William Towns
Adjunct Professor in Kellogg’s Sustainability and Social Impact Program
William W. Towns PhD, MBA is a distinguished educator, strategist and consultant whose work sits at the intersection of business, public policy, leadership, and social impact. With a deep commitment to developing purpose-driven leaders, his teaching emphasizes cross-sector collaboration, inclusive economic development, and strategic innovation. Dr. Towns designs immersive, real-world learning experiences that challenge students, executives, and entrepreneurs alike to think critically, lead with intention, and develop scalable solutions to today’s most pressing societal challenges.
As a seasoned advisor, Dr. Towns has counseled more than a thousand executives across nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and Fortune 500 companies. His expertise spans strategic planning, organizational transformation, and system-level change, helping leaders address structural imbalances while achieving measurable, long-term impact.
Through his work in the classroom, the boardroom, and beyond, Dr. Towns is committed to bridge the gap between theory and practice. He equips students and leaders alike with the tools to drive innovation, foster growth, and navigate the complexities of an ever-evolving world. His mission is clear: to inspire and empower transformative changes that allow businesses, their employees and communities to thrive.
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PhD, Benedictine University,
MBA, University of Notre Dame
BA, Loyola University
Venture Equity (SSIMX-962-0)
Corporate Social Innovation (SSIMX-917-0)
Venture Equity: Dismantling Barriers to Capital (SSIM-962-0)
Businesses founded and led by underrepresented and minority leaders are critically important components of our economy. According to the Minority Business Development Agency at the U.S. Department of Commerce, these firms employed more than 7 million people and generated more than $1.4 trillion in combined gross receipts in 2016. These businesses and their growth serve a critical role in the economic stability of many of our communities and families that have faced generational and structural inequities. As more corporations and investors look to deploy capital for investment in minority owned businesses, it will be critical for both the target companies and investment firms to have the strategic guidance and frameworks to increase their capacity to access and develop capital respectfully.
Over the course of this class, students, faculty, and client companies will focus in on the following central questions: (1) How can investors shift the ways in which they evaluate the opportunity and risk inherent to investment in underrepresented founders and their business in order to find and support opportunities that are currently being overlooked?; (2) How can underrepresented founders better understand how investment prospects are evaluated in order to present their strongest case to potential investors and access capital for growth and scale?
This class will provide students with an understanding of the heuristics - shortcuts - often relied on by investors as they seek to determine their interest in, and the value of ventures presented to them. Students will further learn frameworks and approaches that both investors and clients can use to identify and manage for these heuristics when they risk derailing an underrepresented founder's venture from measured consideration. Students will gain and master new approaches and perspectives on the inherent value and valuation of new and scaling businesses. Using a strengths-based framing and approach, students will learn techniques to value opportunities in investing in underrepresented founders, going beyond the heuristics we've explored.
Corequisite: FINC-430 or equivalentRecommended prerequisite courses: FINC-445 Entrepreneurial Finance and Venture Capital; MORS 952-5 Entrepreneurship: Building Innovation, Teams, and Cultures; ENTR-470 Launching and Leading Startups; ENTR 615 Growth Strategy Practicum;
Corporate Social Innovation (SSIM-917-5)
Measures of business success have changed as the expectations of consumers, investors and employees shift beyond such basic key performance indicators of free cash flows, revenue growth rates, and inventory turnover. Today's businesses are also assessed on their contributions to address many of today's most pressing social ills, such as climate change, economic disparity, and structural discrimination.
William W. Towns, Ph.D., MBA founding Executive Director of Benefit Chicago will teach this course about purpose within and across the enterprise. This course will examine how companies are responding to this challenge through the use of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) strategies. You will gain an understanding of CSR's key concepts and its continued evolution, learn how to create organizational shared value through a Corporate Social Innovation framework, explore specific examples of successful CSR strategy implementation, and come away better equipped to identify innovative CSR opportunities and approaches.
Field Study (SSIM-498-0)
