FACULTY - Key Persons
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
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- Chairman and Professor of Accounting
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
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- Member of the Officers Team
- Vice Chair
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
- Vulcan Materials Company
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- Finance, Hackney Family Research Fellow
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- Undergraduate Student Services Coordinator and Academic Adviser
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- Margaret Gage Bush Distinguished Professor of Economics / Brock School of Business / Department of Economics Finance and Quantitative Analysis
- Margaret Gage Bush Distinguished Professor of Economics / Department of Economics Finance and Quantitative Analysis
- Professor of Economics at Samford University 's Brock School of Business
Art Carden is a professor of economics at Samford University's Brock School of Business. He is also a senior fellow with the American Institute for Economic Research and the Fraser Institute; a research fellow with the Independent Institute; a senior fellow with the Beacon Center of Tennessee; a senior research fellow with the Institute for Faith, Work, and Economics; and co-editor of the Southern Economic Journal. His research on mass-market retailers, economic history, and the history of economic ideas has appeared in journals like the Southern Economic Journal, Journal of Urban Economics, Public Choice, and Contemporary Economic Policy. He is a contributor to Forbes.com, and his commentaries and other articles have appeared in USA Today, Productive!, Black Belt, and many other outlets. He earned a B.S. and M.A. from the University of Alabama and an A.M. and Ph.D. from Washington University in Saint Louis. Before joining the faculty at Samford, Carden taught economics at Rhodes College in Memphis, Tennessee. His first book, coauthored with Deirdre McCloskey and titled Leave Me Alone and I'll Make You Rich How the Bourgeois Deal Enriched the World, published by the University of Chicago Press, is available to purchase on Amazon. He lives in Birmingham with his wife and three children.
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- Member of the Sports Marketing & Analytics Advisory Board
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- Assistant Professor
- Senior Assistant
- Senior Assistant Dean of Academic Programs
- Senior Assistant Dean of Academic Programs / Brock School of Business / Department of Entrepreneurship Management and Marketing
- Senior Assistant Dean of Academic Programs / Department of Entrepreneurship Management and Marketing
Barbara H. Cartledge is senior assistant dean of academic programs for Samford's Brock School of Business. She directs the academic advising of 860 undergraduate business majors and 170 graduate students in the M.B.A. and M.Acc. programs. She administers the implementation and application of the majors, programs, and policies in the two arenas of undergraduate and graduate degrees. She has managed and coordinated the growth of the undergraduate program from two majors to seven majors, seven concentrations and seven minors, as well as the implementation of three concentrations in the M.B.A. program. Under her leadership, and in conjunction with Brock School of Business administration, a new Office of Professional Success was created in the Academic Programs unit which oversees all internships, professional development and employment opportunities for Brock School of Business students.
As assistant professor, Cartledge teaches the first business course, World of Business, which each undergraduate student takes during the spring of their freshmen year. It is a unique offering presenting the 6 majors via academic principles along with recent Samford alums who discuss their education and subsequent career with the individual major. Cartledge developed a new course, Business and Local Poverty, which allows the students to engage and discover the initiatives within metro Birmingham that seek to alleviate and mitigate the oppression of poverty. The course grew out of the Brock School of Business social entrepreneurship concentration and minor. She also teaches International Marketing in London and Sydney Australia along Principles of Management and Foundations.
Prior to her academic career, Cartledge worked in the telecommunications industry with BellSouth Telecommunications Inc., in marketing research, new product development and management in the small business sector. She also managed human resource data for CWA contract negotiations and strategic forecasting in BellSouth's Human Resources organization.
In the community, she serves on Restoration Academy School's (inner-city Christian school) board of directors, Briarwood Fellows board of directors and recently the Hope Health Center board of directors, the MOMENTUM non-profit committee, and is a Junior League of Birmingham sustainer. Previously she served on Vanderbilt University's Birmingham alumni chapter board, the Sav-A-Life board of directors as treasurer, and Vestavia Hills Mayor's Education Committee. She is an alumna of Birmingham MOMENTUM women's leadership program as well as an alumna of Leadership Vestavia Hills.
She and her husband, Tom, have two children, Hall and Joan. They live in Birmingham, Alabama, and are members of Briarwood Presbyterian Church.
