Jeff Overby

Biography

Dr. Jeffrey W. Overby currently serves as Professor and The Edward C. & Helen J. Kennedy Chair of Excellence at Belmont University. His responsibilities include teaching marketing and international business at the undergraduate and graduate levels and honors at the undergraduate level. He regularly teaches in international study programs, including recent study abroad trips to Argentina, Austria, Botswana, China, Czech Republic, England, France, Ireland, Philippines, Poland, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. He previously served as Director of the Center for International Business from 2009-2021.

Dr. Overby is also Director of the Tennessee Export Initiative. In 2024, Belmont University was awarded a $100,000 grant from the U.S. Small Business Administration to support export growth among small Tennessee businesses. Through this program, eligible Tennessee small businesses can apply for up to $7,000 in reimbursement for export activities. These grants have the potential to propel many small, entrepreneurial Tennessee companies into global trade at a time when international markets are driving growth around the world.

Dr. Overby obtained a Doctorate of Philosophy in Business Administration from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, an M.B.A. from Millsaps College, and a Bachelor of Science in French from Mississippi State University. He has also studied at Odense University in Denmark, Birkbeck College in England, and in Clermont-Ferrand, France.

Dr. Overby regularly consults with businesses and organizations specifically in the areas of customer value analysis, international branding, and multicultural marketing. He also serves on the Board of Directors of Sister Cities of Nashville and the Advisory Board of the Tennessee World Affairs Council. Dr. Overby is a past board member of the International Business Council of the Nashville Area Chamber of Commerce, the Advisory Board of the Turkish American Chamber of Commerce, the Academy of International Business at Hillsboro High School, the Tennessee Chinese Chamber of Commerce, the Danish American Chamber of Commerce, the German American Chamber of Commerce, the City of Tallahassee International Affairs Council, Jackson Sister Cities, the Southern Regional Chapter of Italy-America Chamber of Commerce in Atlanta, and the Capital Optimist Club in Jackson, Mississippi. 

His early career included six years as European Project Manager and Market Research Analyst for Entergy Corporation, five years at Assistant Professor of Marketing and International Business at Florida State University, and four years as a graduate assistant in the College of Business at the University of Tennessee. While at Florida State, he was part of the core faculty in the International Business program and the faculty advisor to the International Business Association. He also taught each summer in London, England and Valencia, Spain. While at Entergy Corporation, he recruited and managed European direct investment projects targeted at the Middle South region of the United States, and advised small and medium-sized business with their international marketing strategies.

Dr. Overby's academic research interests are in the areas of international marketing, international business strategy, and cross-cultural consumer behavior. He has published in a number of leading journals and magazines, including Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Research, The CASE Journal, Ivey Publishing, Case Research Journal, International Marketing Review, Industrial Marketing Management, The Service Industries Journal, Journal of Consumer Marketing, The Journal of Consumer Satisfaction, Dissatisfaction and Complaining Behavior, International Journal of Service Industry Management, International Journal of Management, Journal of Euromarketing, Journal of the International Academy for Case Studies, Nashville Business Journal and Competitive Edge. He has spoken at numerous academic and business conferences around the world.