Dr. Brad Kleindl has had a multitude educational and professional experiences prior to Missouri Southern.

Kleindl started working at Southern in 1986 as an associate professor and director for the Center for Entrepreneur-ship and Small Business Management.

Since then, he has been promoted twice, first to assistant dean of the school of business and again to dean.

Kleindl had 10 years of teaching experience prior to Southern and has taught at Highland Community College in Freeport, Ill., Marshalltown Community College in Marshalltown, Iowa and served as a teaching assistant at Oklahoma State University.

Kleindl has also done consulting work for local companies such as, La-Z-Boy, Leggett & Platt, Sutherlands Lumber, Griffith Motor Company and Asay Publishing.

He has published two books: Strategic Electronic Market-ing: Managing E-Business and E-Marketing: Capitalizing on Technology.

Kleindl has had articles published in the journals

Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship, Journal of Strategic Marketing and Cross Cultural Management, among others.

Southern’s international mission is exemplified with Kleindl’s experiences.

He was also a foreign exchange student. When he was 16, Kleindl studied in Sweden.

He also served as a state scribe with the Order of DeMolay, an organization that aims to assist young men in becoming professionals through travel and job placement, and he has traveled throughout Europe until he was stationed in West Germany with the U.S. Army.

“While my international experience isn’t what got me the dean’s job, it does contribute to what makes me dean,” Kleindl said.

Kleindl believes students should take the opportunity to see the world while in college.

“The world was meant to be seen with young eyes,” he said. “When you’re older, your children will be with you, and there will be other distractions.”

Since taking over as dean, Kleindl has implemented several changes.

In 2003, he organized the division of the school of business into departments.

He has also put into practice several techniques for keeping the student body up-to-date with departmental updates.

John Tipton, Southern alum with a degree in accounting, appreciates the new effort the business department is making in communication.

“What I like is the SOBA e-mail stuff they send out now,” Tipton said.

“It keeps us informed with what’s going on, with internships and such.”

Along with the e-mails, a SOBA newsletter will be published three to four times per year, containing SOBA events, organizations, student and faculty achievements and other business-related articles widening the exposure of the business department and

faculty.