A native of North Carolina, Dr. Barbara Blake holds a Bachelor of Science in International Business from High Point University, High Point, North Carolina, a Master of Arts in International Studies from the University of Leeds, Leeds, England, and a Doctorate in Higher Education Administration from The George Washington University, Washington, DC. Dr. Blake is currently the Chief Administrative Officer of the Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia, and is responsible for all Center operations and performance including the eleven-employee staff. She has been a Contributing Author to the highly cited State of the Region and State of the Commonwealth reports since 2015. A member of NABE (National Association for Business Economics), Dr. Blake is an LMI Applied Economic Analyst and has taught Economics for almost two decades.

Her research interests include the Economics of Social Issues (including the Economics of Opioids and Higher Education Trends). Dr. Blake has presented her economic research at Harvard University and at the UK Ministry of Defence in Shrivenham, England. She is a Summer Scholar and recipient of a US National Endowment for the Humanities Landmarks Grant. Teaching online since 2004, Dr. Blake has over 16 years’ experience in digital education and an SME in quality course design, a Microsoft Faculty Fellow, and a Certified Research Administrator® (CRA). Dr. Blake is a Quality Matters (QM) Certified Reviewer and a QM Subject Matter Expert (SME) in Economics for a network of over 750 universities from 47 different US states and 6 countries. She reviews courses in English and Spanish.

For more than 15 years, Dr. Blake has provided consulting services with clients in the United States, Mexico and Europe to assist corporations, NGOs and nonprofits in the development and implementation of research content, policy and administrative processes especially as it relates to human resource development and training. Some of her clients have included NATO- Concept Development, Procter & Gamble, and Sara Lee, Inc./Hanes Mexico.