Drury entrepreneurship center names interim director

Dawn Hiles, director of Drury’s MBA program, will oversee the center’s day-to-day operations while continuing in her current job, according to a Drury news release. She is taking over for the center’s previous director Todd Parnell, whose interim position as Drury president was recently made permanent.

The center is housed on the Drury campus but is not affiliated with a particular department or school. It acts as a resource by providing executive education classes, funding for entrepreneurs and academic programs, mentorship programs for students, and professional conferences, all focused on entrepreneurship and innovation, according to the release.

“My focus will be to build on the momentum Drury board members John Beuerlein, Jack Stack, Jack Shewmaker and others pioneered a year ago,” Hiles said of her goal for the center that opened last year, in the release. “As interim director, I will work to make the (center) a resource for the Drury and Springfield communities.

Hiles has headed Drury’s MBA program since 2006 and previously worked in the Students in Free Enterprise international offices in Springfield, first as director of Pacific Territory programs, later as director of U.S. programs and finally as director of development. She is a 2007 Springfield Business Journal 40 Under 40 honoree.