Randy Bradley, assistant professor of information systems and supply chain management at the Haslam College of Business, is making a success of his second career. Prior to starting his Ph.D. in the management of information technology and innovation at Auburn University in 2001, the computer engineer was a busy consultant with a growing family to think about.

“I enjoyed my life as a consultant,” Bradley says. “However, I had an academic advisor who was persistent in convincing me to pursue a Ph.D. He kept saying, ‘Could it be that you have a lifelong desire for learning?’”

That desire for learning is what distinguishes Bradley in research and teaching, according to the National Association of Black Accountants, which in June presented him with a National Achievement in Education Award in New Orleans.

“To me, this is an external validation that says I’m doing the right things for our students, but also succeeding as an all-around scholar,” Bradley says. “It means a lot to me that an external entity sees the impact I’m having on students, but also sees the impact I’m having on industry.”

Bradley, who prides himself on being a bridge-builder and connecting people to opportunities, enjoys involving students in his research teams. He seeks to have everyone benefit because he believes that collaboration breeds innovation and ingenuity.

“I get so much enjoyment out of working with other people, and I think it’s a way to ensure the end product is valuable,” Bradley says. “You can have insightful ideas in isolation, but when you bring minds together you can tease out that inflection point and, all of a sudden, have an end product that speaks on multiple levels.”

Motivated by his desire to create opportunities, Bradley also seeks to push Haslam beyond industry awareness into becoming a creative engine. “I think we can come up with innovative ways of addressing problems in industry,” Bradley says. “It’s not so much about innovation as it is about transformation. I want to give people new perspectives from which to think about things.”