April Breakfast Meeting Keynoter:
Dr. David J. Urban
Dean of the Jennings A. Jones College of Business at Middle Tennessee State University
The Entrepreneurial Spirit
Some of the answers might surprise you. Because entrepreneurs often transform things most people view as disadvantages into advantages, you will be amazed to learn what embodies a truly successful entrepreneur.
Join us as Dr. Urban draws some insights into a topic that applies to us all since everyone is an entrepreneur in some aspect. Drawing on previous research, Dr. Urban will describe the entrepreneur’s mindset and provide real-world examples of entrepreneurship in action. In addition, he will discuss some recent entrepreneurship initiatives being implemented right now in the Jones College of Business at MTSU.
About Dr. David J. Urban
Dr. Urban joined the Jones College in July 2013, after having served for 24 years in the School of Business at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU), where he was Professor of Marketing and held administrative positions as Executive Associate Dean, Interim Dean, and Chair of the Department of Marketing. Dean Urban also had a joint appointment in the Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs at VCU, where he was Director of VCU’s Survey Research Laboratory and Director of VCU’s statewide Commonwealth Poll. He coordinated the annual VCU Life Sciences national survey, the annual Commonwealth Education Poll, and the Virginia Business Climate Survey. Prior to his years at VCU, Dean Urban was a faculty member in the Robinson College of Business Administration at Georgia State University.
Dean Urban received a B.S. in Commerce from the University of Virginia, and an A.M. in Psychology as well as a Ph.D. in Business Administration from the University of Michigan--Ann Arbor.
Dean Urban’s business and marketing background includes duty as an officer in the U.S. Navy Supply Corps, as well as training or research assignments with Ford Motor Company, Hyundai Motor America, several other smaller businesses, and numerous government and nonprofit organizations. Dean Urban is a charter recipient of the American Marketing Association's Professional Certified MarketerTM (PCM) designation.
His expert comments have appeared over 400 times in electronic or print media, including outlets such as CNBC, Fox Business Network, CBS Radio News, Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Washington Post, New York Times, New York Daily News, and Chicago Tribune. His main research interests are in customer satisfaction assessment, retailing, and distribution channel management. He has received 29 research grants from the National Institutes of Health, General Electric Foundation, Leo Burnett Foundation, and several Virginia state agencies.
Dean Urban has won eight national awards for teaching excellence, is a two-time recipient of the VCU School of Business Distinguished Teaching Award, and has received the VCU School of Business Distinguished Service Award and Award of Excellence. He is the only faculty member in the history of the VCU School of Business to have been recognized with the Outstanding Faculty Award (OFA) from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV). The OFA is the Commonwealth of Virginia’s highest honor for faculty at Virginia’s public and private colleges and universities.
In the local community, Dean Urban is a past member of the Boards of Directors of two different Rotary clubs, and has received the “Rotarian of the Year” award from both clubs for outstanding service. He is a multiple Paul Harris Fellow (PHF+3) and is a Rotary Foundation Benefactor. He has also served on the board of The Catholic Virginian, the newspaper of the Catholic Diocese of Richmond. Dean Urban lives in Murfreesboro with his wife Gina. Their daughter Eliza is currently a doctoral student at Louisiana State University, and their son Alexander is currently an undergraduate student at Middle Tennessee State University.