2004 Master Mentor Award

Rollie Tillman, Jr.

Description

Rollie Tillman is Professor Emeritus at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School where his 44-year career in teaching and administration ranged from classes in marketing and entrepreneurship, to Vice Chancellor, and later Kenan Institute founding director and Chairman of the Center for Entrepreneurship (www.eship.unc.edu). His areas of focus include marketing strategy and advertising, new venture creation and management, and entrepreneurship.

Reasons for winning the award

Rollie Tillman has been dedicated to advancing entrepreneurship and mentoring both student and non-student entrepreneurs throughout his career. As the founder of UNC’s Center for Entrepreneurship, Dr. Tillman helped put entrepreneurship on the map at UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School (the school was recently ranked #4 in the nation in entrepreneurship education). In addition to building a successful entrepreneurship environment at UNC, Dr. Tillman has also devoted countless hours to mentoring students long into their careers after graduation. The list of esteemed “Tillman graduates” is virtually endless, but includes some of these successful alumnae: Erskine Bowles (former head of the Small Business Administration, former chief of staff for President Bill Clinton, and U.S. Senate candidate), Hugh McColl (former CEO and Chairman of NationsBank and Bank of America), Susan Acker (chief executive of corporate development for Constella Group and former CEO/founder of Blue292), Peyton Anderson (co-founder of SciQuest and current CEO of Affinergy), and Buck Goldstein (current UNC Entrepreneur in Residence, former venture capitalist, lawyer and also a founder of several successful companies).

Quote

“I count CED’s members our richest educational resource for speakers, course teachers, mentors, internship and job providers, and – especially – role models. Receiving an award from my ‘real world’ colleagues is a special joy for me and for my UNC entrepreneur teammates. Thank you all.” -- Rollie Tillman, Jr.

History

Dr. Tillman has been involved as a faculty member or curriculum/teaching consultant to management programs for Bank of America, Coca-Cola Company, Sea Pines Company, Glen Raven Mills, IBM, American Council on Education and the South Carolina Government Executives Institute. An early champion for bank marketing, he was involved with several state schools of banking and a week-long bank marketing seminar in Caracas, Venezuela. His early publication, Bank Marketing: Text and Cases, was a pioneering work. He is currently chairman of the board of the North Carolina Biosciences Investment Fund, a seed and startup venture fund. Other corporate board experience include Renfro Corporation, GoodMark Foods, Ti-Caro, Inc., The Bank of North Carolina, MiCell Technologies, Blue292.com, EasyFurnish.com, Techform Plastics, UNC Press, Food Bank of North Carolina and American Marketing Association. Dr. Tillman was a founding director of the Entrepreneur of the Year Institute and CED. He received his DBA and MBA from Harvard University and his BS from UNC-Chapel Hill.

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