Social Enterprise, Entrepreneurship, and Financial Technology
Entrepreneurship, Ethics & Social Responsibility
Professor Avila teaches courses in entrepreneurship and social impact while serving as the founding Director of the Turner Family Center for Social Ventures (TFC). The TFC is focused on developing socially and environmentally conscious leaders and doers and serves as a resource and thought leader for people across the university interested in combining revenue-generating businesses with social impact objectives. The TFC is focused on serving as a hub for graduate student resources, fellowship, collaboration, and partnership—across multiple graduate schools—further promoting responsible business practices and shaping future leaders of our domestic and international communities.
Professor Avila was a member of Leadership Tennessee’s Class III and honored as a 50 Under 40 Social Enterprise Leader by American Express. He was also selected to represent Nashville as one of Harvard Business School’s Young American Leaders which brings together some of the country’s top leaders who are working across sectors to help their communities prosper. Professor Avila was selected as a member of the Vanderbilt Leadership Academy – recognized as a high-performing leader at the institution. Most recently, he was honored as one of Nashville’s 40 Under 40 business leaders in 2020.
Social Enterprise, Entrepreneurship, and Financial Technology
Professor Avila was the CEO of Emerge and founder of Contigo Financial, a B Corp Certified and socially responsible fintech consumer lender. His management experience includes finance, education, and consulting in three different countries. He was a Fellow of Vanderbilt’s Cal Turner Program for Moral Leadership in the Professions and helped develop a hybrid housing-microfinance model to finance mortgage needs of people at the base of the pyramid in Central America.
Professor Avila has served on various boards and commissions, including Conéxion Americas, the Nashville Food Project, and The Nashville Fairgrounds, and serves as Chairman of Vanderbilt University’s Credit Union.
Professor Avila teaches courses on entrepreneurship, social enterprise and impact investing. He also leads various Global Immersion programs and initiatives related to athletics. He also teaches Project Pyramid — an interdisciplinary course at Vanderbilt that introduces students to the social problems of global poverty and the organizations applying business principles for its alleviation. The course consists of hands-on international consulting projects.
MBA, Vanderbilt University, 2012
B.A., Dartmouth College, 2004
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