Marshall Toplansky, MBA serves as a research fellow at the C. Larry Hoag Center for Real Estate and at the Center for Demographics and Policy.  He is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Management Science at the Argyros School of Business and Economics. Most recently, Marshall co-authored (along with Joel Kotkin) The OC Focus, a multi-year research publication that has identified strategic directions for the growth of Orange County.

Marshall holds an MBA from Harvard Business School, and an undergraduate degree from SUNY Albany in Political Science/Chinese Studies. He is Senior Advisor at The Cicero Institute, based in Salt Lake City, Utah and serves on the board of directors of Double Check, LLC, Harvard Business School Association of Orange County and global NGO Church World Service.

Marshall began his career in advertising at Ogilvy & Mather. He rose through the ranks over an 8 year period and left to serve as VP, Marketing for US Robotics. Marshall also held top roles such as Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Open Environment, VP of Marketing Insight and Strategy at Gateway, and CEO at Core Strategies, Inc.  In 2011 he was elected to the Computing Industry Hall of Fame for his role in creating the A+ Certification program, the world’s largest computer service professional certification program.

An entrepreneur at heart, Marshall co-founded the sentiment analysis company Wise Window in 2008, which was acquired by KPMG in 2012. While Managing Director at KPMG, Marshall co-founded the firm’s Center of Excellence for Data & Analytics. After spending a couple of years as a consultant and board member, Marshall joined the Argyros School in June 2017. His expertise in marketing, mining and analyzing data and Orange County real estate have made him an invaluable member of our community. You can’t miss his cheerful and warm personality, but here are some fun facts you may not know.

Q&A with Marshall

If you could have a drink with someone from history who would it be? 

Albert Einstein. I’d really like to understand how he visualized the universe and, especially, the  concept of time.

What would be your first song you dance to in Dancing with the Stars?

“Dance to the Music”, Sly and the Family Stone

If you could be any superhero or villain for the day, who would it be?

Tough one.  Either Batman or Superman

What was your favorite TV show growing up?

Mission Impossible

What kinds of hobbies and interests do you have outside work?

Travel, discovering new cuisines (especially Asian), Classical music and jazz.

What bill do you most dislike paying?

My life insurance premium!

What was your first car?

1973 baby blue Plymouth Valiant

What junk food is your weakness? 

Tacos and sausage. Totally addicted to both.