Allan Williams Alan Williams was born into and grew up in a small business family, and has a lifetime of practical interest in small business. Since the late 1950s, that interest has developed into over 50 years of teaching, training, advising, consulting and rsearching small business.

In 1970, Alan moved into university teaching at Curtin University in Western Australia after some years as a high school teacher in business studies. In 1977 he was appointed as Professor of Management at the University of Newcastle, a post he held until his retirement in 1994. During that period Alan served as Faculty Dean, MBA Course Coordinator and Foundation Head of the Department of Management.

As a pioneer in small business research, Alan has achieved international recognition. Alan has held short-term appointments as a Visiting Professor in 15 Australian and overseas universities, including the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), London Graduate School of Business, Stirling University and Warwick University in the United Kingdom and the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. He has participated in over 600 workshops and training programs in 10 Australian universities and in some 30 universities in six countries overseas.

Since 'retirement', Alan has operated Williams Management Services, a small firm specialising in training, management development and writing for small business. He has published nearly 40 books, papers and articles covering virtually every aspect of small business management and entrepreneurship. Alan has also served on numerous government boards and committees as an adviser for many years.

Alan holds the degrees of Bachelor of Commerce (Tasmania), Bachelor of Education (Melbourne) and Doctor of Philosophy (Western Australia), as well as Postgraduate Diplomas in Education (Tasmania) and Administration (Curtin). For a number of years he was a qualified accountant. Read More Read Less