the faculty

Ashley BlanchardAdjunct Instructor (434) 381-6209 contact Ashley Blanchard joined the business program in the spring of 2008 as an adjunct faculty member. She is a graduate of Sweet Briar College and earned her Master of Business Administration at the Babcock Graduate School of Management at Wake Forest University. Before becoming an investment broker, Blanchard was a professional fundraiser and event planner. After having two children, she became a business consultant specializing in marketing and strategic planning. She is particularly interested in helping women succeed in business. Whether it is a student contemplating graduate school, an entrepreneur starting her own business or an employee seeking advancement in a Fortune 500 company, Blanchard provides professional assistance to help them achieve a competitive advantage. Blanchard has served the College as a volunteer on the Friends of Art board, as president of the Lynchburg Alumnae Club, class president and reunion giving chair. She lives in Lynchburg with her husband Wilson, whose family has long been associated with the College. Blanchard and her husband have two boys, Sutton and Strode, ages 9 and 7 respectively. In her free time, she enjoys playing tennis, traveling, and watching her sons' sporting events and Wake Forest football — Go Deacs! Blanchard teaches management, marketing, marketing ethics and the marketing lab. Her students have completed marketing plans for clients including Meriwether's Restaurant, The Farm Basket, Pulley's Marina, The Amherst Humane Society, Acorn Hill, Artifacts Gallery, Paperbuzz.com, Galloway Dentistry and "Lynchburg 100: An Illustrated Guide to Lynchburg's Landmarks."
Suzanne CalvertAssistant Professor (434) 381-6470 contact Suzanne Calvert came to Sweet Briar in 2002 as an adjunct accounting professor. She holds two Bachelor of Science degrees in business education (Radford College) and accounting (Lynchburg College). She also holds two master's degrees in business management and public school administration, and has completed additional graduate work in accounting. All graduate-level work was completed at Lynchburg College. In addition to 20 years of teaching and administrative experience at the secondary and college level, Calvert has years of real-world experience in the corporate arena, including more than five years in the banking industry. While working in commercial and retail lending, she also completed the American Institute of Banking diploma. Calvert enjoys teaching introductory-level accounting and ethics. Although accounting is her focus, she enjoys bringing current events from the business world into the classroom.
Tom LoftusAssociate Professor (434) 381-6203 contact Tom Loftus received a Bachelor of Arts in cultural anthropology from the University of California, Berkeley; a Master of Arts in economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara; and a law degree from Columbia University. He has passed the bar and been admitted to the practice of law in Massachusetts, New York, and Virginia. After practicing corporate and securities law in Boston and Washington, D.C., Loftus came to Sweet Briar, where he worked on foundation and government grants, helping to raise more than $5 million for the College. He currently teaches courses in commercial law and business ethics. Loftus is married to Robin Lee Davies, professor of Biology at Sweet Briar College. Together, they are raising three delightful boys: William, David and Brian. Loftus has traveled extensively in the United States, Eastern and Western Europe, Africa, Turkey, Mexico and Central America. His hobbies include woodworking, gardening, boating and photography.
Tom ScottAssistant Professor (434) 381-6704 contact Tom Scott is chair of the business department at Sweet Briar College and co-founder and partner in RecycleEasy, a residential recycling company in Lynchburg, Va. His prior professional experience includes serving Mead Corporation as senior operations analyst from 1989 to 1994 and as director of strategic marketing for its Coated Board Division from 1994 to 1998. His work at Mead included projects with General Electric, Milliken Corporation and McKinsey Corporation. From 1998 to 2006, Scott was chief financial officer of a $40 million manufacturing company and chief executive officer of $20 million manufacturing facility. During this time, he also co-developed a 2004 patent for the one-piece, General Electric, four-pack light bulb carton. His teaching experience includes all aspects of quantitative modeling, project management, finance, operations management, entrepreneurship and business plan development. His current research field is in the area of synergistic integration of business and academia through applied entrepreneurial thinking.
Linda ShankVice President for Marketing and Communications Professor of Business (434) 381-6210 contact Linda Shank joined the business program in the fall of 2000. She earned her doctorate in business administration with a concentration in marketing from Nova Southeastern University. Her other degrees include a bachelor's in psychology from Dickinson College, a master's in counseling from Shippensburg State University and a Master of Business Administration from York College of Pennsylvania. Prior to coming to Sweet Briar, she was an associate professor in the business and economics department at Wilson College and dean of the College of Continuing Education. Shank's research interests are in the consumer behavior area. She is particularly interested in how a consumer's perceptions of quality, value and satisfaction with a product or service impact their willingness to recommend the product or service. At Sweet Briar, Shank teaches principles of advertising and marketing research. Her students have completed marketing research projects and advertising plans for clients such as the Sweet Briar Book Shop, Sweet Briar Museum, Amherst County Chamber of Commerce and Amherst County Department of Economic Development. In addition to her teaching responsibilities at Sweet Briar, Shank is vice president for marking and college relations and is responsible for oversight of the College's marketing and communications efforts.