2007-2008 Provost Lecture Series
Cultivating the Entrepreneurial Mindset
Thursday, April 3, 2008
3:30-5:00 p.m.
Forum Hall, K-State Student Union
Dr. Jeffry Timmons
Professor
Babson College
Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship
Biographical Sketch
Known internationally for his research, innovative curriculum development, and teaching in entrepreneurship, new ventures, entrepreneurial finance and venture capital, Jeff Timmons held simultaneous professorships at Babson and Harvard Business School. He returned to Babson full time, and in 1995 was named the first Franklin W. Olin Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship. Timmons' friends and supporters endowed the Jeffry A. Timmons Professorship in the mid-1990s in recognition of his contributions to Babson College and to the field of entrepreneurship. His doctoral dissertation, "Entrepreneurial and Leadership Development in an Inner City Ghetto and a Rural Depressed Area (Harvard, 1971)" was the first use of the word "entrepreneurial" in a dissertation title. This dissertation subsequently became the basis of six articles in the Harvard Business Review, the first of which was "Black is Beautiful, Is It Bountiful?"
In 1984, Timmons collaborated with the Price Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies to launch the Price-Babson College Fellows Program, aimed at improving teaching and research by teaming faculty with highly successful entrepreneurs wishing to teach. Inc. magazine called him "The Johnny Appleseed of Entrepreneurship Education" and noted that the PBCFP "changed the terrain of entrepreneurship education." Dr. Timmons served as a charter board member of the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in developing and implementing their mission and strategy. He is the creator of and dean of faculty emeritus for the Kauffman Fellows Program. He has provided leadership in developing teaching initiatives that assist Native Americans seeking economic self-determination and community development most notably through entrepreneurship education at the nation's several Tribal Colleges. In March 2006, Professor Timmons was the inaugural Circle of Friends Professor of the Day at Sitting Bull College. In April 2006, he was appointed Chair, International Academic Steering Committee for National Entrepreneurship Research Center in the School of Economics and Management at Tsinghua University in Beijing, China.
Dr. Timmons has authored several books including the leading textbook New Venture Creation, 7th ed. (2007) along with the forthcoming 8 th edition, 2008; Venture Capital at the Crossroads, with Babson colleague William D. Bygrave (1992); and the groundbreaking The Entrepreneurial Mind (1989). He has recently co-authored Business Plans That Work (2004) and How To Raise Capital: Techniques and Strategies for Financing and Valuing Your Small Business (2005) with Stephen Spinelli and Andrew Zacharakis. He has published more than 100 articles and papers in publications such as Harvard Business Review and Journal of Business Venturing, as well as numerous teaching cases.
Dr. Timmons has earned a reputation for "practicing what he teaches." For nearly forty years he has been immersed in the world of entrepreneurship as an investor, director or advisor in private companies and investment funds including Cellular One in Boston, New Hampshire and Maine; the Boston Communications Group; BCI Advisors, Inc.; Spectrum Equity Investors; Internet Securities, Inc.; Chase Capital Partners; Color Kinetics; and others. He served as a trustee at his alma mater, Colgate University from 1991-2000. He lives on his 500-acre farm in New Hampshire with his wife and partner of 42 years, Sara, and winters at Bray's Island Plantation near Savannah, Georgia. He has twin daughters, two sons-in-law, and four grandsons.
Abstract
This session provides a framework for developing an entrepreneurial mindset. During the session participants will explore the entrepreneurial process based on the "Timmons Model" as a context for discussing and teaching the important issues of entrepreneurship.