Dominique Halaby, D.P.A. is the Associate Provost for Innovation and Commercialization & Founding Director of the Business Innovation Group (BIG) at Georgia Southern University. BIG includes the Center for Business Analytics and Economic Research, Center for Entrepreneurial Learning and Leadership, Small Business Development Center, Innovation Incubator and Fab Lab. In 2015, BIG was recognized as a Gold Award Winner in Entrepreneurship by the IEDC.

Dr. Halaby is also overseeing the development of Georgia Southern University’s City Center in Statesboro, Georgia. The City Center is a 22,000 square foot two-building complex. It is joint initiative between Georgia Southern University, the City of Statesboro, and the Downtown Statesboro Development Authority to foster innovation and entrepreneurship in Bulloch County. In addition, he recently secured the necessary funding and is currently working with the Hinesville Development Authority and City of Hinesville to construct a third 10,000 square foot facility in downtown Hinesville, Georgia.

In addition to his official duties, Dr. Halaby has served on several community and business boards. Currently, he serves on the university’s Intellectual Property Committee, as well as on the boards of the Statesboro Convention and Visitors Bureau and Spaceport Camden Education and Workforce Committee.

Prior to joining Georgia Southern, he served as the Director of the Center for Community and Business Research at the University of Texas at San Antonio’s Institute for Economic Development. Dr. Halaby spent most of his recent career building a non-profit organization in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) dealing with workforce and economic development. He successfully secured over $35 million in funding, including one of the largest federal training grants awarded in South Texas. Under his leadership, the organization was recognized in 2003 by the Society for Human Resource Management as The Best to Place to Work in Hidalgo County for companies with less than 100 employees. He was successful in achieving broad collaboration in the RGV among healthcare providers and educators to strengthen home-grown approaches to meet their skilled workforce needs, and in several community planning and antipoverty initiatives. These projects won awards as national finalists for the Economic Development Administration (EDA) Best Practices in 2003 and 2006, as well as being recognized by the Texas Workforce Commission as the Transitional Workforce Award recipient in 2004. In addition, Dr. Halaby served as Interim Director of the Rio Grande Regional Center for Innovation and Commercialization and assisted public universities in South Texas and new business ventures in accessing the $200 million Emerging Technology Fund.