After a generous financial gift from Knoxville entrepreneur Randy Boyd this spring, the Center for Business and Economic Research bears a new name – the Boyd Center for Business and Economic Research.

President and CEO of Knoxville-based Radio Systems, Boyd attended the Haslam College of Business from 1975-1979. “Some of my favorite courses were in economics,” Boyd recalls. “I had the great Tony Spiva as one of my professors.”

In 2013, Governor Bill Haslam appointed Boyd as a special advisor on higher education. In that role, he reconnected with his alma mater. “We were constantly citing work by CBER on higher education policy,” says Boyd. “Most importantly, their work on the Drive to ’55 helped us forecast not only the types of degrees we would need but the specific careers, as well as the oversupply and undersupply of degrees between now and 2055, which was immensely useful.”

When Boyd became the state’s commissioner for economic development in 2015, he ran into more of the center’s work. “To my surprise, they were doing economic analysis for the Tennessee Department of Economics and Community Development,” he says. “At every turn, our state is using the work of Bill Fox and the team to inform our policy decisions.”

Impressed by the diversity and value of CBER’s work, Boyd decided to make a naming gift to the center. “By giving back to the center, I give back to my university and support our state,” he says. “And the Boyd Center’s reach goes beyond Tennessee. The foremost experts in the nation on state tax policy are at the Boyd Center, and people from around the country utilize their research.”

Bill Fox, Boyd Center director, says the center has a long history of focusing on tax policy but has expanded its scope more recently. “In the last twenty years, we’ve really broadened our role over the range of public policy issues that confront not just Tennessee but the nation,” Fox says.

“Today, we do a lot of work on education, the welfare program, the labor force and unemployment issues, in addition to tax.”

Fox and other center researchers worked closely with Boyd on the Tennessee Promise initiative. “While he was designing the program, we did a lot of the analytical work,” says Fox. “We worked with the administration as it was implemented, and we analyzed the original program, Knox Achieves, which Randy started here in Knox County. He was able to use it as an example of how successful Knox Achieves has been in getting people into two-year schools.”

While the Boyd Center’s research impacts many facets of state public policy, its reach extends much further. “All together, we work in about fifty countries on public policy issues, and we’ve worked in around twenty states doing this same kind of advising.” Fox has personally worked in Bosnia, Rwanda, Egypt and Gaza, consulting with local leaders about economic issues following political and ethnic unrest in some of those areas.

Some of the Boyd Center’s faculty address issues related to United States federal policy. “Don Bruce has done a lot of work on tax impacts on entrepreneurship and focused on the federal income tax,” says Fox. “And Leann Luna has worked extensively on 529 college savings plans. We also handle e-commerce questions, and we’re very involved in debates across the country about the right approach to collecting state taxes from remote vendors.”

Fox is grateful for Boyd’s investment. “We are so pleased to be associated with him,” says Fox. “He has taken public service to a new level through his personal commitment to improving the quality of life for everyone around him through such areas as higher education and economic development.”

Dean Stephen L. Mangum sees the Boyd Center’s presence at the college as a tremendous strength. “Because of its existence, we’re able to build in additional economists who have joint appointments between the center and the economics department, giving us a stronger economic base in the college,” he says. “It has such great visibility, particularly in Nashville, making it easy for government officials to see the value of the state’s investment in UT.”

Mangum sees Boyd’s naming gift as an investment rather than a donation. “Randy Boyd is a recognized, successful entrepreneur who has devoted so much of his time to public service and shown great creativity in starting initiatives such as Tennessee Promise,” says Mangum. “Given his many professional accomplishments and contributions to the well being of the citizens of Tennessee, it is exciting to honor Randy through the naming of the Boyd Center.”