The Naveen Jindal School of Management has announced the appointment of a new fellowship at the Center for Finance Strategy Innovation. Rodney J. Thomas III, a former business unit executive at IBM, was selected as the recipient of the six-month Encore Fellowship. He will work with the center to increase its visibility, its partnerships in the business community and the impact of its programs.
CFSI has an ongoing major initiative to strategically transform corporations so that they can add value by repositioning themselves as innovators in emerging technologies. Examples include artificial intelligence, big data and blockchain. CFSI also has a history of successful programs in private equity finance, public-private partnerships and in support of the Texas Legislature.
Encore, the fellowship’s namesake, is an organization that advocates for America’s aging workforce and provides programs that help late career professionals transition into positions that have a positive social impact. IBM provided the funding for the fellowship.
Thomas, who also serves on the UT Dallas Development Board and as president of the UT Dallas Chess Advisory Board, is excited about the opportunity to engage with regional chambers of commerce, business leaders, faculty and students.
“The idea is to promote the visibility of the center and to do that based on how well it’s positioned to lead in this world of these emerging digital technologies,” he said. “The center is well-positioned to lead because it has a track record of organizing events around the impact of financial technologies that have a great reputation among financial practitioners.”
