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Topic: Small Business

Adam Melnick

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Adam Melnick, J.D. is an associate professor in the Department of Management at Metropolitan State University of Denver. His areas of expertise include entrepreneurship, small business, “conscious” business, social entrepreneurship, social impact business, sustainable business, and access to funding. Currently, he teaches Small Business Entrepreneurship, Organizational Management, Entrepreneurship Feasibility, and Entrepreneurial Business Plan.  

In addition to teaching, he is a consultant at the Colorado Small Business Development Centers Network, Rebel Bread, and FMK Agency, and a licensed attorney in both Colorado and Pennsylvania. As an active participant in the Denver community, Melnick is the co-founder and organizer of the Denver Good Business Week and is a board member for Blue Star Recyclers and committee chair for the CBUS Small Business Development program.  

Prior to joining MSU Denver, Melnick served as senior entrepreneurship officer and in-house counsel at Colorado Lending Source.  

Melnick earned his Juris Doctorate in Environmental Law from Pace University, a Master’s from Yale University, well as a Bachelor’s of Science in Environmental Science from Muhlenberg College. 

William B. Mesa

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William B. Mesa is an assistant professor in the Department of Accounting at Metropolitan State University of Denver. His research interests revolve around accounting, data analytics, the ethics of technology on the accounting profession, and integrating strategic management leveraged with relevant accounting practices.

Before coming to teach at MSU Denver, Mesa taught strategic management as a visiting professor at Chongqing University, Dalian University of Technology, and Xihua University in China. He is also the principal and founder of Triangulation Group, LLC where he serves as a consultant for SMEs in the capacity of vision, strategy, and core values planning in conjunction with leveraging analytics. He has consulted with many organizations, including Colorado Cider Company, National Jewish Health, Blue Ocean Enterprises, Jefferson County Human Services, Littleton Symphony Orchestra and Pet Scoop Services.

Mesa received a doctor of management in Strategy and Organizational Behavior from the Colorado Technical University and a masters in Accountancy from New Mexico State University.

Mick Jackowski

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Mick Jackowski, Ed.D., is a professor in the Department of Marketing at Metropolitan State University of Denver. His areas of expertise lie in brand management, reputation management, relationship management, entrepreneurship, franchise and small business. Jackowski teaches primarily in the MSU Denver Center for Professional Selling. He teaches Principles of Marketing, Business Communication and Personal Selling.

Jackowski has been with MSU Denver since 2003. From 2007-13, he worked as the director at the Center for Innovation; since, he has returned to teaching. Jackowski chairs the Department of Marketing’s Assessment Committee and the Center for Professional Selling Advisory Board. He was awarded the Innovative Teaching Award and the Excellence in Teaching Award from MSU Denver’s College of Business. He also received the Best Practitioner Paper Award from the U.S. Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship.

His written work has been published in the Journal of Selling and the Journal of Higher Education Theory and Practice. Jackowski has given several presentations with the Western Decision Sciences Institute, the Marketing Educators’ Association and the Conference on Historical Analysis and Research in Marketing. His current research projects are “Selling Sales Education: Proposing a New Major in Professional Selling” and “The Importance of Social Selling Proficiency and the Development of a Social Selling Class.” He is also conducting ongoing case-study research in professional sales.

Jackowski received his doctorate from the University of Northern Colorado in 1998, a master’s from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, in 1996 and a bachelor’s from State University of New York at Buffalo in 1990.

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