An Educator Focused on Entrepreneurial Activity in Rural Montana

Who will become the business leaders of tomorrow? And how can we help them grow as entrepreneurs and innovators? 

These are the questions that drove Andrew Hull DBA’28 to become a university educator after more than 25 years of working as an entrepreneur and marketing leader. Since making the switch to academia, Hull has earned the Dean’s Excellence in Teaching Award and the Students’ Choice Award at Montana State University.  

Prior to teaching, he was the founder and president of Elixiter, a specialty marketing technology agency that was recognized on the Inc. 5000 list as one of the fastest-growing private companies in the nation, as well as one of the 100 Best Workplaces for Women and Top 50 Best Workplaces for Camaraderie by Great Places to Work and Fortune magazine. In 2018, Elixiter was acquired by Perficient, where he then served as general manager of the Marketing Technology Solutions Group. 

“During my free time, I enjoy all forms of cycling, helping coach the high school mountain biking team with my wife and two adult children,” Hull said. “And, when I am not physically active, I love the smiles and entertainment provided by my family’s 10 Nigerian dwarf goats.” 

Get to know Hull and discover what inspired him to join the Doctor of Business Administration program at Babson College. 

“I fundamentally believe entrepreneurship is a learned skill which landed me at Babson’s doorstep. There is no other place in the world I would want to pursue my DBA.”
Andrew Hull DBA’28

What drove you to want to pursue your DBA, and why did you choose Babson?  

“After 25 years of private industry experience spanning large enterprise organizations to rapidly growing startups, I turned my attention to teaching at the university level after seeing so many success stories with the new college graduates we hired at my last startup.  I fell in love with teaching and interacting with our future business leaders, especially around the topics of entrepreneurship and marketing. I fundamentally believe entrepreneurship is a learned skill which landed me at Babson’s doorstep. There is no other place in the world I would want to pursue my DBA.” 

What is one big problem you would most want to solve, and what research area are you aiming to explore to help solve it? 

“Having grown up in Montana and later returned 10 years after college, I was fortunate to be part of a startup that went public and later started my own company that was acquired. While an entrepreneurial spirit runs strong in Montana, the low population and geographically dispersed aspects of the state introduce many challenges for future entrepreneurs. I would like to study the intersection of rurality and entrepreneurship. There are so many unique characteristics—positive and negative—as it pertains to entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial activity in Montana. Ultimately, I hope my research will identify accelerators to entrepreneurial activity and how to implement them in rural states.” 

What part of the program are you most looking forward to?  

“Beyond the rigor and excitement of working through my own research interests, I look forward to the program’s learning facilitation. As someone who plans to stay engaged in teaching at the university level, learning the best practices around how to teach an entrepreneurial ethos to others is important to me.” 

What are your hopes and aspirations professionally after the DBA program?  

“I would like to continue to teach at the university level while also staying professionally engaged in entrepreneurial support organizations that operate outside the university.” 

This is part of a series of profiles highlighting the individual entrepreneurial leaders in the inaugural cohort of Babson’s new Doctor of Business Administration program. Read more about Babson’s first DBA candidates.