Viva Ona Bartkus is Professor Emerita of Management at the University of Notre Dame and Founder of the Meyer Business on the Frontlines Program (BOTFL) which seeks to harness the dynamism of business in rebuilding war-torn societies. Over the past 15 years, her faculty, student and alumni teams have collaborated with local partners on 80+ business and peace-related projects in over thirty countries to create jobs and set the economic conditions for growth, thereby providing the dignity of work to over 30,000 people.
After multiple deployments with U.S. Special Forces in West Africa and Central America, Dr. Bartkus helped USASOC write doctrine to support conflict prevention missions, for which US SOCOM awarded her the SOCOM Outstanding Civilian Service Award in 2014.
Dr. Bartkus graduated summa cum laude from Yale University with master’s and bachelor’s degrees in economics, and then completed her doctorate and master’s in international relations at Oxford University, while on a Rhodes Scholarship. Prior to joining Notre Dame, Dr. Bartkus spent ten years serving clients while at McKinsey & Company, the last four years as a partner of the firm.