneurship II (BUS-636)
• Strategic Management (BUS-670)
• Predictive Analytics (BUS-627)
• Select Topics in Advanced Executive Management (BUS-711)
• Policy Formulation and Strategic Management (BUS-870)

Scholarly Activities

Research

Research interests include understanding and defining follower behaviors that increase positive contributions in the workplace and advanced quantitative analysis methodologies.

"Manufacturing Organizations during Sub-Acute Crises: An Examination of Critical Interactions in Five Sub-Acute Crisis Cases"

Qualitative research study on emerging leadership during organizational crisis. Theoretical framework of Complexity Leadership Theory, Sensemaking and Followership. 30 interviews with leaders, followers and full teams in five crisis cases.

"Follower Behaviors That Increase Positive Contributions in the Workplace"

Quantative research study examining leadership behaviors practiced by followers. Compared 'favored versus un-favored' employees’ behaviors that were positively associated with follower influence and performance.

"An Examination of Followers’ Upward Influence"

Ph.D. dissertation researching follower behaviors that increase upward influence. Paper introduces the concept of 'Contributorship' to replace 'Followership' in our contemporary managerial lexicon.

Presentations, Seminars, Speeches

Numerous practitioner presentations, interviews and television programs. Representative sample listed.

The Great Resignation (2022), Webinar with Dr. Parameshwar Srikantia and Dr. Lori Long addressing the post-pandemic workplace and the impact of The Great Resignation.

Living Powerfully in the Post Pandemic Era (2021), Keynote Speaker at BW MBA Association Annual Meeting.

Inward, Outward and Upward (2019), Seminar combining Eastern Philosophy with Western Organizational Behavior, collaboration with Dr. Parameshwar Srikantia.

Beyond Management (2020), Workshop series interactively exploring nuances, puzzles and eternal questions about organizational life.

New Business in an Old Industry: Rebuilding the American Steel Industry (2005), Conference Keynote Address, Association of Iron and Steel Engineers Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA.

Innovative Blast Furnace Operations for Inventory Management (2007), Conference Keynote Address, Iron and Steel Institute Annual Meeting, Pittsburgh, PA

Power and Positive Influence (2015), Featured Speaker, PNC Annual Project Managers Continuing Education, Cleveland, OH.

Dissertation Committee Member (2018-2022), Member of four Ph.D. dissertation committees. All candidates have successfully passed.