Scott Hessell

Scott currently is serving as Strategic Partnerships and Innovation Officer for the W.A. Franke Honors College at the University of Arizona. He retired from the university initially in June 2023 but continued in an adjunct teaching role until fall, 2024. He decided to return to a full time role to help develop the strategic engagement of companies and non-profit organizations within the academic offerings of the W.A. Franke Honors College Prior to retirement, Scott was the Director of the Terry J. Lundgren Center for Retailing and Terry J. Lundgren Eminent Scholar for over eight years. The Terry J. Lundgren Center for Retailing serves as an important bridge between the university’s academic program in retailing and consumer science, students interested in roles in this dynamic industry and leaders of the retailing industry. He also initiated several new programs within the Center that built on its mission. The Retail Innovation Lab provides faculty-led, student-powered consulting engagements for leading companies in the industry and The Retail Fuse is an innovative career exposure and networking event hosted during career week at the university. He also taught a variety of topics including retail business analysis and decision-making, supply chain management, introduction to retailing and retail innovation and entrepreneurship.

Prior to starting his career in higher education, Scott served in a variety of roles in industry. He was the Chief Operating Officer of an innovative medical device designer and manufacturer and consulted with a wide variety of companies on business development, marketing and operations from Fortune 100 companies to pre-market startup companies. He has also been a co-founder or early-stage principal in five startup companies in the biotechnology/medical device and educational technology industries. He has his Master of Business Administration from the Thunderbird School of Global Management and Master of Arts in International Relations from the University of Kent in Canterbury, England. He also received the Cours de Civilisation Française from the University of Paris – Sorbonne.