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
- Protective Life Corporation
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- President of the University of Alabama
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- Member of the Professional Sales Advisory Board
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- President, Professor of Economics
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- Retired - Vulcan Materials
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- Vice President for Advancement and Marketing, Professor of Marketing
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- Dreamland Holding Company LLC
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
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- Member of the Professional Sales Advisory Board
- Retired - InsideOut LLC
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- University Fancards & Voice of the Samford Bulldogs, Birmingham Squadron, Legion FC
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- Certified Public Accountant
- Accounting
Brandi Holley joined the Brock School of Business accounting faculty in 2020. She teaches Income Tax I and II, and Government and Nonprofit Accounting.
Holley is a licensed Certified Public Accountant (CPA) in Alabama and Mississippi. Prior to earning her Ph.D. in Accountancy from the University of Mississippi, Holley worked in public accounting in Oxford, Mississippi, and Nashville, Tennessee, for a total of seven years and in the nonprofit sector for two years. Holley's predominant research interest is accounting history.
She received her Bachelor of Arts in Art History and her Master of Taxation also from the University of Mississippi.
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- Baldwin Krystyn Sherman Partner
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- Assistant Secretary
- Member of the Officers Team
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- Retired, Carr, Riggs & Ingram
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
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- Serviam Partner
- Retired - Regions Financial
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- Instructor of Accounting / Department of Accounting
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- Member of the Sports Marketing & Analytics Advisory Board
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- Academic Adviser
- Academic Adviser / Brock School of Business
- Adviser
Caroline Adams serves as the academic adviser for pre-business students in Brock School of Business. In her role, she advises freshmen and meets potential business students through campus visits and Samford University preview days.
She is a graduate of Auburn University and University of West Alabama and has worked in higher education for the last few years. She has worked across many different departments in higher education from admissions and recruiting to program development and was the Registrar in her previous position.
Before working in higher education, Adams was a stay-at-home mom to her two children for 10 years. She is an Alabama native but lived in Laurel, Mississippi, for seven years before moving back in 2022. While in Laurel, she worked as a Chamber of Commerce ambassador, member of the Laurel Arts League, and was a member of the Laurel Junior Auxiliary where she served on Executive Board and project chair of their Secret Meals program providing weekly weekend meals for 200 children with food insecurity.
She, her husband, Jeremy, and children, Jasper and Mary Elizabeth, live in Gardendale and are active members of St. Henry Catholic Church.
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- Member of the Professional Sales Advisory Board
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- Dean
- Dean and Professor of Management
- Dean and Professor of Management / Department of Entrepreneurship Management and Marketing
Brock School of Business delivers lifelong education to its constituents through quality teaching, meaningful scholarship, and servant relationships, imbued by its Christian commitment.
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
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- the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority ( FINRA )
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
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- Coordinator
- Associate Professor of Marketing
Clif Eason is an associate professor of marketing and the coordinator of the professional sales program in Samford University's Brock School of Business. His teaching portfolio includes courses in Marketing Strategy, Analytics, Sales, and Customer Relationship Management. In addition to his instructional responsibilities in Brock School of Business, Eason maintains an active practitioner-focused research agenda covering the areas of customer experience, sports marketing, locally-owned businesses, and other timely trends and topics in marketing.
Prior to earning his Ph.D., Eason worked for 15 years in banking and financial services in his hometown of Birmingham, AL and in Nashville, TN. During that time, he gained experience in many facets of marketing and management, culminating with responsibilities as regional chief financial officer and registered principal of a Fortune 500 financial services company.
As an academic with extensive professional experience, Eason remains active in the business community through speaking engagements, leading workshops, and consulting. Under his leadership as the president of the American Marketing Association's Birmingham Chapter, the organization grew its membership and event attendee count to the largest numbers on record. Eason continues to work with AMA and other non- and for-profit organizations in an advisory capacity.
Expertise
Marketing analytics, customer experience, branding, sales
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- Director of Executive Education
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- Interim Chair, Professor of Accounting
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- Director of Professional Success
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- Chairman, Margaret Gage Bush Distinguished Professor of Marketing and Executive Director of the Center for Sports Analytics
- Department of Entrepreneurship, Management and Marketing
- Executive Director of the Center for Sports Analytics, Margaret Gage Bush Distinguished Professor of Marketing / Department of Entrepreneurship Management and Marketing
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
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- Member of the Premier Sports Management Team
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- President of Meridian College
Ralph Waldo Beeson (1900-1990), son of Dr. John Wesley Beeson, president of Meridian College, graduated from Emory University in 1920. He joined Liberty National Life Insurance Company in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1921. After several years selling insurance, he switched over to automobile distribution at Ford Motor Company in 1923. Ultimately, he returned to Liberty National in 1926 and transferred to Birmingham, Alabama, in 1927 to serve as the assistant secretary at the company. In 1942, he began his service in the U.S. Naval Reserve for the duration of World War II. After the war he became a director at the Veterans Administration in Richmond, Virginia, helping to organize the Insurance Service in their branch offices. Beeson began supporting Samford University during the 1960s, after his brother, Dwight Beeson, became involved.
