Dr. Leslie A. Toombs

Dr. Leslie A. Toombs was a student in Henderson State University’s School of Business and is now a business professor herself. Toombs, who earned a B.B.A. in management from Henderson, continued her education and earned both her M.B.A. and doctor of business administration from Louisiana Tech University. Today, she is professor of management and Pinkie Roden Chair of Entrepreneurship in the School of Business at the University of Texas of the Permian Basin (UTPB). In addition, she is director of the Jan and Ted Roden Center for Entrepreneurship and a Sam Walton Fellow.

Before joining the UTPB faculty, Toombs taught at the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith, where she initiated and directed the Family Enterprise Center housed within the College of Business. She has also taught at Rockhurst University, the University of Texas at Tyler, and Delta State University. While at Delta State, she served as a small business consultant for the Mississippi Small Business Administration and started the DSU Small Business Development Center.

At the University of Texas of the Permian Basin, Toombs continues to grow both the academic, as well as the outreach, entrepreneurship programs. Recently, she partnered with a start-up energy-related company and received a grant from the Texas Emerging Technology Fund. Toombs has consulted with many business organizations and worked with small businesses through the Small Business Institute program and through her position as Executive Vice President of CMR Creative Marketing Resources, Inc. She has delivered many workshops on topics including strategic planning, managing family business conflict effectively, time management, quality management, case writing, developing entrepreneurship boot camps, commercialization and effective use of business analysis tools in the classroom.

Toombs has written many articles and cases that have appeared in journals including Strategic Management Journal and Academy of Management Executive. She has also co-authored many papers that have appeared in professional organizations peer reviewed proceedings. She and her co-authors have received research awards for outstanding case writing including the USASBE Outstanding Case Award in 2006 and the McGraw-Hill Irwin Distinguished Paper Award in 2010 at the Southwest Case Research Association Conference.