TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Bruce Lamont, a world-acclaimed College of Business professor of management and champion of diversity and inclusion, has been named the Jim Moran Eminent Scholar Chair in Business Administration.

The honor is made possible through a gift from Jan Moran and The Jim Moran Foundation, whose generous support over many years to Florida State University and the College of Business has had a significant and far-reaching impact on students, faculty members and programs and enabled the creation of the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship.

Lamont’s new designation allows him to continue his influential research on strategic leadership, integration of mergers and acquisitions, knowledge investments and transfer, and novel applications of strategy theory to the African context.

“I’m honored to be selected for this recognition because I understand and appreciate your husband’s many unique qualities,” Lamont said in a note to Jan Moran, 
The Foundation’s chairman and president and wife of the late automotive pioneer and philanthropist Jim Moran. “Mr. Moran was a special talent, person and visionary, and playing a small part in supporting his legacy and sharing it with others is a weighty charge; and I am honored to be in this position.”

Lamont serves as director of research for the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship and mentors the Jim Moran Scholars. His ongoing promotion of diversity and inclusion was recognized with FSU’s Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Distinguished Service Award in 2016. He has also served as the college’s representative to the PhD Project, which works to advance diversity in the workplace by increasing the diversity of business school faculties. He is a two-time recipient of the McKnight Foundation’s William R. Jones Outstanding Mentor Award for excellence in mentoring minority doctoral students. Most recently, Lamont was awarded a 2017 Fulbright Award to conduct research on corporate acquisitions at the Dublin City University Business School in Ireland. He also has won several awards for excellence in undergraduate and graduate teaching. He is a Fellow of the Southern Management Association.

“Bruce has been a tremendous mentor to our Jim Moran Scholars through the years, providing them with valuable guidance and support.  I sincerely appreciate his hard work and determination to help each of them be successful and reach their full potential,” said Jan Moran.  “Bruce is an important part of continuing my husband’s legacy at Florida State and is very deserving of being named the Jim Moran Eminent Scholar Chair.”

Lamont’s articles have appeared in numerous books and journals, including the Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Global Strategy Journal, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Management and Strategic Management Journal. He is the senior associate editor of the Africa Journal of Management and on the editorial review boards of the Journal of Management Studies and the Strategic Management Journal. He has presented more than 100 research papers at conferences around the globe, including in Botswana, the Czech Republic, Ethiopia, Germany, Italy, Kenya, Spain and South Africa.

“I can think of no other scholar more deserving of this honor than Dr. Lamont,” said Michael Hartline, dean of the College of Business. “His research is highly regarded around the world, and the work he does to advance diversity and mentor minority students is truly inspiring. We are grateful to Jan Moran and The Jim Moran Foundation once again for their vision, which allows us to recognize Dr. Lamont’s important work and honor the legacy of Jim Moran.” 

By Barbara Ash

About the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship
The Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship cultivates, trains and inspires entrepreneurial leaders through world-class executive education, applied training, public recognition and leading-edge research. Jim Moran was an automotive pioneer and an entrepreneur at heart, who at the age of 7, sold soda pop at sandlot baseball games in Chicago. With a career that spanned more than six decades, he built an amazing chronicle of achievements in the automobile industry. His vision for the Jim Moran Institute was to provide opportunities that would help others become more successful business owners. A 1995 contribution from Jim and Jan Moran and JM Family Enterprises established the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship at the Florida State University College of Business. Since 2011, further enhancements to the Jim Moran Institute and its outreach have been made possible by Jan Moran and The Jim Moran Foundation.