Execute Your Ideas in Marketing

Are you looking for a cool professor? Are you interested in marketing? Meet Assistant Professor of Marketing, Dr. Matt Shaner, who has been with the business school for four years.

Marketing Industry Experience

Prior to coming to Ole Miss, Dr. Shaner was the co-owner of a branding and marketing communications agency and worked in various areas of public policy. He also worked as a marketing agency account executive in health care, pharmaceuticals, and the oil and gas industry. 

At the University of Mississippi School of Business, he has taught classes in the areas of global marketing, professional sales, and innovation. Recently, he started teaching a class called “Developing Products Customers Want,” where his students learn creative idea generation, design thinking, 3-D printing and rapid prototyping, customer research techniques, and how to manage new product launches. Capturing the voice of the customer to assess the needs and desires of the company’s target market is Dr. Shaner’s focus in the course.

Employer Partnerships

Dr. Shaner focuses on integrating real world businesses and business leaders in the classroom. Each semester he hosts several employers in his classes who are actively recruiting for sales and marketing positions. His students have also worked with companies on developing new product lines for consumer products and identifying what those companies’ future market trends might be in five, 10 or 15 years from now.

Education

Dr. Shaner received his Ph.D. in marketing from the University of Tennessee in 2015 and was on the faculty at George Mason University from 2015 to 2017 before coming to Ole Miss. 

“Good ideas are fairly easy to come by, but executing them is easier said than done. We try to teach our students how to develop the tenacity, the customer insight, and the creative discipline to turn good ideas into great new products and services.”

Oh, did we mention he speaks Italian and taught English in Florence, Italy. Ciao!