As one of the greatest individual donors in Samford's history, Ralph Waldo Beeson's gifts to the university have provided for the establishment and endowment of Beeson Divinity School, the construction of Beeson Woods residential village, construction and equipment of the building for the School of Education, completion of an addition to the University Center, scholarships to Samford students pursuing ministry careers and much more.
Beeson died in 1990, nine days short of his 90th birthday. Following Beeson's death, Samford President Thomas E. Corts called him "a titanic figure in the history of Samford University," adding, "All that Mr. Beeson did, he did out of a sense of profound Christian stewardship." Beeson left the school an estate gift of $56 million. Beeson said, "It's the Lord's money. He gave me the gift of making it. I am not smart enough to make that much money on my own. It's His money, and I am going to give it back to Him." At the entrance to Centennial Walk, a bronze statue of Beeson sitting on a park bench bears the following inscription: "In a spirit of love and Christian stewardship he gave away all that he possessed ... to the glory of God. In the halls of this university, and in the hearts of its sons and daughters,the Christian charity of Ralph Waldo Beeson lives on forever."
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- Member of the Professional Sales Advisory Board
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- Founder of Howard and Judson Colleges
General Edwin D. King (?-1862) was a planter, businessman and philanthropist based in Marion, Alabama. Present at the founding of Howard College, King was one of its first financial backers and trustees. King also aided in founding the Judson Female Institute (Judson College) and The Alabama Baptist.
Edwin King was born in Georgia, to a wealthy family of planters that stretched from the tobacco plantations of Virginia and North Carolina to the prairie frontier of Alabama. King served in the Georgia militia during the War of 1812 and fought with General Andrew Jackson at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815. King later received the rank of major general in the Alabama militia. After the war, King moved to Perry County, Alabama, in 1816, where his brother, Elisha F. King, had already established a large cotton plantation. Although Edwin also became a cotton planter with thousands of acres and hundreds of slaves, it was his investments in local businesses and schools that consumed much of his time. King served as trustee to the University of Alabama and served the Alabama State Baptist Convention in many capacities, whether as an officer or the chair of a committee.
The president of the University of Alabama, Basil Manly, Sr., introduced King to Milo P. Jewett, an educator from Vermont who had moved south to establish a seminary for young women. King, along with Julia Tarrant Barron, helped Jewett found the Judson Female Institute in 1838 with King serving as its first trustee chair. Judson's first class included two of King's daughters.
In 1841, King, Barron, Jewett and James H. DeVotie-acting on initiatives already set in motion by the state Baptist Convention-founded a similar theological institution for the young men of Marion and named it Howard College. King regularly donated funds to keep Howard going during its first decades, and served on its board of trustees. Another prominent Baptist of the nineteenth century, B.H. Riley, noted, "It is not too much to say that the denomination of the state is more indebted to Gen. E. D. King for the successful establishment and maintenance of its two schools that to any other. It is gravely doubted that they could ever have been successfully organized and maintained, through their shifting fortunes, but for the clear judgment and liberal purse of General King."
Edwin D. King died in 1862 in Marion, and is buried in that city's cemetery. His son, Porter King, continued the family's connection with Howard by serving as a long-time trustee after the Civil War.
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- Assistant Director of Admission
Education: M.S., Human Environmental Science, B.S., Biology
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- Member of the Premier Sports Management Team
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- Member of the Premier Sports Management Team
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- Assistant Professor of Accounting
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- McGriff Insurance Services
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- Member of the Professional Sales Advisory Board
- Dealer Support Network
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- Member of the Premier Sports Management Team
- Independent Sports & Entertainment
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- Baldwin Krystyn Sherman Partner
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
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- Director
- Director of Graduate and Undergraduate Student Services
- Director of Graduate and Undergraduate Student Services / Brock School of Business
Heather Averett serves as the director of graduate and undergraduate student services in Brock School of Business. She manages the recruitment, admissions, and advising for all Master of Business Administration (M.B.A.) and Master of Accountancy (M.Acc.) students as well as for all business minors. In addition, she coordinates with various graduate departments across campus whose students are interested in pursuing a joint graduate degree with the School of Business.
She is a graduate of the Brock School of Business M.B.A. program and has served in various marketing, communications, career development and publishing capacities during her professional career, including roles at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama and Time Inc.
