Twitter: @profgilbert

Website: http://about.me/brettanitra

Bio

Brett is an assistant professor in the Department of Management and Global Business at Rutgers University. She is the very first Entrepreneurship PhD graduate from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. Her expertise is in geographic clusters, technology entrepreneurship and new venture performance. Her research was awarded a Kauffman Dissertation Fellowship in 2004, and was later selected as a finalist for the Heizer Award, which is given by the Academy of Management’s Entrepreneurship Division for outstanding dissertations in entrepreneurship.

In 2009, Brett was chosen as a Kauffman Junior Faculty Fellow, which is awarded to emerging entrepreneurship scholars. Of the 10 recipients to date, she is only the second woman to receive the award and the only African-American. Her expertise on clusters and technology entrepreneurship landed her a two-year gubernatorial appointment as an advisory committee member to the Texas Emerging Technology Fund from 2008-2010.

Brett’s research is currently published or forthcoming in several top management journals, and her most recently accepted manuscript, “Creative Destruction: Identifying its Geographic Origins” has been one of the top 10 most downloaded manuscripts in the Social Science Research Network for Entrepreneurship & Economics, since the manuscript’s release in December.
Brett teaches a Technology Ventures course to undergraduate and graduate students, and has also taught courses on creativity and innovation as well as general entrepreneurship. Students who have taken her courses are currently exploring ventures in industries as diverse as construction services, education, fashion and social media.

What motivates you to become successful?

I am motivated to be a good steward of the gifts and talents God has given me, and to use them to the best of my ability to fulfill my life’s purpose. ‘Success’ has been the natural byproduct of doing those two things, not really something I can say I consciously work to achieve.