Koelbel - 457F
Biography
Teaching, Consulting, and Learning & Development
Antonio Papuzza is an 鈥淚B鈥� (international business) and 鈥淥B鈥� (organizational behavior) professional, with additional consulting background in cross-cultural training, coaching, learning & development. He is currently a Teaching Associate Professor in the Leeds School of Business at CU-Boulder where he teaches courses and modules in the fields of International Business (Fundamentals of International Business, Country Evaluation & Market Analysis, Global Leadership, Cross-Cultural Management, Global Strategy, Operating in Emerging Markets, Global Business Ethics, and Entrepreneurship for Indigenous Communities) & Organizational Behavior (Fundamentals of Management, Leadership, Mindfulness, Negotiation & Conflict Management, Organizational Development, Teamwork, and Systems Thinking) - at undergraduate level (business students who pursue the Certificate in Global Business, international affairs, and ECON students), and graduate level (Full Time MBA, Evening MBA, and MS students). He also teaches Global Citizenship, Business & Culture (Food, Fashion & Fast Cars听in Italy),听Global Flavors (sustainable practices for healthy cooking) for other schools and programs on CU campus. Additionally, he has being designing, directing, teaching, for Leeds & CU Education Abroad, academic programs in Northern Europe (the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, and Luxemburg), Southern Europe (Italy, Croatia, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Malta), Asia (Singapore and Indonesia), and South America (Argentina & Chile). He is the recipient of the 2015 Campus Global Citizen Award and of the 2015 Champion of International Education for Study Abroad Students. Antonio was, in 2016, the academic director and coordinator of the Leeds program 鈥淐ertificate in Managing Global Competencies for International Careers鈥� for CU students who want to work internationally. He has delivered workshops and training programs in the field of International Negotiations, Diplomacy, and Public Speaking in Jakarta, Indonesia (in English language), in Medellin, Colombia (in Spanish language), in Vilnius, Lithuania (in English Language), and in Palermo, Italy (in Italian language). Antonio is also an international business consultant/cultural business mediator. His clients have been ranging from Ericsson America, Schools of Management in different countries, to the United Nations. Antonio is as well a teacher, on request, for a few courses in anthropology (Introduction to Anthropology, Lakota Culture, Amazonian healing ceremonies, Anthropology of Ancient Civilizations, Business Anthropology, and Economic Anthropology). As corporate trainer, he designs and deliver training programs in leadership development, emotional intelligence, mindfulness, negotiation, systems thinking, teamwork, and cross-cultural training. He has been designing and leading training for Leeds Executive Education, in 鈥淣egotiations鈥� for MBArk Food Industry Executive Leadership Development (FIELD) Program, and in 鈥淪ystems Thinking鈥� for the Graduate School of Banking at Colorado. Antonio has expertise in pedagogy and lifelong learning. As a matter of fact, he has experience in organizational learning & development: analysis of needs, analysis of competencies, curriculum design, and content coordination, training delivery. Having applied all the aforementioned expertise to the several international and national programs directed by him, he consults in different industries for directors of learning and development. He is a blog content author on the topics/fields of intercultural competence, Italian language and culture, learning & development.