In the community, she is a member of Samford's Legacy League, serves on the Women Business Leaders Board, and is a member of Dawson Memorial Baptist Church.
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- Member of the Professional Sales Advisory Board
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- Chairman
- Member of the Officers Team
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- CRC Insurance Services Inc
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- Provost and Vice President, Professor of Quantitative Analysis
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- Member of the Professional Sales Advisory Board
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- Associate Professor of Data Analytics
- Associate Professor of Data Analytics in Brock School of Business
Jaejoo Lim is an associate professor of data analytics in Brock School of Business. He teaches data analytics courses including database management. He is originally from South Korea, and worked in international banks in Hong Kong and South Korea as manager of overseas inter-bank loan. Prior to joining Samford, he was a professor in the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith. Lim's research interest lies in analytics of data in a variety of forms and investigating and securing information quality. His research has been published in many premier journals.
An impassioned advocate of education in frontier Alabama, Rev. James Harvey DeVotie played a pivotal role in the founding of Howard College. Not only did he propose naming the institution after the British reformer, John Howard, he also chaired the Alabama Baptist Convention's committee on education, which recommended the founding of the college, served on the school's first board of trustees, and was Howard's principal advocate and agent (fundraiser). "As an agent," one contemporary wrote, DeVotie was "gifted with a pleasing address, a fluent utterance and a heart running over with the tenderest sensibilities when he rises to address an audience" on funding missions of education. "His passionate appeals, seconded by his imaginative powers, are sure to arouse enthusiasm and secure large contributions."
Born September 24, 1813, in Oneida County, New York, J. H. DeVotie was the son of an irreligious frontier farmer and a pious Presbyterian mother-the latter shaping his educational and religious values. He converted to Christianity in 1830, and the following year moved to Savannah, Georgia, and lived with a merchant uncle who was a devout Baptist. The young DeVotie rejected several of the tenets of his Presbyterian upbringing and was baptized via immersion on Sunday, December 4, 1831, by H. O. Wyer, the pastor of the church in Savannah. Immediately feeling the call to preach, DeVotie moved to High Hills Santee in South Carolina to study at the Furman Theological Institute and supplied the pulpit at nearby Camden. Following what he later described as an "unfortunate misunderstanding" with members of the faculty, DeVotie left the school after eighteen months. Nonetheless, in March 1833, he was ordained at Camden and assumed the pastorate of the church. By September 1834, DeVotie was in Montgomery, Alabama, initially preaching two Sundays each month at the Baptist church and later every Sabbath.
The year in Montgomery proved to be a stormy one for the twenty-one-year-old minister, who found himself at odds with his congregation over a number of issues, including his marriage to a non-Baptist, Margaret Christian Noble, who was condemned for being too "devoted to fashion." This, along with DeVotie's Yankee brashness and youthful fervor, led to his dismissal in May 1835. Discouraged, he decided to quit the ministry, but the Rev. Alva Woods, president of the University of Alabama, persuaded DeVotie to accept the pulpit at First Baptist, Tuscaloosa, where he remained four years. In 1840, he became pastor of the thriving Siloam Baptist Church in Marion and worked tirelessly for Howard College during his fourteen-year tenure. He would later be given an honorary degree from the college. In 1856, he was called by First Baptist, Columbus (Georgia). During his tenure in Columbus, and later at the Baptist church in Griffin, DeVotie emerged as one of the most important leaders in the Georgia Baptist Convention. He died on February 16, 1891.
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
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- Associate Dean, Dwight Moody Beeson Chair of Business, Professor of Economics, Social Entrepreneurship Program Coordinator
- Associate Dean, Dwight Moody Beeson Chair of Business, Professor of Economics, Social Entrepreneurship Program Coordinator / Department of Economics Finance and Quantitative Analysis
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- Member of the Sports Marketing & Analytics Advisory Board
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- Member of the Premier Sports Management Team
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
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- Coca - Cola Bottling Company United
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
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- Member of the Professional Sales Advisory Board
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- Little Professor Bookshop
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- Member of the Sports Marketing & Analytics Advisory Board
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- Member of the Professional Sales Advisory Board
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
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- Associate Professor
- Associate Professor of Quantitative Analysis and Economics
Joy Buchanan is an associate professor of quantitative analysis and economics in Samford University's Brock School of Business. She teaches data analytics and economics courses. She has published articles in peer-reviewed journals including Labour Economics and Experimental Economics. Her research is in behavioral economics with a focus on applying experimental methods to issues in the labor market. Her work has been supported by the National Science Foundation and other organizations.
