Business Class

You’ve been in your role as Dean of the College of Business Administration for a little over a year now. What attracted you to both UMSL and St. Louis?

The strength of the people at UMSL and the strength of the region were the two most important factors. In terms of people, we have wonderful faculty and staff; it’s truly this team of individuals contributing to and creating new knowledge in the community. They’re awesome, and they do the best work. I’m always getting alerts about new publications or awards our faculty and students are receiving, which demonstrates how strong our team and community is and how much we can do together. 

Also equally important is the strength of the region. I view St. Louis as strategically positioned in the Midwest. We’re very globally connected, and we also have great infrastructure from highways to airlines, and for hundreds of years, our waterways have connected us to the world. I feel like the metro has a lot of potential for growth.

You see business schools as having a major impact on economic growth. Is that what attracted you to a leadership role within the business education field?

I graduated from Temple University in Philadelphia, spent four years there, then moved to Dayton, Ohio, and Wright State University, where I was for 18 years before moving to St. Louis. I began my career on the academic side, as an assistant professor, then associate and finally a full-time professor. About 15 years ago, I had the opportunity to add on an administrative role in addition to my faculty one which truly changed my perspective. 

Being an educator is so critical to our society because we are educating the next generation of leaders and building the workforce. It’s a great way to have an impact on the next generation of talent because teaching a class is teaching a skill, and you are also connecting students with internships and contributing to their success in that way. But I had a moment of recognition when I realized that being an administrator broadens my scope and ability to have even more impact in students’ lives, because I am making decisions on behalf of the department, college, faculty, staff, and students. There is a lot of impact on how they learn, what they learn, what competencies they will have when they graduate, and how they will interact with the business community. 

I truly believe that this administrative role allows me to make decisions that will create a bigger impact for our learners. Being a part of that gives me purpose and is why I do what I do. The dean is a very privileged position in my view, and I am humbled that I was chosen to lead this college.

You see UMSL as having an important role within the St. Louis community. In what way?

Being the only public research institution in this area, we have a great mission. Not everybody can afford a private institution. What we do is give everybody the chance to have the best education possible, and we are committed to that. We make sure our learners are successful — and I am being very strategic about using the word “learner” instead of “student,” because education is broader than that. People come here from all different populations, learn in different ways, are full-time college students, adult learners, non-degree seekers, transfer students. We are open to any individual who wants to grow and be developed. 

Our central mission is providing accessible education that’s not just affordable but is also excellent. I never use the word cheap because what we provide is high quality. I often say it’s a smart investment. We educate the best students and give them the ability to find good jobs. Students who come here work full-time, take care of kids or family members — they are doing roles outside of the university while also being here. We know who we are serving, and a lot of our decisions are made around that. 

Have you made any changes to the College of Business Administration since assuming your role in April 2024?

By the time a student graduates, we give them a business degree, but I believe we need to provide more. We need to ensure their professional success by doing things like making sure they’ve completed multiple jobs or internships, that they’ve taken their CPA exam, for example, or that they have a clear idea of what sort of job they will be working and what their path for growth is. In that sense, the College of Business Administration has been mindful of connecting learners with business professionals. 

We’re just finishing up the first cohort of our RISE Academy, (a two-semester program which launched in 2024), which pairs our business learners with business professionals, most of whom are alumni of the university. In this cohort, we have 22 students paired with 22 mentors. When they graduate in May, they will be so much better prepared and positioned when they enter the workforce and will have a better chance of finding a good job with the best opportunity to grow in the future.

When it comes to guiding the college into the future, what are some things you are looking at and how are you making those decisions? Are there any industries that you feel will be especially impactful?

One thing I’ve learned as an educator is that you have to always be learning yourself. That is the first and foremost requirement of the job. Of course, big data and AI (artificial intelligence) will be everywhere whether we like it or not and will change the business industry. 

The way I look at it, I need to be thinking about the next big thing beyond even that, and then understand what unique opportunities there are for business educators. This is a pattern: Think about the 1980s when the personal computer appeared and transformed everything. Then came large databases and powerful computers, then networks, then the web, then big data and now AI. What is the next big thing? This is something I think about every single day. 

Education is an interesting challenge because we are building talent for four to five years down the road. We have to see the future and think into the future while being realistic because we have to deliver for today by getting students prepared for their careers. I get a lot of inspiration from understanding the current state of things and being able to tune into what is new today and what is happening in the business community, then having conversations with leaders in the community. 

It’s also important to see what’s going on globally and how people are doing things in other markets and parts of the world. I just came back from Southeast Asia, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and mainland China, and learned so much. But really, there is a lot of information out in the world that none of us will have enough time to consume, so you have to be very focused and intentional.

You said that beyond UMSL, the broader St. Louis region attracted you here. What have you found to be its strengths?

Well, one thing is its great restaurants — there is so much good food here. But really, we have a lot of great resources in this region, like infrastructure and talent. Many people from St. Louis stay in St. Louis, so it is a very tight community of families and individuals. 

But it’s also attracting foreign-born individuals. In 2023, the region had a 23 percent increase of foreign-born individuals in St. Louis — the highest in the nation. That demonstrates strength in terms of how to attract people to the region. We also have a very good health care system, and our financial, investment, accounting, and legal sectors are very strong. We also have a very good education system of community colleges and four-year private and public institutions that offer advanced degrees. 

If I am a company looking for a place to invest, I have to look at what resources are provided, where there are talented people who will be hired, and how the region is growing. That’s all here. 

How do you think the region can capitalize on these strengths?

If a region wants to grow, there has to be an educated workforce, and we have to work together — educators, business leaders, and the government — to shape the region. We have to do this from the very top ideas to the details. It takes everybody, and I have seen that willingness, which is why I remain very positive and hopeful in spite of the challenges we are facing today. 

We are facing a lot of uncertainty right now. Things are changing, and I often wonder how we look beyond the moment and into the future. I feel the one thing that is very important to remember is that we all want the economy to be strong and for families to have a good life. These are the basic things for a great society. 

When it comes to how we achieve that, education plays an important role. It contributes not just wealth but wellbeing and quality of life, and nobody can deny that. We will continue to be a critical partner in that.