Henley has served in her current role since 2018. Prior to coming to North Dakota, she was executive director of MBA programs and associate professor in the Department of Management and Entrepreneurship at the Coles College of Business at Kennesaw State University.

Henley held other positions at Kennesaw State and has taught management courses there and at the University of Southern Mississippi and University of Texas at Arlington. Before entering academia, she worked in transportation logistics and financial analysis in Dallas.

“Dr. Henley has extensive leadership experience, is adept at building alumni relationships, strongly supports academic research and has a history of building ties with the business, government and nonprofit communities,” said UofL interim Provost Katie Cardarelli. “I believe she will be a great fit here and will take the College of Business to an even higher level.”

Henley earned a doctoral degree in organizational behavior and psychology from the University of Texas at Arlington. She holds an MBA and a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Southern Mississippi.

“It is an honor to be named as the next dean for the University of Louisville College of Business,” Henley said. “Having the opportunity to serve at such a prestigious university, back in my southern roots, is truly a privilege. I look forward to helping propel our college into the next phase of innovation, entrepreneurship and thought-leadership as we inspire the future generation of business leaders.”

The KYchen team took first prize April 9 in the graduate division of the Alltech Innovation Competition 2016, which was held in Lexington. The UofL team was competing against three other Kentucky universities.

KYchen won $10,000 for its business that helps restaurants save money through better management of cooking oil. The business would help restaurants reduce cooking oil-related costs by more than 50 percent through a patent-protected oil filtration and transport device and related services.

A UofL team also won the competition in 2014 with restaurant-related idea: Trifecta Cooking Equipment featured a patented deep fryer designed to save restaurants 40 percent of their annual cooking costs.

KYchen is made up of three students pursuing MBA degrees in entrepreneurship who were advised by Suzanne Bergmeister, UofL’s Entrepreneur-in-Residence. The students are Tedd Pollard, Aaron Searcy and Sanjay Singh.

The Alltech Innovation Competition started in 2013. Competitions for 2013 and 2014 were held in Kentucky and Ireland. Last year, a competition was added in India.

Sharon Kerrick, assistant director of the Forcht Center for Entrepreneurship at the College of Business, was emcee for the 2016 program.