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- Benefactor and Founder of Howard College
Julia Tarrant Barron (1805-1890) played an important role in Alabama Baptist history. She was born in South Carolina but moved with her family to the Alabama Territory at a young age. In 1828, she married William Barron, a prosperous businessman in Perry County. About a year later, Julia gave birth to their only son, John Thomas Barron. William died in 1832, leaving Julia with a large estate.
Julia became one of the wealthiest women in Marion. She was well respected among the community and a prominent member of Siloam Baptist Church. Although little is actually known of Julia's specific church work, in 1840, Hosea Holcomb, a Baptist historian, described the women of Siloam Baptist Church as, "precious ones of the earth-such as an Apostle would commend: they follow Jesus, ministering unto him-and ‘have been succourers of many, and of myself also.'"
In 1838, Julia invited General E. D. King and other Baptist leaders to her home to discuss organizing a Baptist school for young ladies. That year, she rented a building for the school and invited the newly elected school president Dr. Milo P. Jewett and his wife to stay with her free of charge. The school opened as the Judson Female Institute in 1839 with Julia's son, John Thomas, enrolled as one of the "young ladies."
In 1841, James H. DeVotie, the pastor at Siloam Baptist Church, is believed to have discussed the idea of starting a college for men with Julia and other Baptist leaders. Although the specifics of her role in the founding of Howard College is not known, she is believed to have taken part in recruiting Samuel Sterling Sherman as the college's first president and is credited with being at the head of the donors list. The Alabama Baptist, a newspaper she co-founded, credits her as being the first donor to the new school.
Julia's son, John Thomas, became one of the original 9 students to attend Howard College and was the first to graduate from the school in 1848. After graduation, he became a physician in Marion and continued to support Howard as a patron and a trustee. When the campus was destroyed by fire in 1854, J. T. Barron was listed on the roster of contributors as donating $2,000. However, tradition says it was Julia Barron who gave the land for the school to be rebuilt.
During his presidency at Howard College, Dr. John C. Dawson asked Julia's granddaughter, Olive Barron Becker, to paint Julia's portrait for the school. The portrait now resides in the Special Collection department at the Samford University Library. It was presented to Howard College, now Samford University, in December 1945. In February 1946, an unveiling ceremony was held in Reid Chapel to commemorate Julia Barron's significant role in the history of Alabama Baptists and the university.
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- Administrative Assistant to the Associate Dean
- Business Operations Coordinator
- Business Operations Coordinator / Brock School of Business
- Business Operations Coordinator for Brock School of Business
Karen Bost serves as the business operations coordinator for Brock School of Business where she most previously held the position of administrative assistant to the associate dean. She came to Brock School of Business in 2018 where she initially served as administrative assistant to the Accounting and Economics, Finance and Quantitative Analysis Departments. Previously she worked in the Orlean Beeson School of Education from 2001-2004 and returned in 2010. She was made data manager in 2016 and was instrumental in setting up and managing the data management systems and working with the associate dean of accreditation to complete program reports resulting in multiple programs receiving national recognition for the first time.
She lives locally with her husband, Billy. She enjoys her Maltipoos, Jasper and Winnie, travelling, reading and spending time with family. She attends Hunter Street Baptist Church.
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
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- Assistant Professor of Management
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- Instructor of Business / Brock School of Business / Department of Entrepreneurship Management and Marketing
- Instructor of Business / Department of Entrepreneurship Management and Marketing
Kathryn Boyd, MBA, PHR, is an instructor of business in Brock School of Business where she teaches in the Department of Entrepreneurship, Management and Marketing.
She earned her Master of Business Administration from Samford University and Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in Human Resources from Auburn University. Prior to this role, she served as the director of professional success in the Office Academic Programs office where she worked toward developing and building partnerships, internships, and full-time opportunities locally and regionally for students; coordinated Brock School of Business' academic internship program for pre-professional business experience; and worked with students over their Brock School of Business tenure relative to academic exploration, self-discovery, career information, interview preparedness, and job searching. In addition to the academic internship and development role, she developed and oversaw the professional development course and its associated events throughout each academic term. She came to Samford with industry experience in recruitment and human resources management.
She is a member of the Birmingham Society of Human Resource Management and a member of The Church of Brook Hills. She is married to Chad, who works in medical sales. They live in Hoover, Alabama, with their daughter, Olivia.
