Joe Timmerman has a Ph.D. in economics from Georgia State University and an MBA in finance from the University of South Carolina. He worked at what is now the Bank of America before moving into academia, which has been his career for the past 25 years. He has spent the last 16 years at SUNY Potsdam, where he has been Chair of the Business Administration Department since 2011. For the past 3 years, he has also been a St. Lawrence County Legislator.