The Andrew F. Brimmer College of Business and Information Science
establishes the Dr. Lisa Williams Supply Chain Management Scholarship

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August 21, 2020

Dr. Lisa Williams
Williams

The Andrew F. Brimmer College of Business and Information Science is pleased to announce the introduction of the Dr. Lisa Williams Supply Chain Management Scholarship. Dr. Lisa Williams is internationally recognized as an academic trailblazer, founder of a multi-million-dollar company, an award-winning speaker and author. Through hard work and perseverance Williams attained unprecedented success by becoming the first female professor to receive a multi-million dollar endowed chair, the first African American professor to earn tenure at Penn State University, and the first African American to receive a doctorate in Logistics from The Ohio State University.

At the height of her career, Williams did the unthinkable when she left the academic life to blaze a new trail as an entrepreneur. In 2003, she founded the World of Entertainment, Publishing and Inspiration (World of EPI), LLC. EPI is the classic Cinderella story. Williams grew the company from negative revenues into a multi-million-dollar powerhouse. EPI is now a leading multi- cultural toy manufacturing and design firm with a global supply chain that crisscrosses the world from the US to China and other worldwide destinations. EPI is an industry innovator having created both the Positively Perfect, Simply Fresh, Fresh and Fresh Squad Doll Collections.  The doll collections represent African American, LatinX, Asian, Caucasian, and other ethnicities. They are sold at Amazon, Walmart, Target, Macy’s, and Walgreens, and will be sold in other international markets such as, United Kingdom, Dubai, Australia, France, South America, Canada, etc.

EPI’s largest customer, Walmart, awarded Williams the Supplier of the Year Award for her visionary leadership.   Walmart featured her in a national ad campaign in 2020 highlighting modern history makers.  EPI touches the lives of an entire generation of children through its Positively Perfect Doll Line, Fresh and Fresh Squad Doll Collections. Williams was featured in the book 50 Billion Dollar Bosses, on the covers of Black Enterprise and The Grio Magazines, featured in Essence, Buzzfeed, PopSugar, and Yahoo news, among others.  She’s appeared on major networks such as MSNBC and TVOne.  Dr. Lisa was named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneurial Winning Women class of 2013.

Author and Publisher

While featured in many books and magazines for her expertise in business, Williams is also known for her ability to motivate executives, future leaders and audiences of all sizes. In addition to winning numerous teaching awards from major universities such as, Penn State, The Ohio State and the University of Arkansas, she has been awarded the Outstanding Female Faculty Member of the Year from Penn State University, designated as an Amazing Woman by University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) and given the Trailblazer Award by the American Marketing Association PhD. Project.  Williams has also authored and published successful books.

Williams was given the highest honor bestowed upon a faculty member – an endowed chair. Upon receiving the award she said, “This is like receiving the Academy Award for Faculty.”  Williams has been given this honor – not once but twice – in three years. Major corporations and President Clinton’s Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection have sought her advice.

Her peers and students alike recognized her as a leader in the field of business and supply chain management. Williams has been ranked by the most prestigious journal in the field for the number of articles published.  Her research has been published in the Journal of Marketing Channels, Journal of Business Logistics, the Transportation Journal, The International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management and the International Journal of Logistics Management.  Her column Profiles in Leadership has been published in the Supply Chain Management Review Magazine.

   

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