William Daniel Young, PhD, MBA

Affiliated Programs

• Taxation & Financial Planning (MS & Certificate)

Education

• PhD, Social and Behavioral Marketing (2012)
  Temple University (PA)
• Certificate, Entrepreneurship (2016)
  University of Pennsylvania (PA)
• Oxford Executive Leadership Program, Organizational Leadership (2020)
  University of Oxford (UK)
• Babson Global Symposium for Entrepreneurship Education, Entrepreneurship/Entrepreneurial Studies (2012)
  Babson College (MA)
• Certificate, Non-Profit/Public/Organizational Management (2012)
  University of Delaware (DE)
• MBA, Marketing and Finance (1999)
  University of Delaware (DE)
• BSBA, Marketing (1997)
  University of Delaware (DE)
   

About Me

I am an educator, entrepreneur, strategist, and community builder who has spent my career working at the intersection of business, education, innovation, and social impact. At Widener University, I bring those experiences into the classroom with a simple goal: to help students connect what they are learning today with the careers, opportunities, and lives they want to build tomorrow.

I hold a Ph.D. and MBA and have spent more than two decades teaching, building organizations, advising entrepreneurs and executives, and developing programs designed to create opportunity. Throughout my academic career, I have been particularly interested in experiential education—the idea that some of the most meaningful learning happens when students can take concepts from a textbook and apply them to real organizations, real problems, and real decisions.

Before joining Widener, my academic leadership roles included serving as the founding director of the Doctor of Business Administration program at Goldey-Beacom College and as Director of the Wharton-AltFinance Institute at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. My work with AltFinance focused on creating pathways into the alternative investment industry and expanding access to professional opportunities for students from Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

Outside of higher education, I have spent much of my career as an entrepreneur and organizational leader. I have founded, led, advised, and worked with businesses ranging from startups and nonprofit organizations to established companies. My work has included strategy, finance, entrepreneurship, organizational development, marketing, executive leadership, and business growth. Those experiences significantly influence the way I teach. I want students to understand not simply how a concept works on an exam, but how that concept affects the decisions people make when money, careers, employees, customers, and organizations are actually on the line.

I am also the Organizer of TEDxWilmington, where I have had the opportunity to work with hundreds of speakers and help bring ideas from Delaware and around the world to a global audience. That experience has reinforced my belief that the ability to communicate an idea clearly can be just as important as having the idea itself. Whether students ultimately pursue careers in finance, accounting, entrepreneurship, management, sports, technology, or another field, I encourage them to develop the ability to analyze information, make sound decisions, communicate effectively, and tell the story behind the numbers.

Another major part of my work is building community through the arts and creating platforms for people whose voices deserve to be heard. Through the Ladybug Music Festival and related initiatives, I have been involved in creating opportunities for women in music while using live events as a catalyst for economic development, community engagement, and the arts. I have also been involved with Theatre N and numerous entrepreneurial, civic, and nonprofit initiatives throughout Delaware.

These experiences may seem very different—finance, entrepreneurship, TEDx, music festivals, higher education, and community development—but I see a common thread running through all of them: creating opportunities for people and ideas to grow.

That philosophy shapes my approach to students at Widener.

I believe college should be about much more than earning credits toward a degree. It should be a period of exploration. Students should meet people outside their existing networks, discover industries they did not know existed, attend events, pursue internships, build relationships with professors and professionals, test ideas, make mistakes, and become increasingly intentional about the person and professional they want to become.

In my classroom, I encourage students to ask questions, participate, challenge assumptions, and connect course material to what is happening in the world around them. I also encourage students to get to know me beyond the classroom. If I can make an introduction, recommend a resource, help think through a career decision, review an idea, or connect a student with an opportunity, I want them to ask.

I am a Delawarean with deep roots in the state, and community has always been important to me. Much of my professional life has been dedicated to finding ways to connect education, business, entrepreneurship, arts, and civic engagement to make the communities around us stronger.

Ultimately, I want students who take one of my classes to leave with more than knowledge of accounting or finance. I want them to become better thinkers, more confident communicators, stronger decision-makers, and more curious professionals. Most importantly, I want them to recognize that their education gives them the ability—and the responsibility—to create opportunities not only for themselves, but for others.

That is what makes teaching at Widener particularly meaningful to me.

Research Interests

My research interests sit at the intersection of entrepreneurship, finance, experiential education, leadership, and economic opportunity. I am particularly interested in understanding how education can move beyond the traditional classroom to better prepare students for the realities of work, entrepreneurship, and leadership. This includes examining experiential learning, career readiness, professional networking, mentorship, financial literacy, and the ways universities can create stronger connections among students, employers, entrepreneurs, and their surrounding communities.

