Thomas S. Lyons

Thomas S. Lyons, Ph.D. is the Clarence E. Harris Chair of Excellence in Entrepreneurship and Professor of Marketing and Entrepreneurship in the Gary W. Rollins College of Business at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. His research interests are entrepreneurship skills measurement and development, the relationship between entrepreneurship and community economic development and social entrepreneurship. He is the co-author of thirteen books and numerous articles and papers on these subjects, and has edited a three-volume set on social entrepreneurship (Social Entrepreneurship: How Businesses Can Transform Society, 2012). His co-authored book Understanding Social Entrepreneurship is the leading textbook on this subject, used at over 80 universities around the world. In 2011, Dr. Lyons received the Ted K. Bradshaw Outstanding Research Award from the Community Development Society. He is a practicing entrepreneur, who has co-founded two companies. He holds a Ph.D. in Urban and Regional Planning from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.