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Hi, I'm Scott

I've had an interesting career journey. It's all centered around technology, education, and business.

Technology: I worked for IBM, selling and supporting the new IBM PC in the mid-1980s. Since then, I've programmed in over a dozen languages and owned many Macs, PCs, and Linux machines.

Education: I was an undergrad math major at a liberal arts school; I got an MBA at Georgia Tech; I got my Ph.D. in Decision Sciences at Wharton. At the University of Michigan Ross School of Business I was a tenured professor in Business Information Technology and head of the undergraduate business program. And finally, at Babson College, I was dean of the undergraduates.

Business: I've worked at two start-ups; I worked at a privately held edtech company; I worked at IBM when it had 350k employees. I've taught information systems and consulting. I've sold software and services. I've consulted with start-ups and have run two start-ups.

Personally, I'm the father of two amazing, beautiful, smart, loving daughters and the husband of a woman who makes every day better than the previous one. I love hiking, reading, and watching F1, EPL, and football. 
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A bit more about me.

Just in case you were wondering...

Credentials

  • B.S., Mathematics from Furman University, June 1984. Summa cum laude.
  • Phi Beta Kappa, 1983
  • M.S.M., Georgia Tech, June 1986
  • Ph.D., Decision Sciences, Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, December 1993
  • Named Thurnau Professor, February 2004

Work history

  • Worked at IBM in both a regional sales office and division headquarters
  • Earned my real estate license
  • Worked at a small construction contractor
  • Head of research and technology at a small human resources association
  • Built a decision support system for the U.S. Coast Guard
  • Tenured faculty member at the University of Michigan Ross School of Business
  • First faculty head of the BBA program at Michigan Ross
  • Led the first overall in over 40 years of the BBA program
  • Departmental chair and led a successful tenure case for a junior faculty member
  • Dean of the Undergraduates at Babson College
  • Head of sales at a private edtech firm that created the world's best custom online learning program, Harvard Business School Online
  • Led online learning engagements with a wide range of schools from a small regional liberal arts college to a large Ivy
  • Managing director of U.S. higher education sales at a startup edtech firm that created the world's best synchronous learning platform

Teaching history

  • Won multiple teaching awards from students while teaching about databases to business school students
  • Won the University of Michigan's highest teaching award from the university's faculty—the Thurnau Chair
  • Designed, created, and taught the first online course at the business school
  • Taught programming, database, consulting, entrepreneurship, and introduction to business
  • Used a wide range of pedagogies: project-based, problem-based, lab-based, case-based, writing-based, and research-focused

Strange but true facts

  • I taught a Philosophy of Science course to Ph.D. students
  • I have programmed in well over a dozen languages—Fortran, APL, Pascal, Prolog, LISP, Python, C, PHP, Javascript...the list goes on. Julia is my most recent addition.
  • The first concert that I went to was Elvis Presley in Memphis.
  • I have lived in nine states and have only three more states to visit in order to check off all fifty.
  • I was a travel softball coach for eight years. Four of my players ended up in Division 

Frequently asked questions

You’ve got questions. I’ve got answers.

Why did I start this company?

Because I love teaching and I love learning. That hasn't changed even though I'm not a professor anymore. To scratch that itch, I started this company.

What's my history with A.I.?

My dissertation was "Saying and doing: Uses of formal language in the conduct of business" (1993, University of Pennsylvania). It is based on the philosophy of language and discourse theory. In other words, I defined both a generalized language for communicating and a tool for interpreting and then responding to those messages. This would be classified as an A.I. research project. 

I delivered significant research work that was implemented in both LISP and Prolog, two foundational programming languages for AI research. 

Since then, I have stayed in touch with the field as it has progressed in fits and starts.