Mark E. Mendenhall holds the J. Burton Frierson Chair of Excellence in Business Leadership at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga (UTC). He received his B.S. degree (1980) in psychology and his Ph.D. degree (1983) in social psychology, both from Brigham Young University. Dr. Mendenhall has been on the faculty at UTC since 1989. In 1998 he held the Ludwig Erhard Stiftungsprofessur endowed chair at the University of Bayreuth (Germany), and from 1999-2004 he was a visiting professor at the Europa-Institut at the University of Saarland (Germany). In 2013 he was a visiting professor at the Vienna University of Economics and Business (Austria) and is currently a visiting professor for the MBA Program at Reykjavik University (Iceland).

Dr. Mendenhall is an internationally recognized scholar in the field of global leadership and international human resource management, and has published numerous journal articles and scholarly book chapters in the areas of global leadership and expatriate management. He has also co-authored numerous books in these areas, some of which include: Global Leadership: Research, Practice and Development (Routledge); Managing Culture and Human Resources in Mergers and Acquisitions (Stanford University Press); Globalizing People through International Assignments (Addison-Wesley); Developing Global Business Leaders: Policies, Processes, and Innovations (Quorum Books); and Global Assignments: Successfully Expatriating and Repatriating International Managers (Jossey-Bass Publishers).

A firm believer in applying findings from the research literature to organizations, he actively consults organizations in the areas of global leadership and general leadership. He is a partner in The Kozai Group, a consultancy that specializes in global leadership identification, assessment, and development. Some of the firms he has worked with, both internationally and locally, include Blue-Cross Blue-Shield of Tennessee, BUPA International, CBL,The Dixie Group, IBM-Asia Pacific, General Motors, IBM-Japan, Japan Airlines Corporate Academy, Leadership Chattanooga, Louisiana Pacific, Molex, Monsanto, Premier Health, and Volkswagen. He has also presented training seminars on leadership and other management-related issues for numerous organizations over the span of three decades. Dr. Mendenhall is active in the Academy of Management, and is past president of the International Management Division of that organization. He has traveled widely, and has lived overseas for nine years (New Zealand, Japan, Switzerland, and Germany).