DBA Student Receives SBA Instructor of the Year Award

DBA Student Receives SBA Instructor of the Year Award

Jason Payne, a ULV Doctor of Business Administration student and retired U.S. Air Force veteran, was named a 2025 Boots to Business Instructor of the Year by the U.S. Small Business Administration (Courtesy Jason Payne).

Air Force veteran and second-year doctoral student is recognized by the U.S. Small Business Administration for helping fellow veterans launch and grow small businesses

Jason Payne spent nearly 25 years serving in the U.S. Air Force. Today, the University of La Verne doctoral student is helping fellow veterans build their next chapter, through entrepreneurship.

Payne, a second-year student in the university's Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) program, has been named a recipient of the U.S. Small Business Administration's 2025 Boots to Business Instructor of the Year Award, recognizing instructors who help veterans and military families launch and grow small businesses.

For Payne, the recognition reflects work that began when he transitioned out of the Air Force in 2021. "When you've done something for the majority of your adult life and then one day you wake up and it's gone, that's a surreal experience," Payne said. "There was something missing, purpose and passion."

After retiring from the military, Payne joined the Veterans Business Outreach Center, where he teaches the SBA's Boots to Business program. The program provides aspiring and current veteran entrepreneurs with training on starting and running a small business.

Over time, Payne has refined the course to focus on practical lessons participants can immediately apply. "I've really developed the curriculum over the years and fine-tuned it so it's practical, and people walk away with something they can apply in their business," Payne said.

In the past four years, he has taught more than 100 Boots to Business workshops online and across military installations in Southern California.

Each year, Veterans Business Outreach Centers across the country nominate instructors for the Boots to Business Instructor of the Year awards. Payne was selected after a national review process that evaluates teaching impact and contributions to the program.

While helping veterans explore entrepreneurship, Payne is also advancing his own academic research at ULV. His DBA dissertation focuses on barriers that prevent veteran-owned small businesses from adopting artificial intelligence.

Payne said ULV has played an important role in helping him translate his military experience into academic research and business insights. "Veterans sometimes have a hard time explaining what they did in the military in civilian terms," he said. "The instructors here do an amazing job helping make those connections."