SPEAKERS

February 24, 2025

David W. Blackwell is the Lynn Pippenger Dean for the Muma College of Business and a professor of finance.

Blackwell joined USF in 2024 from the University of Kentucky, where he previously served as the university’s provost and chief academic officer, dean of the Gatton College of Business, and most recently associate dean for professional graduate business programs. As provost, Blackwell led the university through record enrollment growth while maintaining academic preparation and increasing diversity, as well as record retention and graduation rates. Under his leadership as dean, the University of Kentucky’s business college increased overall enrollment by 36 percent; increased freshman enrollment by 67 percent; and achieved record rates of retention and graduation. During his tenure, the college raised over $100 million in philanthropy, including the $65 million expansion and renovation of the Gatton College facility, one of the premier business education facilities in the country.

Before joining the University of Kentucky, Blackwell served as the James W. Aston/RepublicBank Professor of Finance and associate dean for graduate programs at the Texas A&M University Mays Business School, where he also served a stint as head of its Department of Finance.

He served as a director in KPMG’s Forensic practice and as a director in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Financial Advisory Services practice. Before his consulting career, Blackwell served as a finance professor for 13 years at the University of Georgia, the University of Houston, and Emory University.

Blackwell’s research has focused on corporate finance, commercial bank management, executive compensation and securities underwriting. His publications have appeared in leading scholarly journals including the Journal of Finance, Journal of Financial Economics, Journal of Financial and Quantitative Analysis, Journal of Accounting Research, and Journal of Accounting and Economics.

Blackwell has consulted with major companies and organizations on a broad range of issues. In a litigation setting, he has consulted or testified on matters such as securities fraud, breach of contract, and patent infringement. He has also consulted on corporate financial policies with Shell Oil Company; closed-end fund governance issues with Morgan Stanley; asset-liability management issues with Quantum National Bank (Atlanta, GA); and financial structure issues with Sumitomo Corporation. He designed and implemented training programs for bank executives in Poland and Slovakia; served as assistant academic director of the Georgia Banking School (sponsored by the Georgia Bankers Association); and conducted financial training programs for executives of Halliburton, IBM, Chemical Bank, Southwire Company, and the People’s Construction Bank of China (PRC).

Blackwell served on the local advisory board for Truist (formerly BB&T) and has served on the board of directors of Commerce Lexington (Lexington Chamber of Commerce) and The Washington Campus, a Washington DC-based organization that educates graduate business students and executives on navigating the public policy process. He also served on the board of The Twin Cities Endowment, an organization that provides funding for economic development projects in the Bryan-College Station, Texas area. Blackwell is a past president and director for the Southern Finance Association.

He earned his PhD in Finance in 1986 and his bachelor's degree in Economics in 1981, both from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.