About
Nadia Brown-Patel joined the AB Business faculty in 2017 as Assistant Professor of Marketing and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2023. She is the lead marketing faculty at AB and the lead developer of the AB Brand Lab — a student-staffed marketing consultancy that provides pro-bono brand, web, and digital-marketing services to West Virginia small businesses and nonprofits.
Brown-Patel was born and raised in Cleveland, Ohio. She holds a Ph.D. in Marketing from Cleveland State University (2014), an M.B.A. from Case Western Reserve University Weatherhead School of Management (2008), and a B.A. in English and Economics from Oberlin College (2004). Before academia she spent six years in brand strategy at the agencies Marcus Thomas LLC (Cleveland) and 22Squared (Atlanta).
At AB she teaches the marketing core sequence, the senior Brand Lab capstone, and a popular junior-level elective on nonprofit marketing. Her work with rural Appalachian small businesses through the AB Brand Lab has been featured in The Atlantic, the Charleston Gazette-Mail, and the Daily Yonder.
Education
- 2014Ph.D., Marketing — Cleveland State University. Dissertation: Place-Based Brand Equity in Underrepresented Rural Markets.
- 2008M.B.A. — Case Western Reserve University, Weatherhead School of Management.
- 2004B.A., English & Economics (with honors) — Oberlin College.
Teaching
Dr. Brown-Patel teaches the marketing core and directs the AB Brand Lab senior capstone.
- BUS 245Principles of MarketingA foundational course covering the marketing-mix fundamentals, segmentation, and modern digital marketing. Required for all Business majors.
- BUS 350Nonprofit & Mission-Driven MarketingA junior-level elective on the application of marketing principles to nonprofit and mission-driven organizations.
- BUS 460AB Brand Lab CapstoneA year-long senior capstone in which 8–12 seniors run the AB Brand Lab — a student-staffed marketing consultancy serving Appalachian small businesses and nonprofits. Six client engagements per year.
Research & Brand Lab
Brown-Patel's research focuses on place-based brand equity, particularly in rural and underrepresented markets, and on the marketing strategies of mission-driven organizations (community banks, nonprofits, faith-based institutions). Her 2022 book Brand Appalachia, co-authored with Dr. Jasmine Williams of Marshall University, is the first serious academic book-length treatment of rural-economy marketing in the central Appalachian region.
The AB Brand Lab, which she founded in 2018, has completed brand-strategy, website, and digital-marketing engagements with more than forty Appalachian small businesses and nonprofits — all pro bono, all delivered by AB undergraduate students under her supervision. Clients have included Tamarack vendors, Mountain Roots Farm coop, and the Barbour County Community Foundation.
Selected Publications & Presentations
- 2022Brand Appalachia: Place-Based Marketing in Underrepresented Rural Markets (co-authored). University Press of Kentucky.
- 2024"Place as a Brand Asset in Underrepresented Rural Markets." Journal of Marketing.
- 2023"The Pro-Bono Marketing Lab as Pedagogy." Journal of Marketing Education.
- 2021AMA Educator of the Year Best Paper Award.
- 2025Plenary, AMA Summer Marketing Educator's Conference.
Honors & Service
- 2024Promoted to Associate Professor with Tenure.
- 2023AB Faculty Award for Distinguished Service.
- 2022Brand Appalachia — University Press of Kentucky Best Regional Book.
- 2021AMA Marketing Educator of the Year Best Paper.
- 2018Founder, AB Brand Lab.
If a marketing professor in Cleveland wants to teach segmentation, she does a Coca-Cola case study. If a marketing professor in Philippi wants to teach segmentation, she pulls up an actual Etsy shop run by a 56-year-old maker in Pendleton County. The second teacher is doing the harder and more important work.— Dr. Nadia K. Brown-Patel
Beyond the Classroom
Brown-Patel lives in Philippi with her husband Ravi (a remote software product manager at Atlassian) and their two children. She is an Etsy shop owner herself (selling hand-stamped recycled jewelry), an enthusiastic amateur bread baker, and the volunteer marketing director for the Barbour County YMCA.
She is a serious distance road cyclist, has ridden the Allegheny Highlands Trail end-to-end three times, and is on the board of the WV Mountain Bike Association.