February 19, 2013

Contact:

Dan Ryan, (515) 294-5800, djr@iastate.edu

AMES, Iowa — Zhengrui Jiang, associate professor of information systems in the College of Business, has been appointed as the inaugural holder of the Thome Professorship in Business at Iowa State University.

Kenneth Thome, a 1969 graduate of Iowa State University’s business program, created the position to honor professors who demonstrate an understanding of and commitment to undergraduate teaching.

Zhengrui Jiang Inaugural Thome Professor in Business

“We are thankful to the Thomes for their support of our faculty,” said Michael Crum, interim Raisbeck Endowed Dean of the College of Business. “The support provided by named positions allows our faculty to improve their teaching methods, as well as conducting research and attending conferences to create knowledge that transfers directly back into their classrooms. Kenneth Thome is one of our most successful graduates and we’re proud to have his name associated with our college.”

Thome retired in 2008 after a 39-year career with General Mills in Minneapolis. He served his last year as senior vice president, deputy chief financial officer, and the prior 14 years as senior vice president, financial operations. He was responsible for all financial planning and analysis, controller and information systems activities at General Mills. He also served as the secretary for the audit committee of the General Mills Board for 15 years.

Thome is a 1999 recipient of the college’s Citation of Achievement Award, given for outstanding career accomplishments among alumni, and he served as the college’s Executive in Residence in October 2005. He and his wife Janet live in Wayzata, Minnesota.

Jiang earned a master of science in computer science and an MBA from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 2000, followed by his PhD in management science from the University of Texas at Dallas in 2005. He joined the faculty at the University of North Alabama as an assistant professor of computer information systems. He spent three years there before joining the Iowa State University faculty in 2008. 

Kenneth Thome '69

At Iowa State, Jiang has taught undergraduate courses including information systems analysis, advance programing in Visual Basic, and web development. He has also been an active researcher, with publications in Management Science, Information Systems Research, Journal of Management Information Systems, and other prominent journals. His areas of expertise include data and knowledge management, how to offer and promote new software and technological innovation, and software engineering.

His research efforts earned him the college’s Junior Faculty Research Award in 2012.

Jiang also brings extensive industry experience to the College of Business faculty. Before joining academia, he had more than six years of industry experience in China, working in international trade, management, and software development.

The Thome Professorship in Business is one of 29 named positions in the College of Business at Iowa State University, compared to 11 just 10 years ago. These prestigious positions help recruit and retain the finest business faculty, while providing them additional resources to pursue their research interests.