Carter Crockett to Serve as Inaugural Director for Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership

For Immediate Release
March 27, 2013

Media Contact
Cyndi McMahon
[email protected]
978.867.4236

Wenham, MA—Gordon College is proud to announce the launch of the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership (CEL) and the appointment of Carter Crockett to serve as the Center's inaugural Director. As the Center develops into a new hub for entrepreneurial activity on the North Shore and the global Christian community, Gordon students will have on-campus access to learn about entrepreneurship in both the private and the social sectors, and will have opportunities to generate innovative solutions to real-world challenges. Crockett will begin his new role on August 1, 2013.

"I’m very excited about this appointment and the creation of the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership," said President D. Michael Lindsay. "I am confident that, under Dr. Crockett's leadership, the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership will flourish, forging stronger ties with the business community, positioning Gordon as a thoughtful leader in the dynamic field of social enterprise, and engaging more of our students in entrepreneurial opportunities."

An entrepreneur with a rare blend of private sector and academic experience, Crockett comes to Gordon from Kigali, Rwanda, where he co-founded Karisimbi Business Partners—a socially motivated management consulting firm that builds up small to mid-sized businesses in East Africa. There he also served as the Harvard MBA Immersion Project Coordinator for Rwanda and as a professor of entrepreneurship for Carnegie Mellon University's Rwanda satellite campus.

Crockett has excelled as a practitioner and scholar of entrepreneurship on three continents, grounding pioneering theory in practice. Before Karisimbi Partners, he was assistant professor of economics and business at Westmont College. Previously he worked for several years in Seattle, for Microsoft (implementing marketing and partnerships to support the launch of Windows 2000 Professional), for Pura Vida Coffee (a sustainable funding mechanism for non-profit ministries in Costa Rica), and for the fastest-selling board game Cranium (where he set strategy for the company's expansion into international markets). In 2000, Crockett co-founded Dealer Trade Group, a pioneering automobile exchange for car dealers. Crockett earned his Ph.D. in entrepreneurial ethics from the Aberdeen Business School at Robert Gordon University in Scotland and received his B.A. in economics and business from Westmont College.

Crockett will begin his new appointment August 1, 2013 following a transatlantic move back to the United States with his family. Once back on American soil, Crockett will begin positioning Gordon College and the Center as one of the main liaisons between the business and nonprofit communities. "Because of Gordon’s role as the flagship evangelical college in New England, this developing Center will be especially well-suited to bridge the worlds of faith, the marketplace, and the social sector," said Lindsay.

Crockett serves on the advisory board for HOPE International (a microfinance organization investing in the dreams of the poor in over 13 countries), and the advisory board for Global Catalyst Initiative (an early stage investment company based in Vancouver, Canada, focused on emerging market opportunities). He is a member of the Christian Business Faculty Association; the International Association for Business & Society; and the Aspen Network for Development Entrepreneurs. Crockett has authored many articles on business ethics and entrepreneurship for academic and popular audiences, and he is completing a book manuscript titled Development Models for Developing Economies.

For more information on Crockett's appointment and the Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership, contact Rick Sweeney, vice president of strategic marketing and communications, at 978.867.4235 or email [email protected].

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Gordon College is one of the nation's premier Christian colleges and located just north of Boston. We offer students extraordinary access to leading-edge opportunities for intellectual, professional, and
leadership development to address the increasingly complex challenges of a global society. Gordon stands apart from other outstanding institutions in New England by combining an exceptional education with an informed Christian faith.

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