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- Member of the Professional Sales Advisory Board
- Growth Lending
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- Associate Professor of Quantitative Analysis
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- Academic Adviser
- Academic Adviser / Brock School of Business
- Adviser in Samford University 's Brock School of Business
Kori Cecil is an academic adviser in Samford University's Brock School of Business. In her role, she advises sophomore and junior prebusiness and business majors.
Originally from Paducah, Kentucky, Cecil attended the University of Kentucky where she earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science and a Master of Social Work (MSW). Cecil worked as an adjunct instructor at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee, and at Asbury University in Wilmore, Kentucky, where she was also a field liaison for the MSW program.
In addition to her work with these universities, Cecil has experience working in community mental health, under a federal grant for workforce development, and as a medical social worker for a large hospital system. She moved to Birmingham in June 2016 with her two sons and her husband, David, who is a faculty member in Samford's School of Public Health.
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- Admission Counselor, Regional
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- Development Officer
- Advancement Officer
- Development Officer / Brock School of Business
Kristen Evans joined the Samford University advancement team in November 2022 as the advancement officer for Brock School of Business.
She comes to Samford after serving as associate director of development at Lakeshore Foundation. During her almost 10 years at Lakeshore, she was responsible for donor cultivation, developing and implementing annual fund and donor retention campaigns, and managing all fundraising and stewardship events.
Originally from Fairfax, Virginia, she moved to Alabama to attend The University of Alabama where she received a B.S. in Commerce and Business Administration. She went on to receive her Master of Public Administration from the University of Alabama at Birmingham.
She lives in Vestavia with her husband, Patrick, a Cumberland School of Law graduate, and their daughter and son. They attend Trinity United Methodist in Homewood.
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- Member of the Premier Sports Management Team
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- CoreLogic Valuations Solutions Group
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- Member of the Professional Sales Advisory Board
Education: B.A., Human Development and Family Science
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- Retired - McGriff, Seibels & Williams Inc
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- Margaret Gage Bush Distinguished Professor of Economics / Brock School of Business / Department of Economics Finance and Quantitative Analysis
- Margaret Gage Bush Distinguished Professor of Economics / Department of Economics Finance and Quantitative Analysis
- Margaret Gage Bush Distinguished Professor of Economics, Brock Scholars Program Coordinator / Department of Economics Finance and Quantitative Analysis
With his generous 2022 bequest of $95 million for endowed student scholarships and $5 million for supporting the Frances Marlin Mann Center for Ethics and Leadership, Marvin Mann provided the largest gift to the university by a single donor and the largest gift ever made to a higher education institution in the state of Alabama by a single donor.
Mann, a first-generation college graduate and native of Springdale, Alabama, understood the meaning of hard work and treasured the value of his Samford education. Having grown up in the Great Depression, he began working at four years old, candling eggs at his grandfather's distribution business. After graduating from Samford in 1954, he worked for IBM for 32 years and went on to found Lexmark International, Inc. in 1991 where he served as chief executive officer and chairman until 1999. He was named Samford's Alumnus of the Year in 2004 and received an honorary doctorate in commerce from the university in 1993.
Mann was a beloved member of the Samford community. Aside from being named Alumnus of the Year, he was also the first recipient of the university's Ethics-in-Business Award in 2006. The award, which was later renamed as the Marvin Mann Ethics-in-Business Award, recognizes individuals who embody professional achievement and personal integrity, who display an uncommon commitment to leadership through service, and who have left their marks of influence on institutions and industries without compromising Christian virtue or charity.
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- Tigris Sponsoring and Marketing Inc
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- Baldwin Krystyn Sherman Partner
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- Interim Chair of the Department of Entrepreneurship
- Interim Chair, Brock Family Chair in Entrepreneurship, Associate Professor of Strategic Management / Brock School of Business / Department of Entrepreneurship Management and Marketing
- Interim Chair, Brock Family Chair in Entrepreneurship, Associate Professor of Strategic Management / Department of Entrepreneurship Management and Marketing
Matthew J. Mazzei, Ph. D., is the interim chair of the Department of Entrepreneurship, Management and Marketing, the Brock Family Chair in Entrepreneurship and an associate professor of strategic management in Brock School of Business. Mazzei has taught a variety of management and entrepreneurship courses as a course instructor at both Auburn University and Samford, including topics on strategic management, corporate entrepreneurship/innovation management, project management, organizational change, and big data strategy. His research primarily focuses on corporate entrepreneurship, with secondary interests in new venture characteristics and big data analytics at the macro level.
Mazzei has published in numerous scholarly journals, including Group & Organization Management, International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Management Decision, and Business Horizons. He is routinely invited to present his research at regional, national, and international academic organizations and at universities around the world. He has also provided consulting to a variety of for-profit and non-profit entities across Florida, Alabama, and Texas.
