David Townsend appointed assistant professor of management
David M. Townsend has been appointed an assistant professor in the Department of Management at Virginia Tech’s Pamplin College of Business.
Townsend is one of nine new faculty members at Pamplin this fall. Their addition reflects the college’s commitment to hiring tenured and tenure-track faculty to further strengthen its teaching, research, and business outreach, particularly in the areas of business intelligence and analytics, innovation through entrepreneurship, and international programs.
Townsend received his Ph.D. in strategy and entrepreneurship at the University of Oklahoma in 2008. He has a master’s degree in management and a bachelor’s degree, both from Oral Roberts University.
His research builds upon theories of human agency to explore the acquisition, use, and impact of resources — financial, technological, reputational, social, and managerial — on the survival and performance of technology-based and social ventures.
Townsend was previously at North Carolina State University and the University of Oklahoma, where he taught courses in entrepreneurship, innovation management, data analytics, business policy and strategy, and global strategy.
Townsend has published several academic papers in the top entrepreneurship journals. A paper he co-authored, “Wisdom of The Crowd? Reputational Cascades and Emotional Contagion in Microlender Crowdfunding,” received the Best Social Entrepreneurship Paper Award of the Academy of Management’s entrepreneurship division in 2012.
He has been a guest commentator on National Public Radio and the Burrill Report. His research or expert commentary on startups and entrepreneurship has appeared in stories in Businessweek, TechCrunch, and various newspapers in North Carolina.
Townsend has also worked in sales, marketing, and new product development in several entrepreneurial ventures in Oklahoma and North Carolina. A Virginia native, Townsend graduated from Tabb High School in Yorktown in 1994.
