Maura Bosbyshell, Fashion Marketing & Management
Maura Bosbyshell earned a BS in psychology from Eastern Kentucky University and her MBA in marketing and human resources management from the University of Georgia.
Crystal Denise Green, FASHION MARKETING & MANAGEMENT
Crystal Green has combined fashion merchandising and higher education as a teacher at Virginia Marti College of Art & Design and at Kent State University. She has been a Fashion Writer for the Akron Beacon Journal and the Women’s Press/Focus Newspapers. Her merchandising experience also includes management training at JC Penny’s, Kaufman’s Department Store, Avon Products and Dillard’s. She also taught in the elementary schools of Akron, Oh.
Ms. Green earned her PhD and EdS from Kent State, an MA in Clothing, Textiles & Interiors from the University of Akron, and a BLS in fashion merchandising from Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
While at Kent State, she worked as a Residence Hall manager and as Residence Hall Director supervising 11 managers with more than 450 resident students. She also was a graduate assistant and recipient of a Dean of Education Scholarship. Ms. Green also was a graduate assistant at the University of Akron.
Ms. Green was District Sales Manager with a team of more than 250 representatives and, later, Marketing Consultant for District Sales Managers for Avon Products for four years.
She has helped to develop ways to enhance the quality of teaching, to improve student retention efforts and to help students transition from other areas of education to fashion design and merchandising.
Tony Letrent-Jones PhD, FASHION MARKETING & MANAGEMENT
Tony LeTrent-Jones is a consultant in private practice, an independent researcher and an educator. She holds a Ph.D. in Human and Organizational Systems and an M.A. in Human and Organization Development from the Fielding Graduate University of Santa Barbara, CA, and B.A. degrees in psychology and sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Dr. LeTrent-Jones has more than 25 years’ experience in the consumer products industry in product design, development, merchandising, marketing and management; strategy, business, and operations planning; general business management; training and development; general human resources management; and entrepreneurship.
She has worked for such corporations as Sara Lee Branded Apparel (now Hanesbrands, Inc.), and she has consulted with corporate clients such as GMAC Insurance and Kayser-Roth as well as with Action Greensboro, Guilford Child Development, Leadership Winston-Salem, the Animal Adoption and Rescue Foundation (AARF), the Center for Community Safety at Winston-Salem State University.
Dr. LeTrent-Jones has served as an adjunct faculty member at Elon University and the University of North Carolina Greensboro, as well as The Art Institute of Charlotte. She and her husband live in Greensboro, NC, where she is an active community volunteer with board memberships for several non-profit organizations.
Alease McClenningham, Fashion Management & Marketing
http://www.styletect.com
Alease McClenningham began her teaching career as a fashion marketing instructor at the American Business and Fashion Institute, the forerunner of The Art Institute of Charlotte.
Among her many industry experiences, both as an employee and a consultant, have been: Assistant Manager, Payless Shoes; Area Manager, Precise Shoes; Visual Merchandiser, Belk’s; Visual Merchandiser, Stein Mart; Modeling Instructor, John Casablanca Modeling and Talent Agency; Merchandise Trainer, Paramount Carowinds; Fashion Show Producer, Xpedx Printing and Capriccio Designs; Fashion Stylist, VAB Modeling Agency; Wardrobe Consultant, UNITY Production and Rock Hill Community Playhouse; Assistant Purchasing Agent, South Carolina Arts Commission; Fashion Consultant, Goodwill Industries, North Carolina Career-Technical Education Conference, Mecklenburg Co. Work First Program, Social Grace Charm School, Charlotte Observer, Charlotte Business Journal, DigeratiCafe.com, Newsobserver.com, Ardmoreite.com and Indystar.com, and Graphic Designer, Procal Decal and Delmar Printing.
Ms. McClenningham has been a Curriculum Developer, NITT; Makeup Artist, Surrounding Photographer and Fashion Specialist for the Accrediting Council for independent Colleges and Schools, and, as Academic Director of Fashion Marketing, led the successful bid for accreditation of Bachelor’s degrees in Fashion Marketing and Management at The Art Institute of Charlotte;
She is a member of the Rock Hill Arts and Science Council and the Association for Career and Technical Education. She also has been After School Enrichment Program Art Coordinator for Reid Park Elementary School and Mecklenburg Co. Park and Recreation.
A collage artist, Ms. McClenningham holds a BA from the University of South Carolina and an MA in visual arts/fashion communication from Goddard Colelge. She is pursuing a doctorate degree.
Mike Watson, FASHION MARKETING & MANAGEMENT, CURATOR, ELIZABETH M. GUINAN GALLERY
Mike Watson holds a BS in fshion textile design from the University of Nebraska at Lincoln and a MS in liberal studies/textile marketing from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro.
He has nine years of visual merchandising experience, and more than 20 years of personal artistic development leading to commissioned pieces and regional representation.
Watson was regional visual merchandising manager merchandising, Younkers (Saks division) in Omaha, NE, and Green Bay, WI, before becoming Regional Director and District Manager, Southeast, for Gadzooks where he ran 45 stores. For two years, he was East Coast regional director of Hot Topic where he directed 60 specialty stores.
He also was visual arts director for Hart-Witzen Studio & Gallery in Charlotte.
A visual artist and free-lance graphic designer whose work is exhibited nationally, Mr. Watson serves on the creative committee of the Arts & Science Council of Charlotte-Mecklenburg and is a member of Charlotte Art League and the Noda (North Davidson arts district) Arts organization as well as a consultant to Charlotte’s Artists with Disabilities Forum, Inc.
Watson is a member of the International Textile and Apparel Association; the Gerson Lehrman Group's Council of Advisors. Fashion Group International.
He also has been a performance artist, clothing designer, fashion illustrator and a Professional Specialist for the Accrediting Council for Independent Colleges and Schools.