Prior to a career in academia, Mazzei worked in the financial services industry, with management and leadership experience in finance, accounting, and information systems. In his most recent role, he served as the director of information technology for the real estate asset management subsidiary of an international financial services firm. He is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP).
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
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- Member of the Professional Sales Advisory Board
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- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
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- Founder of Howard and Judson Colleges
Milo P. Jewett (1808-1882) was a clergyman and leading advocate for women's education in the mid-nineteenth century. Although he is counted as one of the founders of Howard College, he is better known for establishing its neighbor, Judson College, in Marion, Alabama, and serving as its first president. After leaving the South for political reasons in 1855, Jewett helped found Vassar College in New York.
Born in St. Johnsbury, Vermont, in 1808, he graduated from Dartmouth College in 1828. He entered Andover Theological Seminary the following year and while there, began to lecture for the cause of common (public) schools in New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut. After seminary, Jewett moved to Ohio to serve as a professor at Marietta College; because it was a Presbyterian institution, Jewett obtained his preaching license from the presbytery. He married Jane Augusta Russell in 1833. In 1838, Jewett was baptized into the Baptist church and felt obligated to resign his post at a Presbyterian college.
Six months later he moved to Marion, Alabama, where he oversaw the establishment of a seminary for young women with the support of the local Baptist church, Siloam. The seminary, called the Judson Female Institute, was named for Alabama's first female foreign missionary. It opened its doors in 1839, with Jewett as its president. During this time, proponents of Baptist education in Alabama resolved to open a theological college for men. In 1841, Jewett met with Julia Tarrant Barron, E. D. King and James H. DeVotie to discuss the matter, and during that meeting Howard College was founded.
While at Judson, Jewett also helped to found, edit and print The Alabama Baptist, a weekly newspaper and church periodical. By the 1850s, it was clear Jewett's abolitionist beliefs did not fit in with the goals of the Southern Baptist Convention. Jewett resigned from Judson in 1855, and moved to Poughkeepsie, New York, where he advised Matthew Vassar in the development and chartering of Vassar Female College. Jewett was appointed the college's first president, but he never took the post due to disagreements with Vassar and the trustees. Jewett then moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he remained active in education until his death in 1882.
Job Titles:
- Director of University Marketing, Marketing and Communication Lead, Brock School of Business and Cumberland School of Law
- Marketing and Communication Manager
- Media Inquiries
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Sports Business
Nathan Kirkpatrick joined the Brock School of Business faculty as an assistant professor of sports business in the fall 2020 semester.
Most recently, Kirkpatrick served for two years in the Nelson Rusche College of Business at Stephen F. Austin State University (SFA) in Texas. While at SFA, Kirkpatrick served as a clinical instructor of management and marketing, and also led their sports business program housed on SFA's campus in The Woodlands, Texas (Houston area).
Prior to working at SFA, Kirkpatrick led the sport administration program in Samford's School of Health Professions for five years, and he also worked as an assistant professor of sports administration at Belhaven University's School of Business.
Kirkpatrick started his professional career working in college athletics as a director of basketball operations, head men's basketball coach, academics and eligibility worker, and athletic administrator within athletic departments at Colorado State University, Covenant College, and The University of Georgia. He played basketball at Covenant College.
Kirkpatrick received a Bachelor of Arts in history and secondary education from Covenant College, and a master's and Ph.D. concentrated in sport management and policy from the University of Georgia.
He is married to Emily Hart Kirkpatrick, a 2011 Samford alumna. They have three children: Joshua, Caleb, and Molly.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
Job Titles:
- Administrative Assistant
- Administrative Assistant / Brock School of Business
- Member of Samford University's Women 's Club
Patrice Donnelly joins the Brock School of Business as Assistant Director of Undergraduate Programs as a Student Advisor. Prior to joining the Brock School she served as the Clinical Coordinator, Athletic Training Education Program, in Samford University's Kinesiology and Nutrition Science Department. There she advised athletic training students on their majors.
Patrice is a member of Samford University's Women's Club and Legacy League. She also serves as faculty advisor for Zeta Tau Alpha Fraternity. She is a 1996 Samford University graduate.
