MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Middle Tennessee State University’s Jones College of Business has appointed faculty member Keith Jacks Gamble as the new Weatherford Chair of Finance. 

Gamble, director of the Data Science Institute and professor of finance, will assume his new role as the next chairholder in August and plans to focus on advancing the university’s financial planning program, according to Stuart Fowler, associate professor and the Department of Economics and Finance chair. 

Gamble aims to expand the Financial Planning program, which prepares finance students to pursue the Certified Financial Planner, or CFP, designation, “opening new doors for their careers in financial services and beyond,” Fowler said. 

“I am excited to take on the responsibilities of the Weatherford Chair of Finance,” said Gamble. “There are enormous opportunities for growth in financial planning in our region as our population expands and ages.” 

MTSU hopes to become a regional hub for financial planning under Gamble’s leadership. 

“A nationally recognized scholar in behavioral finance and financial decision-making, Dr. Gamble has published in top-tier journals, received research funding from the National Science Foundation and the Social Security Administration, and earned awards for outstanding teaching at multiple institutions,” said Fowler. 

During his time as director of the Data Science Institute, he has focused on data-driven decision-making. Gamble has also been a main organizer of MTSU’s Financial Literacy Month series, promoting financial literacy through events and keynote speakers during April, Tennessee’s Financial Literacy Month.  

The Weatherford Chair of Finance was established in 1986 to honor Jack O. Weatherford, one of Tennessee’s most distinguished bankers of the postwar era. A decorated Navy veteran of World War II, Weatherford completed his education at MTSU and the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, earning a bachelor’s in business administration in 1949. 

He began his banking career at Murfreesboro Bank and Trust Co., where he rose through the ranks to chairman and CEO in 1970. During the 1970s and 1980s, he became widely recognized as one of Tennessee’s and the nation’s leading community bankers.  

In addition to serving as president of the Tennessee Bankers Association, he also held positions at a national level, serving as the head of the Community Banking Division of the American Bankers Association before becoming the national vice chairman. Weatherford retired in 2009 as senior chairman of the new MidSouth Bank, founded in 2003. 

— Jordan Reining (Jordan.Reining@mtsu.edu)