James K. Gentry, Ph.D., is a professor and former dean at the William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas.
The Gentry Difference
“Absolutely fantastic! Great blend of nitty-gritty details, theory, opinion and personal experience. I learned more about this topic in one day than I’ve ever learned in my career.”
FACS/Minnesota Journalism Center workshop participant
Gentry is nationally known for his ability to turn complicated financial and accounting information into understandable language for corporate communicators and journalists. Over the past 25 years, he has taught thousands of communicators and journalists how to understand the language of business.
This spring he is teaming with two national organizations to present workshops to improve the financial knowledge of corporate communicators and business reporters.
In March and April, he will team with the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) to present two two-day workshops on “Communicating Company Results to Build Trust and Reputation.” The programs will be in Washington, D.C., and Chicago. For more information, visit the IAABC website at www.iabc.com/fc.
He also is teaming with the Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism to present programs on “Rethinking Financial Statements in the Post-Crash Environment” in New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver and Milwaukee. For more information, visit businessjournalism.org.
Gentry has been invited to present pre-convention workshop for participants on Understanding Financial Statements at the IABC World Conference in June. He has received IABC’s All-Star Speaker designation.
In the past few years, Gentry has presented workshops on understanding the numbers of business for the public relations team at Cerner Corp., the international communications staff at American Standard Co. (now Trane), the communications leadership at AMC Entertainment, the marketing staff at Teva Neurosciences and the new head of public relations at WABCO in Brussels.
In January 2009 and 2008, Dr. Gentry coordinated and taught “Strictly Financials,” a four-day seminar for business editors and reporters focusing on understanding markets and analyzing financial statements. The program was sponsored by the Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State University.
In summer 2008, Gentry received the Barry Sherman Teaching Award, from the Media Management and Economics Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication. The award recognizes excellence and innovation in teaching of media management and economics.
The same summer, Gentry was the only academic to participate in the Chicago Board Options Exchange two-day “Portfolio Management and Institutional Investors Seminar.”
At Kansas, Gentry created and teaches “Financial Fundamentals for Communicators” for graduate students enrolled in the school’s marketing communications master’s program for professionals in the Kansas City area. He teaches an undergraduate version in Lawrence.
Over the past several years, Gentry has presented workshops on the numbers of business for thousands of business editors and reporters across the nation under the sponsorship of the Reynolds National Center for Business Journalism at Arizona State University. In January, he led a four-day seminar, “Strictly Financials,” for the Reynolds Center. He’s also done workshops for Bloomberg News, USA Today, the San Jose Mercury News and the Seattle Times.
In 2003, Gentry received the Society of American Business Editors and Writers’ Distinguished Achievement Award. Gentry was SABEW’s first executive director in 1984-90 and ran the Business Journalism Program while he was at the University of Missouri.
Gentry is also known for his work in organizational change. In 1999-2000, he was the primary consultant in helping the Tampa Tribune, WFLA-TV and TBO.com converge their news efforts in a new $34 million facility. Beyond Tampa, he has worked with clients in Salt Lake City, Toronto, the Twin Cities, and others. He has made presentations to numerous professional groups and corporate management teams.
Prior to joining KU in 1997, Gentry was dean at the University of Nevada, Reno for five years and was a member of the faculty at the University of Missouri School of Journalism for 14 years.
Gentry was a reporter and editor for several newspapers before joining the Missouri faculty. He received his Ph.D. in journalism with an emphasis on management and organizational behavior from Missouri in 1993.
