Donald Sparks is Emeritus Professor of International Economics at the Citadel in Charleston, SC, (where he has been named MBA Professor of the Year three times) and University Lecturer in International Business at the Management Center Innsbruck, Austria.

Dr Sparks served as a Senior Consulting Associate in the Bureau of Intelligence and Research at the US Department of State during the Obama administration. He has been a Fulbright Professor at the University of Swaziland and at the University of Maribor, in Slovenia. He was a Fulbright Senior Specialist at the University of Swaziland, and at the African Union in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Last year he had another Specialist grant, at the National University of Laos. At the American University in Cairo, he was the Department Chairman and Visiting Professor of Economics. Currently, he is the Director of the Charleston Council for International Visitors and President of the SC Chapter of the Fulbright Association.

Before beginning his academic career, Dr Sparks served as the Regional Economist for Africa in the Office of Economic Analysis at the US Department of State in Washington, DC and as a Staff Assistant to Senator Ernest F Hollings.

He received his MA and PhD at the School of Oriental and African Studies (London) and his BA from the George Washington University. Dr Sparks is married to Dr Katherine Saenger and they live in Charleston, South Carolina, USA and Seefeld in Tirol, Austria. They have two grown children and one grandson.