Benét DeBerry-Spence
Benét DeBerry-Spence Heading link
Benét DeBerry-Spence, a Professor of Marketing and the Managerial Studies Department Head at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). Her research interests encompass retailing, marketing, entrepreneurship and development. Dr. DeBerry-Spence has significant involvement with African businesses, having in 2005 founded The MASAZI Visitor and Welcome Centre, an engaged research initiative in Ghana, West Africa. MASAZI works with microbusinesses and has hosted NY Times and BBC World Live. Dr. DeBerry-Spence has extensive knowledge of the African mobile phone and mobile banking industries and expertise in mobile phone based research methods. She has served as an advisor to The Republic of Ghana Ministries and the Council for the Development of Social Science Research in Africa. Her scholarship appears in leading journals such as the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, the Journal of Consumer Research, the Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, and the Journal of Retailing. She is a past University of Illinois Presidential Fellow, University of Illinois President’s Executive Leadership Fellow, and a recipient of several research and teaching honors. Dr. DeBerry-Spence received a Ph.D. in Marketing from Northwestern University, an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago and a Bachelors of Science from the University of Notre Dame.