Merlyn K.D. Ness
Biography
Throughout his 35+ year professional career, Merlyn has made contributions to companies of all sizes, from start-up ventures to large national organizations, in a variety of roles and industries. He has been a business advisor and consultant, an operations executive, a marketing specialist, an entrepreneur, and an educator. Merlyn's expertise includes new venture development, small business management, leadership growth, strategic management, brand management, and quality assurance.
Merlyn currently uses his extensive experience to enhance his instructional role at Red Deer Polytechnic. He teaches courses in entrepreneurship, leadership, strategic small business management and marketing. He is passionate about the opportunity to impact the upcoming generation of business leaders and to develop his skills as a post-secondary instructor. His post-secondary educational experience also includes a full-time marketing and entrepreneurship instructor role at the Donald School of Business at Red Deer College between 2011 and 2013.
As part of his instructional role, Merlyn is working to develop an RDP-based “entrepreneurship lab” featuring components like entrepreneur-in-residence, speaker series and student-led entrepreneurship experiences.
He continues to advise ventures in digital platforms, consulting services, corporate/leadership training and the mining sector. He coaches and provides entrepreneurial training to clients and connects them within his business network. This also involves helping RDP business students improve their market readiness in a variety of areas.
Education
- M.B.A. – Master of Business Administration, Nova Southeastern University, H. Wayne Huizenga College of Business & Entrepreneurship
- B.P.E. – Bachelor of Physical Education, University of Alberta