Research, Service, and Outreach
Antonio鈥檚 research interests vary from international business (focus on cross-cultural management practices around the world), leadership (mindfulness, ethics), and indigenous entrepreneurship (sustainability, healthy cooking, and relationship between humans and the planet) . He is currently working on a book on the global impact of cultural dynamics on life, work, and business (The Cultural Immunity Hypothesis). At Leeds, Antonio has hosted the IBSS (International Business Speaking Series sponsored by the Ben Miller Fund), the IBCH (International Business Coffee Hour at the Leeds Caf茅), and teaches some international business workshops for professional development. He has been the academic adviser of a few students鈥� clubs and organizations at Leeds and on campus (International Business Club, MBA Global Business Club, and AIESEC, the Association of International Students in Economic and Commercial Sciences). He has served several business boards and committees on and off campus: Leeds International Study Committee, CU ICAT (International Careers Advisory Team), and CU International. Antonio鈥檚 outreach for CU and the Boulder/Denver region includes cross-cultural training (for international students, American mentors for international students, and Boulder professionals), negotiation training (for undergraduate and graduate students for career purposes), and international business mentoring for young world entrepreneurs. He has been for years one of the 8 world reviewers of the textbook 鈥淚B鈥� (International Business Environments and Operations) by Daniels, Radebaugh, and Sullivan for both the American and the global edition (both published by Pearson.) He has been coaching many students and professionals as part of his service to the business community. He has been the director of the Leeds Business Leadership Certificate at Leeds from 2021 until 2023
Coaching & Mindfulness
Antonio is a triple certified coach. He completed the Leadership Development Program at Teleos Institute in Philadelphia (2012) and he is certified with the ICF (International Coach Federation) since January 2018. He became a Gallup Global Strengths Coach in December 2019, with Gallup (Omaha, Nebraska). He became also a HeartMath certified coach in November 2023 with the HeartMath Institute (Boulder Creek, California). In 2022 he officially launched his own coaching system: DheWay漏; this is a methodology based on 30 years of personal practice, global research, and training and teachings from different sciences, cultures, and traditions. It combines and integrates 7 dimensions of leadership. In 2023, he authored the book 鈥淐ompetent Leaders, an Integrated Approach to Leadership for Life, Work, and Business鈥�, published by KendallHunt. Antonio works in business as executive coach with individuals (CEOs and executives) as well as independent professionals and teams. Moreover, he works as a life coach, specializing in personal and professional development, work-life balance, mindfulness, strengths, heart intelligence, and spiritual practices.
Antonio started to learn contemplative practices in his 20s at the Rishi Center in Italy (which he had attended for 3 years), a center based on the tradition of Swami Gitananda. He alternated years of practices in energy work to years of study of yoga and eastern philosophies (Paramhansa Yogananda, Yogi Ramacharaka, Krishnamurti). He learned from Lakota spiritual leaders in American Native reservations (2001, 2004, 2006); he learned different meditation techniques while in therapy for many years in the USA (2012-2019), trained with a shaman initiated in the tradition of the Amazonian jungle of Peru鈥� (2014-2021), and learned from wellness and energy work practitioners in other countries. Antonio learned Vipassana meditation in Yangon, Myanmar, during a training in a Buddhist monastery led by the local monks, while he was on a meditation visa. Besides the extensive informal training mentioned so far, he is moreover completing a mindfulness teaching certification through the School of Positive Transformation, directed by dr. Itai Ivtzan who has been teaching and researching at the MA Clinical Mental Health Counseling and at University College London (UCL). Antonio teaches mindfulness in academic, corporate, and community environments, in person and remotely. His approach combines and integrates elements of all the traditions and teachings aforementioned, indigenous peoples鈥� wisdom, and modern sciences (biology, neuroscience, and quantum physics). He created at Leeds the 鈥淢indfulness & Leadership Fund鈥� (officially launched in 2024). This aspires to create a space for personal wholeness and professional enlightenment, in the context of business leadership, for Leeds students, through teaching mindfulness and its applications for wellness, leadership, professional success, and the betterment of society.
Career, Personal life, and Professional Background
Antonio was born in a small town between Verona and Venice, raised in Sicily for most of his childhood, and completed his school and academic path in Europe (Italy, UK, and Spain) and the US. He has lived, worked, conducted business, and done research in all of the six continents 鈥� in more than 50 countries - for both national and international organizations (private companies, nonprofit organizations, public institutions, and schools.) Prior to Leeds, Antonio was a Business Instructor in Business Anthropology with CU Continuing Education, area Professional Development, for a group of senior entrepreneurs and business professionals in Colorado. Prior to CU, Antonio worked in a number of international business consulting, cultural mediation, and language services projects between Europe and the USA: CEO International, Rosetta Stone, Artsana Group, WHO (World Health Organization), WWF (World Wildlife Fund), Ih (International House World Organization), Rosebud Sioux Lakota Sicangu Nation, and City of Palermo/Italian Government. Prior to that, he worked in sales with the European network GLS (General Logistic System) for 2 years. Other lives also include working as a freelance business consultant and business coach for 5 years, running his own business in food and wine distribution in Italy, and co-founding a nonprofit organization (Peoples of the Earth) that has operated internationally for 10 years.
