Raymond W. Smilor, Ph.D.

As an author, public speaker, investor, consultant, and teacher, Dr. Ray Smilor is an internationally recognized expert in entrepreneurship. He is The Robert and Edith Schumacher Executive Faculty Fellow in Innovation and Technology at the Neeley School of Business at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth, Texas. He is also Senior Fellow for The U.S. Russia Center for Entrepreneurship in Moscow, Russia.

Dr. Smilor was executive director of the Beyster Institute at the Rady School of Management at the University of California, San Diego from 2000-2009. The Institute had offices in Washington, D.C., Moscow, Russia and Casablanca, Morocco and became a leading education, training and consulting organization focusing on advancing entrepreneurship and employee ownership worldwide. He was vice president of the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri, from its startup in 1992 through 2000, helping to build one of the most prominent organizations promoting entrepreneurship in the United States. He made the entrepreneurial leap to the Kauffman Center from The University of Texas at Austin, where he earned his Ph.D. in U.S. History. At UT, he became a tenured professor in the Graduate School of Business, developed one of the most prominent entrepreneurship curriculums in the country, and served as executive director of the university’s internationally recognized think-tank, the IC2 Institute.

Dr. Smilor has published extensively. His writings range from referred articles in academic journals to opinion pieces in popular magazines and trade publications. His work has been translated into a number of languages, including Japanese, French, Italian, Russian, and Korean. His practice, research and writing encompass the areas of entrepreneurship, economic development, and technology transfer and commercialization. His most recent of fifteen books is Daring Visionaries: How Entrepreneurs Build Companies, Inspire Allegiance and Create Wealth. His next book, Entrepreneurial Leadership, is forthcoming from Prentice-Hall.

He has consulted with and made presentations to a range of companies, including IBM, 3M, Bell Helicopter, The Boston Financial Group, and Frito-Lay, as well as entrepreneurial associations such as the Entrepreneur of the Year Institute, Young Presidents’ Organization, and Entrepreneurs’ Organization, and also government organizations such as the U.S. Department of Commerce, Small Business Administration, and Minority Business Development Agency.

Dr. Smilor is a sought-after motivational speaker, teaches and lectures internationally, and works with a range of startup and growth companies. He served as the program manager and principal investigator on major government contracts to promote entrepreneurship globally for the U.S. Department of State in the Middle East and North Africa, and for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Russia. He was selected as an Entrepreneur of the Year in 1990 for his activities in support of entrepreneurship and inducted into the Entrepreneur of the Year Institute.

Dr. Smilor is active in community organizations. He is vice-chairman of the board and chair of the investment committee of the Kansas Bioscience Authority, a national model of a public-private partnership to advance the biosciences. He has been married to his entrepreneurial partner in life, Judy, for 40 years, and together they have raised (and been raised by) their two fine sons, Matthew and Kevin.