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Speaker Biographies

Murray Low

Associate Professor and Executive Director, The Eugene M. Lang Center for Entrepreneurship, Columbia Business School

Professor Low is an experienced entrepreneur and a leading authority on entrepreneurship in independent, corporate and not-for-profit settings. His Ph.D. (1991) is from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania. His previous degrees (BA Sociology 1976; MBA 1985) are from Simon Fraser University in British Columbia.

Professor Low was an early advocate of entrepreneurship education in business schools. As the founder of the Columbia Entrepreneurship Program he has worked to make entrepreneurship a viable career option for MBA graduates in one of four areas: independent start-ups, new ventures in established companies, private equity and venture capital, and social entrepreneurship.

The Columbia Entrepreneurship Program is distinct in the level of support it provides to help students launch companies. A comprehensive set of courses is complemented by facilitated links to the business community, an incubator and a venture capital fund. A National Social Venture Competition was recently launched in partnership with the Haas School at Berkeley and the Goldman Sachs Foundation.

Starting businesses in several industries lead Professor Low to study how the entrepreneurial process differs by context. He has published widely, in journals such as Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, The Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, Journal of Management, Academy of Management Best Papers and Simulation and Gaming. His current research interests include entrepreneurship and private equity in emerging markets, and the fit between strategy and entrepreneurship in established companies.

Professor Low teaches executive seminars in the areas of entrepreneurship and strategic management and consults to both small and large companies, and not-for-profits. Recent larger corporate clients include Glaxo Smith-Kline, Sony, Roche, AT&T, Thomas Publishing, Shell Oil, Con Edison, and Brooklyn Union Gas, CGNU, GKN, Brambles and Ericsson. He is an advisor to many start-ups and is on the Board of Directors of I-Many, Inc., a NASDAQ listed contract management software company (IMNY). He makes frequent presentations to industry groups and is a regular commentator in the media.