Director of Global Localization Programs听& Italian Localization Specialist
As a parallel career to business, Antonio has been teaching foreign languages, cultures, and business, for about twenty years, as an instructor, tutor, and as a consultant, in a variety of countries and organizations within business, localization industry, and academic contexts. This includes translating, interpreting, and cross-cultural training services as well as language, cultural adaptation & mediation services for business purposes. He has been working as director of globalization programs (English, Spanish, Italian, and French) as well as Italian localization specialist. As Italian Localization Specialist, Antonio has been teaching courses and leading training programs at American universities, international organizations, multinational companies, as well as to individuals and private groups. Some of the language programs, courses, and workshops he has been teaching include听Italian for Beginners, Elementary Italian, Intermediate Italian, Advanced Italian, and Business Italian. He has taught language classes in Europe according to the European standards for language fluency (A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2), and in the US according to American academic curriculum. As far as Italian culture goes, programs, courses, and workshops he has been delivering in the US include听Sicilian Culture, Unveiling Italy, The Italian Mindset, Making Sense of Sicily, Understanding Mafia, Solving the Italian Paradox, and Business Italian Way. Antonio is a certified business mediator (Agente di Commercio) at the Chamber of Commerce in Italy (2005) and holds an international certification from the International House World Organization in Rome, Italy (2006), recognized by the Italian government, to teach 鈥淚talian Language and Culture鈥�. He passed the Place exam in Italian in the US (2007) and has also been trained in the pedagogy of teaching the Italian language. As an expert in Italian business, language, and culture, Antonio has been interpreting and translating in Italian from a few languages and vice versa for several purposes, and keeps on consulting, training, coaching, and advising professionals who conduct business in and with Italy. He has contributed as an author to the content for software and apps designed to teach the Italian language internationally such as Rosetta Stone, 123Speak, and Ludo Land. Companies for which Antonio has taught Italian classes and conducted cross-cultural training include Artsana Group, Ericsson America, and CEO International. For CU Leeds, Antonio has designed, organized, and led 鈥淔GX Italy鈥�, an international business course for business freshmen who learn about some of the fundamentals of international business and Italian culture, in Boulder, during the spring semester, and then go to Italy with Antonio during spring break. He has been arranging there business meetings, through his personal and professional relationships, so students can meet with professionals of some of the most representative Italian global brands and industries, and have a chance to visit some of the facilities as well. Some of the companies that have helped Antonio with his program are Versace, Armani, Diesel, FIAT, Ferrari, Maserati, Ducati, Prosciutto di Parma, Parmigiano Reggiano, and Aceto Balsamico di Modena. The success of the program has been also possible thanks to special partnerships between Antonio and the Bocconi Business School, the Stadium San Siro, and the AIAF (Italian Association of Financial Analysts) in Milan. He also personally organized some cultural activities for students: visit to the Leonardo Da Vinci鈥檚 l鈥橴ltima Cena, a walking tour of the most ancient university in Europe (Bologna), and an excursion to some of the 鈥渟weetest鈥� hills of the Italian countryside. After his last program in Parma, Italy, in 2019, he was invested听with the title of Parmigiano Reggiano Ambassador. Antonio teaches, on request, courses, modules, and workshops for Italian programs in a few institutions in different countries: The Roman Empire and the Beginning of the Multinational Enterprise, Lessons from the Mafia that Modern Organizations Successfully Implemented, and Evolution and Involution of Italian Culture.
Degrees, Titles, and Professional Development
Antonio holds a PhD in Anthropological Sciences (research in Economic/Business Anthropology and modern Ethnography) from the University of Florence, Italy (2006) and a bachelor鈥檚 degree in Natural Sciences (with honor), major in Holistic Studies (Interdisciplinary Natural Science Studies=Ecology), with a specialization in Protection of Nature and Management of its Resources,) from the University of Palermo, Italy (2002). This was awarded after an extracurricular year at the University of Granada, Spain, on an Erasmus scholarship award. He is a certified business mediator at the Chamber of Commerce in Italy (2005); holds an international certification from the International House World Organization in Rome, Italy (2006), recognized by the Italian government, to teach 鈥淚talian Language and Culture鈥�.
He has completed the Faculty Development International Business with the CIEE (Council on International Education Exchange) in Russia (2014), within the field of geopolitics and global business at the MCMIO School of Business, University of Moscow. He has participated in the training on听Intercultural Adaptation听and听Managing Cultural Diversity as a Resource in Multicultural Universities听conducted by Milton Bennett in the US (2015). He has also participated and completed the CIBER (Center for International Business Education and Research) Faculty Development Program in International Business 鈥淎SEAN鈥� in Singapore and the Philippines (2016). He can speak Italian, Spanish, English, and French.
听