Anthony M. Mendes
Director - Murphy Center for Entrepreneurship
Phone: 940.369.8859
Dr. Tony Mendes, Director of the Murphy Center for Entrepreneurship at the University of North Texas, is an acclaimed entrepreneurial educator who formerly served as Executive Director of the Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership (AEL) at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In his role with the AEL, Dr. Mendes was responsible for the integration of entrepreneurship curriculum in all of the academic units of the university. During his tenure at Illinois, the university achieved national status for entrepreneurship education by the Princeton Review & Entrepreneur Magazine, Fortune Magazine and the National Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers.
Prior to the University of Illinois, Dr. Mendes was Director of College Initiatives at the Kauffman Foundation, Kansas City, Missouri. There he managed a program grant portfolio with over 200 colleges and universities. Many of the collegiate programs that Dr. Mendes initiated have received national prominence including; The Kauffman Campuses program, the National Consortium for Life Science Entrepreneurship, the National Consortium for Entrepreneurship in the Liberal Arts, the National Association of Community College Entrepreneurship and the Kauffman Faculty Scholars program. He also was the grant officer for numerous entrepreneurship organizations including; USASBE, the Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organization and The Academy of Management.
Dr. Mendes holds a Ph.D. in Psychology from the University of Missouri, Kansas City, and an MBA from Rockhurst University. Prior to joining the Kauffman Foundation, Dr. Mendes was founder and president of Mendes and Associates, a private consulting company, located in Kansas City, Missouri. He also spent 13 years with AT&T as manager of training and development where he was successful in securing resources needed to build and implement nationally recognized initiatives. His teaching experience includes courses at; Rockhurst University, Kansas City, MO; Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ; Polytechnic University, Brooklyn, NY and the University of Illinois, Urbana- Champaign, Illinois.
Dr. Mendes serves on the Board of Directors of the United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship and other organizations supporting entrepreneurship education. He is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and has served on numerous international committees to expand global entrepreneurship.
