Professor for the Practice of Management
Director, Owen Communication Program

At Owen, Kimberly teaches courses in management communications to the MBA students, ethical leadership and communications to the Master of Accountancy students, professional communication to the Master of Finance students, and communication special topics to the Executive MBAs. She teaches executive workshops in leadership communications, emotional intelligence, and strategy to companies such as Nissan, NASA, FedEx Ground, Altria, AutoZone, and Community Health Systems. As a former television executive and on-air talent for a program aired on Fox, CBS, and NBC, she directed and produced broadcasts, interviewed guests, and trained other on-air hosts. Kimberly’s focus outside the classroom is training executives to Think, Lead and Act Like a CEO, including how to build a personal brand, to leverage team members’ strengths, and to create an engaging culture.

Adjunct Professor, Vanderbilt Business Communication Academy

Shayna Humphrey, M.Ed., has over 15 years of experience in designing and delivering executive courses for clients including HCA, Johnson & Johnson, Amsurg, Exxon-Mobil, AIG, and Sony Music. Her work focuses in the areas of business writing skills, executive presentation skills, and leadership development. Shayna created a corporate university for a large medical system that resulted in significant improvements in patient satisfaction and customer service. The Gallup Organization recognized this education initiative as a “best practice” and invited Shayna to present at Gallup’s National Healthcare Summit. Shayna earned her undergraduate degree in English and sociology from Vanderbilt University and a master’s degree in education with an emphasis on organizational psychology from the University of Virginia.

Adjunct Professor, Managerial Writing

Jim Cracraft teaches the Managerial Writing elective course offered in Mod 2 at Owen. Jim received an M.S. degree in language education from Indiana University, where he specialized in TESL (Teaching English as a Second Language) and CALL (Computer Assisted Language Learning). Before joining the staff of Vanderbilt’s English Language Center (ELC) in 1999, he spent six years as an English teacher and trainer in Taipei, Taiwan. With the ELC, Jim develops curriculum and teaches classes in writing and speaking, US Business Culture & Communication, and pronunciation. At Owen, he has also created materials for a Mandarin Chinese language course. Jim has a passion for writing that is clear, concise, complete, and compelling.

Writing Coach

A professional writer and editor, Jennifer Bostwick has served as the lead writing coach at Owen since 2011, helping students strengthen cover letters, profile summaries, case write-ups and other communications. She has taught writing at Belmont University, Skyline College and Mills College. Prior to coaching and teaching, Ms. Bostwick worked as an editor for the translation company JLS Language+ (now MediaLocate, Inc.) and as a publicist for concerts at Stanford University. She is an active member of The Porch Writers’ Collective in Nashville, and her essays have been published recently in such places as The Evansville Review, Ponder Review and The Nasiona.

Writing Coach

Vicki Smith recently retired as senior manager of Corporate Social Responsibility at Nissan North America. She managed Nissan’s philanthropy program, which donates millions of dollars each year to nonprofits in communities in which Nissan operates, and she served as executive director of the Nissan Foundation. During her Nissan career, she was responsible for corporate communications for its US Manufacturing operations and Southeast Region. From 2002 to 2005, she worked at Nissan’s global headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, as the executive speechwriter for Nissan’s Chief Executive Officer. Smith earned a bachelor’s degree in English from Lipscomb University and an MBA from Middle Tennessee State University. She serves on the Executive Committee of the Nashville Business Breakfast and the board of the Girl Scout Council of Middle Tennessee. She is a member of the Board of Trustees of Lipscomb University.

Michelle Perdomo

Language Teaching Specialist

Michelle received both an MA and a Ph.D. in linguistics at the University of Florida, where she studied psycholinguistics. She also obtained a Second Language Acquisition and Teaching certificate during her time at UF. She has taught Academic Spoken English at the graduate level and English reading and writing courses for undergraduate students. Michelle has served as a postdoctoral scholar in Dr. Duane Watson’s Communication and Language Lab at Vanderbilt. In her spare time, Michelle enjoys traveling, gardening, tending to her house plants, and weightlifting.

Program Coordinator, Owen Communication Program