Michael Brizek possesses over 23 years’ experience in higher education as an administrator and researcher with several universities, including the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, University of Maryland System, University of South Carolina, Troy University, and South Carolina State University. Mike was previously founding research director of the IIFRE at the University of South Carolina, where he was a principal investigator involved with several USDA and NSF projects as well as several state agency research proposals. Mike has worked with numerous industry organizations as a university administrator, partnering in several outreach initiatives. He earned his undergraduate and graduate degrees at the University of South Carolina and his doctorate from the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech.