Office Hours
Fall 2025:
Mon, Wed: 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m., Location: Online via Canvas
Biography:
“My teaching philosophy is to serve students both as an instructor and as a coach.
To provide scholars the opportunity of mastering theory while they obtain hands-on
work experience is a beautiful challenge that I embrace every semester. Ultimately,
helping students become highly employable graduates in today’s competitive global
economy is at the core of my mission as an educator”
Adjunct Assistant Professor of Business, Rafael Cardona, is a semi-retired visionary
and bi-cultural marketing professional with an employment history that spans over
25 years. His areas of expertise include account management, business development,
media placement, promotions, and operations – working with both in-house and independent
advertising agencies. He spent a decade in national media sales employed by Viacom,
where he managed a large portfolio of clients including fortune 500 brands across
multiple industries. A progressive marketing practitioner, he set records in market
share growth and increased profits for clients in both general and US Hispanic markets.
Although partially retired, he consults on projects that capture his interest.
Almost 10 years ago Professor Cardona began his career in higher education as a lecturer
at Cal State campuses and Woodbury University. In the Fall of 2011 he started working
at GCC and since then has taught multiple courses for the Business Division including
Money and Banking, International Business, Introduction to Business, Human Relations,
Advertising, Written Business Communications, and Marketing. In addition to teaching,
he has been involved with administration assignments at the college and is known around
campus as the current coordinator and host of the popular Business Lecture Series.
Cardona has also overseen the work of student interns and since 2016 has advised on-campus
student clubs including the well-known Business Club. In 2018 Professor Cardona's
academic research in marketing was presented in proceedings at the yearly and prestigious
Academy of Marketing Science conference in Portugal. The following year his work was
also published in the renowned US Journal of Cultural Marketing Science. Cardona’s
current areas of academic interest and research include Marketing Diversity and Inclusion,
Media, Intellectual Property, and Hospitality.
A philanthropist at heart, Cardona is passionate about helping others. He recently
served as Chief Operating Officer for the Presbyterian Church and has held leadership
positions with non-profit organizations such as MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense
and Educational Fund), Think Los Angeles, and the Riordan Programs at UCLA’s Anderson
School of Management. Cardona has lobbied for the UC system at the state and federal
levels and in the fall of 2020 UCLA granted him recognition as Emeritus Alumni Board
Member.
A native resident of Los Angeles, Professor Cardona was raised in both, Mexico City
and Glendale, CA. He holds an AS Marketing degree from Glendale College, a BA degree
in Latin American Studies and Business Administration from UCLA, and an MBA degree
from the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California at Irvine
(UCI). Some of his hobbies include tennis, the opera, stand-up comedy, fashion, and
spending time in the desert.
