About me
Bernard Bell is currently the Executive Director of the Shuford Program in Entrepreneurship at the University of NC at Chapel Hill. He has spent the majority of his career as both a Corporate Sales and Marketing Executive and an Entrepreneur, and most recently, an Academic. At UNC, Bell has been part of the team that shepherded the newly endowed Shuford Entrepreneurship Program from a 200-student minor to over 600 students while gaining national recognition as US News and World Reports #4th ranked entrepreneurship program in the country in 2022. Bernard also serves as a professor in the program, teaching almost 200+ plus students annually in his Shuford Capstone Class while leading an extremely talented team of Entrepreneurs-in-Residents (EIRs), tenured professors, and admin and support personnel. Bernard most recently was instrumental in raising $11.5 mm in alumni and corporate support bringing the Shuford Programs’ total endowment to over $35 mm under his leadership.
Bell is also CEO of Urban Media Solutions, a consulting firm that he launched in 2009. In this role, Bell advises start-up founders and seasoned executives on leadership and culture with an intentional focus on the Gen X, Y, and Z consumer. Bell also works with Corporate CEO’s on Communication Strategy with an emphasis on EQ and not IQ.
Bell was most recently Senior Vice President for Urban One, the largest distributor of radio, television, and digital media urban content in the country, where he was part of the founding team, and the 2nd hire for the 70 mm subscriber network TV One. Prior to this C-suite role, Bernard held senior sales and marketing positions at Tribune Media based in Chicago; ICTV based in Palo Alto, CA; Home and Garden TV (HGTV) based in Knoxville and NYC; and Discovery Channel based in Bethesda, MD. He started his sales career at IBM in Winston Salem, NC.
Originally from Greensboro, NC, Bernard holds both a BA and an MBA from UNC Chapel Hill. He is a former independent
director for ICLUB, a for-profit investment software company based in Detroit, MI, and was on the board of the American Film Institute (AFI) based in Los Angeles. Bell currently serves on the board of the American Dance Festival based in Durham, NC. ADF is the premier dance company on the east coast. He is also a member of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Incorporated, where he invests his one-on-one time working with young men on professional, corporate and life skills.
Bernard is married to the former Stacy Cole, an attorney-turned government relations lobbyist for NBC Universal Comcast. His sister, Dr. Benita Bell, is a UNC alum with a BS in Chemistry, and is an astrobiologist at NASA. His brother, Dr. Calvin Bell, is a double Tar Heel with a BS in Biology and an MD from UNC ‘s Medical School. His 97-yr old dad is a proud graduate of NC A&T State university, and his late mom was a graduate of Bennett College.
