Prof Nat Irvin
Business Louisville
Assistant Dean of Thought Leadership and Civic Engagement, University of Louisville College of Business
Author, innovator, futurist, teacher, composer and former radio and television commentator, Nat Irvin, II, serves as Assistant Dean of Thought Leadership and Civic Engagement, and Woodrow M. Strickler Chair, Professor of Management Practice, University of Louisville, College of Business. He teaches graduate courses in the future of management, leadership, and team dynamics.
Irvin has engaged the leadership and management teams of several groups and organizations, including Fortune 100 companies in strategic conversations focused on the significant social, political, economic, technological and environmental trends and events that will drive the mid-to-long term future.
He serves as futurist for the National Black MBA Association and the Executive Leadership Council (ELC). He most recently authored “The Chase for 2042” the concluding chapter for “Celebrating a Legacy, Empowering the Future,” The National Black MBA Association, 2015. He is the recipient of the H. Naylor Fitzhugh Award of Relevance, awarded by National Black MBA, which recognizes exceptional contributions and a demonstrated involvement in various businesses, educational and professional organizations within the African American community. In 2016, he received the Faculty Service Award, College of Business, University of Louisville. Irvin is a former member of the Board of Directors of the World Future Society, and chaired the Annual Conference, Washington, DC, 2008.
From 1996-2007, Irvin led Future Focus 2020, a think tank dedicated to providing leadership in bringing futurist thinking to urban communities. In 2000, Future Focus 2020 became a center of the Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where Dr. Irvin served as Executive Professor of Future Studies and as Assistant Dean for MBA Student Development.
Dr. Irvin is a graduate of the University of South Carolina with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy and a Master’s degree in Media Arts. An accomplished composer, he also holds a Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in Music Composition from the University of North Texas and is a graduate of the Institute for Educational Management, Harvard University Graduate School of Education.