Faculty of Business Administration - University of New Brunswick

Kirby Shannahan, the newest member of the faculty of business administration at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, received an award this month from the American Marketing Association at its 2007 winter conference.

Dr. Shannahan, a marketing professor, was awarded the Direct Selling Educational Foundation Grant for his PhD dissertation entitled The Relationship of Salesperson Coachability, Trait Competitiveness, and Leadership Style on Salesperson Performance: An Interactionist Perspective.

"We were delighted to learn that Dr. Shannahan has received this award,” said Dan Coleman, dean of the faulty of business administration at UNB Fredericton. “Not only is it a great personal achievement for Kirby, but it also reflects well on our faculty, clearly demonstrating that we have one of the best young marketing faculty members in North America. Kirby just joined us in September, and he's already added to our strong marketing area and programs."

Dr. Shannahan is one of five people to receive this award from across North America and Europe.

"After working so hard on this dissertation I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I was one of five people chosen to receive this award,” said Mr. Shannahan. “Of course, I'm really happy to have the recognition from my peers, but I never expected it."

The $2,000 cash prize associated with the award will further the research he has already been conducting in the southern United States on sales professionals. He is also going to focus on firms in Atlantic Canada that have professional sales staff.

In addition to collecting his award, Dr. Shannahan also presented two papers at the conference -- one on professional selling (his dissertation) and the other on advertising.

Dr. Shannahan is developing a new course on professional selling, which will offered for the first time in Intersession 2007. Within a few years, he would like to help establish a Centre for Professional Selling at UNB Fredericton to help undergraduate and graduate students as well as salespeople to develop their professional selling and sales management skills.

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Posted at 11:24 AM

Two business administration faculty members at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton have received national appointments.

Wiktor Askanas has been appointed lay member of the Competition Tribunal and Norman Betts has been appointed to the Board of Directors of Export Development Canada.

"The appointments of professors Askanas and Betts are a significant
personal recognition and reflect well on the faculty of business administration at UNB,” said Dan Coleman, dean of the faculty of business administration at UNB Fredericton. “Both men epitomize the quality of the faculty members in the faculty of business administration and our students greatly benefit from the unique combination of their academic knowledge and practical experience.”

Wiktor Askanas is an internationally recognized expert in the areas of
international business strategy and governance. He joined the faculty of business administration at UNB Fredericton in 1983 and teaches business strategy and marketing. He has been the recipient of many awards over his academic career including the Allan B. Stuart Excellence in Teaching Award, the 3M Teaching Fellowship, and the 2003 National Post Business Educator Award. In 2004-05, he was acting dean of the faculty of business administration.

Prior to coming to UNB, Dr. Askanas worked for a number of business organizations and universities in Poland, the United States, France, Mexico and Canada. He is a member of several boards of directors and is senior adviser to the chairman of the Polish Pension and Insurance Supervisory Commission. In 2003, by the decree of the President of Poland, he became a Knight of the Order of Merit, in recognition of his contribution to the wellness of Polish Society.

Norm Betts is a chartered accountant and a fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. He joined the faculty of business administration at UNB Fredericton in 1992. He teaches intermediate accounting in the BBA program and accounting and decision making in the MBA program. He was assistant dean of graduate studies from 1994 to 1997.

Dr. Betts is director of New Brunswick Power Holdings. He is a member of the board of directors of Tembec Inc. and chairs the audit committees for Minacs Worldwide Inc., Slam Exploration Ltd., and Tan Range Exploration Ltd. He is a co-chair of the board of trustees of the UNB Pension Plan for Academic Employees and is a director of the Nature Conservancy for the Atlantic region. Dr. Betts is a former provincial minister of finance and minister of Business New Brunswick.

Export Development Canada provides Canadian exporters with financing, insurance and bonding services, and foreign market expertise.

The Competition Tribunal is a specialized tribunal that hears and decides all applications made under parts VII.1 and VIII of the Competition Act -- these deal with deceptive marketing and restrictive trade practices.

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Posted at 9:21 AM