Job Titles:
- BMSS Advisor
- Protective Life Corporation
Education: B.A. International Relations and Sociology
Job Titles:
- Retired - Surgical Care Affiliates
Job Titles:
- Serviam Partner
- Redmont Capital
Job Titles:
- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
Job Titles:
- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor of Management
Reginald Harris joined the faculty at Samford University in the fall of 2018. His research addresses the impact of social dynamics on organization outcomes in the entrepreneurship, mergers and acquisitions, and nonprofit contexts. His recreational interests include hiking, cycling and travel. He and his wife, Jennifer, have twenty-six states left to go on their plan to visit every state in the country. Prior to entering academia, Reginald spent over a decade in ministry as missions coordinator and campus ministry director. He and Jennifer both hail from Augusta, Georgia where the newlyweds met in graduate school.
Job Titles:
- Academic Adviser
- Academic Adviser / Brock School of Business
- Adviser in Samford University 's Brock School of Business
Rhonda Eichhorn is an academic adviser in Samford University's Brock School of Business. She advises sophomore and junior pre-business and business majors.
She is a Birmingham native and attended the University of Alabama at Birmingham. After graduating with a bachelor's degree in education, she began her career at Rudd Middle School in Pinson and taught English for nine years. While teaching, she earned a master's degree in education and then a master's degree in school counseling. She transitioned into the school counselor position at Rudd Middle School and remained in that role for 17 years. After retiring from the Jefferson County Board of Education with 26 years of service, she worked as an adult education instructor with Jefferson State Community College for six years. Throughout her career, she has sponsored many student clubs and extracurricular groups and has also been a member of numerous committees and organizations. Serving her students and their families has been the main priority for her as an educator, and she is excited to continue in that role at Samford.
Rhonda and her husband, Tom, have one son and three daughters. They attend Church of the Highlands and enjoy traveling, camping, hiking and kayaking.
Job Titles:
- Serviam Partner
- Medical Properties Trust
Job Titles:
- Serviam Partner
- Public Affairs
Job Titles:
- Margaret Gage Bush Distinguished Professor of Economics, Brock Scholars Program Coordinator / Department of Economics Finance and Quantitative Analysis
Job Titles:
- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
Job Titles:
- Member of the Officers Team
- Secretary
Job Titles:
- Director of Professional Success
Job Titles:
- Associate Professor
- Associate Professor of Data Analytics
Stephen Hill is an associate professor of Data Analytics in Samford University's Brock School of Business.
A native of Birmingham, Alabama, Hill received his doctorate in Operations Management from the University of Alabama in 2008. At Samford, he teaches courses in data analytics.
He has received several awards in recognition of his teaching. His research focuses on applications of analytics techniques in a variety of areas such as: sports, supply chains, education and health care.
Hill enjoys traveling, photography and sports, especially college football. Learn more about Professor Hill on his personal website: drhill.io.
Job Titles:
- Chairman and John W. Gay Professor of Banking and Finance
- Chairman, Department of Economics, Finance and Quantitative Analysis, John W. Gay Professor of Banking and Finance / Department of Economics Finance and Quantitative Analysis
- Department of Economics, Finance and Quantitative Analysis
Steve Jones holds a Ph.D. in finance from The University of Cincinnati, an MBA from Vanderbilt University, and a BA from Huntingdon College. He is the John W. Gay Professor of Banking in the Brock School of Business at Samford University, where he has been a member of the faculty since 2001. His primary area of teaching is in financial management.
At Samford's Brock School of Business, Jones currently serves as faculty advisor to the student chapter of the Financial Management Association International, and as chair of the school's Undergraduate Education Process Committee. In 2004 and in 2008, Jones received the school's annual Excellence in Teaching award. In 2011, he received Samford's annual George Macon Memorial Award for teaching.
Jones is a past president of the Academy of Economics and Finance. His research has been published in such journals as the Journal of Financial Planning and the Journal of Real Estate Research. He served as are viewer for South-Western's 2010 text, Behavioral Finance, by Lucy Ackert and Richard Deaves. He has been interviewed by a number of media outlets, including National Public Radio.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Professional Sales Advisory Board
Job Titles:
- Director of Regional Recruitment
Education: M.B.A., Business Administration, B.A., Interior Design
Job Titles:
- Administrative Assistant to the Dean
Job Titles:
- AutoTec Professor of Risk Management and Insurance, Associate Professor of Finance, Medical Properties Trust Fellow
Job Titles:
- Member of the Professional Sales Advisory Board
Job Titles:
- Baldwin Krystyn Sherman Partner
Job Titles:
- Member of the Accounting Advisory Board
Job Titles:
- Retired - Motion Industries Inc.
Job Titles:
- CBI Construction Services
Job Titles:
- BMSS Advisor
- Contractor LLC / Emeritus