I am also interested in entrepreneurship and small-business development, particularly the factors that allow entrepreneurs and emerging organizations to move from an idea to a financially sustainable enterprise. My interests include entrepreneurial finance, access to capital, financial decision-making, organizational strategy, alternative investments, and the development of entrepreneurial ecosystems that expand economic opportunity. A related area of interest is how access to professional networks, mentorship, education, and capital can open pathways into industries and opportunities that have historically been difficult for many students and aspiring entrepreneurs to access.

Another important area of my work focuses on the creative economy and community-based economic development. Through my involvement with music festivals, TEDx, theater, nonprofit organizations, and other cultural initiatives, I am interested in exploring how arts, culture, live events, and intellectual communities can serve as engines for entrepreneurship, tourism, downtown development, community engagement, and economic growth. I am particularly interested in models that simultaneously create economic value and provide platforms for emerging and underrepresented voices.

Finally, I am interested in the changing nature of leadership, communication, technology, and the future of work. This includes the impact of artificial intelligence on business and higher education, how Generation Z is reshaping the workplace, the role of personal branding and professional networks in career development, and how leaders communicate ideas that inspire people and organizations to act. Across these areas, the common thread in my research is an interest in how education, entrepreneurship, capital, relationships, and ideas can be used to create opportunity for individuals, organizations, and communities.

Media Expertise

• Entrepreneurship and Small Business — Starting, growing, financing, and sustaining businesses; the realities of entrepreneurship beyond the business plan.
• Personal Finance and Financial Literacy — Helping students and young professionals better understand money, investing, credit, budgeting, and long-term wealth creation.
• Finance and Accounting — Translating financial concepts, business performance, and economic developments into practical insights for everyday audiences.
• Alternative Investments and Private Markets — Private equity, venture capital, alternative investments, and expanding pathways into careers in the investment industry.
• The Future of Business Education — How universities can better connect classroom learning with employers, entrepreneurship, technology, and real-world experiences.
• Career Readiness for College Students — Internships, networking, mentorship, personal branding, relationship-building, and preparing students for careers that may not yet exist.
• First-Generation and Nontraditional Pathways to Professional Success — Creating greater access to networks, opportunities, mentorship, and career-building experiences.
• Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Work — How AI is changing business, entrepreneurship, higher education, careers, and the skills employers will value.
• Leadership and Organizational Strategy — Leadership, decision-making, organizational culture, strategic planning, growth, and managing organizations through change.
• The Delaware Business and Entrepreneurial Ecosystem — Startups, small businesses, economic development, entrepreneurship, and opportunities to strengthen Delaware's business community.
• Economic Development Through Arts and Culture — How festivals, music, film, theater, and cultural programming can drive tourism, commerce, community engagement, and downtown revitalization.
• The Business of Live Events and Festivals — Event economics, sponsorship, marketing, audience development, partnerships, and building sustainable community-based events.
• Women in Music and the Creative Economy — Creating platforms and economic opportunities for women artists and addressing representation within the music industry.
• Public Speaking and the Power of Ideas — What makes ideas compelling, how speakers communicate complex concepts effectively, and lessons learned from working with hundreds of TEDx speakers.
• Building a Personal Brand and Professional Network — Why relationships, reputation, communication, and visibility increasingly matter alongside credentials.
• Entrepreneurship as a Career Skill — Why entrepreneurial thinking is valuable even for students who never intend to start a company.
• Community-Based Leadership and Social Impact — How businesses, nonprofits, universities, government, and community organizations can collaborate to create meaningful local impact.
• Nonprofit Strategy and Sustainability — Governance, fundraising, earned revenue, sponsorship, financial sustainability, and the challenges facing mission-driven organizations.
• Experiential Learning — Why students benefit from solving real problems, meeting professionals, working on live projects, and learning beyond the traditional classroom.
• Generation Z in the Workplace — What younger workers expect from employers and how organizations can recruit, develop, motivate, and retain emerging talent.
• The Intersection of Business, Education, and Community — Using entrepreneurship and education as tools for creating opportunity and strengthening communities.

Professional Affiliations & Memberships

• 100 Black Men of Delaware
• Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc.
• Masons — Washington Lodge #1 — Member.
• Wilmington Rotary Club
• Beta Gamma Sigma — International Business Honor Society
• Sigma Beta Delta — International Honor Society for Business, Management & Administration
• American Marketing Association
• Delaware Entrepreneur’s Roundtable — Member
• Leadership Delaware — Fellow, Class of 2011; later Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Leadership Delaware Alumni Board.
• National Pan-Hellenic Council, New Castle County Chapter — Founding Board Member, 2010–2012.

Awards

• Associate of the Year — American Express Financial Advisors (2001)
• Fortune 2000 Scholarship — University of Delaware (1993)
• Leadership Delaware Fellow — Class of 2011
• Beta Gamma Sigma — International Business Honor Society, Member (2012–Present)
• Sigma Beta Delta — International Honor Society for Business, Management & Administration (2013)
• Price-Babson Symposium for Entrepreneurship Educators (SEE) — Participant (2012)