Dean + Administration

About Dean Benjamin C. Ayers

Ben Ayers is Dean of the University of Georgia Terry College of Business and holds the Earl Davis Chair in Taxation. He came to UGA in 1996 and served as Director of the highly regarded Tull School of Accounting for nine years prior to his appointment as the college’s 12th Dean in 2014.

Under his leadership, the Terry College completed a successful Building Terry campaign – raising $121 million to support faculty, programs, and facilities – and dedicated the new home of the Terry College of Business at the corner of Lumpkin and Baxter streets in the heart of the UGA campus. Construction of the Business Learning Community was funded through a 50-50 match of state and private support, totaling $140 million. Built in three phases over six years, the complex features modern classrooms, multipurpose team rooms and spacious common areas spread across six buildings and nearly 300,000 square feet.

In the past six years, the Terry College has established a campus-wide Entrepreneurship Program, several dual degree programs, a new master’s in business analytics, and market-driven academic concentrations and areas of emphasis, while growing undergraduate and graduate enrollment and achieving the highest percentage employment rates for graduating students in the college’s history.

He serves on the Board of Synovus Bank’s Northeast Georgia Division, Benson’s Inc., the CFO Roundtable, and as a Trustee of Athens Academy. He previously served a term as President of the American Taxation Association.

Dean Ayers has received many teaching awards at the school, college, and university levels, including the Russell Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching. His research has been recognized by both the American Taxation Association and American Accounting Association with national research awards. In 2016, he received the Ray M. Sommerfeld Outstanding Tax Educator Award, the highest honor given by the American Taxation Association.

He earned his bachelor’s degree in accounting and master’s degree in taxation from the University of Alabama, and his Ph.D. in accounting from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to pursuing his Ph.D., he worked for KPMG in Atlanta and Tampa and Complete Health Inc. in Birmingham.