After building, selling a $350 million firm, David Klock puts the same principles to work as FIU's business dean
David Klock has been a leader on both sides of the business world — in the private sector and in academia. Yet he started from humble beginnings as the son of a milkman who grew up, as he puts it, "on the wrong side of the tracks" in a working-class suburb west of Boston.
Today, he leads the College of Business Administration at Florida International University after having done the same at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, among other posts he held at universities from Central Florida to California.
In between, he led a dental and vision benefits company that grew its annual revenue from $20 million to more than $350 million during his tenure as CEO and chairman.
Dr. Klock arrived at FIU just months ago after the school approached him, but there's already a lot on his plate: hiring more faculty, continuing and growing the emphasis on entrepreneurship, and ensuring that students — many of whom come from humble beginnings as well — develop the knowledge, skills and habits they will need to succeed.
When he's not overseeing FIU's 8,000-student business school, you might find him teaching Sunday school to second graders. Or you might find him jogging, or gushing over his young granddaughter being a martial arts black belt.
During an interview with Miami Today's Scott Blake at FIU's Tamiami campus, Dr. Klock discussed his life and career.
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