Dr. Shelly L. Freyn

Assistant Professor of Marketing, Alfred University

Dr. Shelly Freyn is assistant professor at Alfred University teaching marketing and competitive intelligence courses at the undergrad and graduate level. She received her D.B.A. from Anderson University in Strategic Marketing and her M.B.A. in Marketing & Management from St. Bonaventure University. Her doctoral studies analyzed the CI process and the organizational factors that impact its effectiveness. Her newest research has expanded the CI discipline into the growing field of analytics and big data with recent papers on CI’s value in an AI-enabled world.  

Shelly was co-creator and program director of the business and competitive intelligence (BCI) degree at Mercyhurst University’s Ridge College of Intelligence Studies. This program was one of the first undergraduate degrees in BCI in 2009 and now boasts numerous alumni working in CI and strategy at some of the top corporate firms. She has served as chair of the Strategic and Competitive Intelligence Professionals (SCIP) student chapter for over ten years and is the recipient of the SCIP Distinguished Member Academic award in 2017. She has presented at several conferences on the topic of CI including SCIP, American Marketing Association, and Global Intelligence Forum. She has advised over twenty masters’ candidates in CI research ranging from predictive methodologies, content & social media analysis, financial intelligence and the use of CI in entrepreneurship. She has co-authored some of this research work in Competitive Intelligence Magazine. 

Shelly also has over twenty years of practice experience in various segments of the food industry from research & development, management, and technical sales. She is a patent owner that sparked an entirely new category in the industry. This experience has aided her in building an extensive network resulting in class projects, internships and employment opportunities for the BCI students. She currently sits on the executive board of a non-profit organization and a financial advisory board.