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Darr and Greenwell Join Faculty of OBU Dickinson College of Business

April 29, 2020

The Paul Dickinson College of Business at OBU recently hired two new full-time faculty members. Dr. Timothy Darr, assistant professor of computer science, and David Greenwell, MBA, CPA, Bill and Twylah Horne Professorship in Accounting and assistant professor of accounting, will both join the faculty this fall.

Darr has more than 20 years of tech industry experience as a research scientist, consultant and inventor. He earned a Ph.D. in computer science at the University of Michigan. He is an Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology researcher and practitioner with particular focus on knowledge representation, human decision modeling and intelligent agent modeling. He has practical experience in applying a multitude of cutting-edge technologies to real-world problems, including natural language processing and understanding, data mining, machine learning, deep learning with neural networks, sentiment and opinion mining, social network analysis and social media analytics.

He has working familiarity with a variety of programming languages (C, Java, Python, Clojure, Visual Basic, Prolog, Lisp), data and knowledge models (RDF/OWL, JSON, XML/XSL), query languages (SQL, SPARQL), programming methods (object-oriented, functional), and software project management methods (waterfall, agile, scrum, X programming). Darr’s publications have appeared in refereed journals and conferences, and his research has appeared in invited workshops. He has likewise co-authored chapters in books on concurrent engineering and expert systems.

He has successfully led small development teams delivering customer success in the government and commercial sectors. In the government sector, he led agile teams in transitioning applied research solutions to the Navy, Air Force, Army and intelligence community. In the commercial sector, he led teams in building and customizing knowledge bases for enterprise-scale applications in the computer and telecommunications industries for Fortune 500 companies.

Greenwell comes to OBU with more than 38 years of experience in accounting, finance and forensics. He currently serves as a tax partner with experience in providing effective tax solutions for clients in the energy, consumer products, technology and real estate industries. He earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Oklahoma City University and an MBA in accounting from the University of Oklahoma.

He began his public accounting career with an independent CPA firm in Oklahoma City which was eventually acquired by a Big Four firm, where he then rose to position of principal. In 1998, he started his own firm, spending 10 years as owner before selling the business. He has significant experience with tax controversies, including representation before the Internal Revenue Service Appeals division and various state tax authorities. He also has extensive experience advising on corporate restructuring, effective tax planning with partnerships and other pass-through entities, optimal tax accounting methods, and mergers and acquisitions.

He is a current board member and former chairman of the Oklahoma Accountancy Board as well as serving on several professional committees for the AICPA and OSCPA. He also serves on the advisory board for the Steed School of Accounting at the University of Oklahoma and was an expert resource person for the White House Conference on Small Business.

Greenwell is involved with local government, serving as Ward 5 city councilman in Oklahoma City since 2011. He was previously active with Bible Study Fellowship for 15 years, serving as a discussion leader and assistant teaching leader. He is a current member of SALLT (Salt and Light Leadership Training) and several Bible studies in addition to serving as an adult Sunday School teacher at his church.