Viva Bartkus
Paul E. Purcell Associate Professor of Management, University of Notre Dame
Viva Bartkus is the Paul E. Purcell Associate Professor of Management at the University of Notre Dame. Dr. Bartkus is the Founder of the Meyer Business on the Frontlines Program (BOTFL) which seeks to harness the dynamism of business in rebuilding societies ravaged by conflict and deep poverty. Over the past 15 years, her faculty, student and alumni teams have collaborated on 80+ business and peace-related projects in over thirty countries with a global network of partners including multinational corporations (Newmont Mining, GE), international humanitarian organizations (Catholic Relief Services, World Vision, Mercy Corps, Aga Khan Development Network), local NGOs, the US Army Special Operations Command, and the Catholic Church to create jobs and set the economic conditions for growth, thereby providing jobs and the dignity of work to over 30,000 people. In 2020, she helped raise a $35 million endowment for the program. 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. From 2008-2015, Dr. Bartkus served alongside Catholic Cardinals and Bishops as one of the first lay members of the Board of Directors of Catholic Relief Services, one of the largest humanitarian organizations in the world.
