Jeff Cohu
Management, Entrepreneurship & Marketing
Executive Director, Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Biography
Dr. Jeff Cohu is an experienced management consultant, entrepreneur, and educator. In addition to his ongoing consulting practice, he currently serves as Professor of Management and Executive Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at Lipscomb University. Dr. Cohu served for many years on the management faculty of the Broad College of Business at Michigan State University where he continues to teach graduate management courses part-time. Before entering academics, Cohu served in numerous senior corporate leadership roles in strategic, financial, and human resource management.
Dr. Cohu’s teaching and research interests are broadly focused in the areas of entrepreneurship, international business, strategic management, organizational development, and leadership. Some of his specific research topics include entrepreneurship in developing economies, entrepreneurial ecosystems, entrepreneurial education, subsistence marketplaces, base of the pyramid economics, foreign direct investment (FDI) spillovers, kleptocracy, organizational creativity, cross-cultural IQ, religious organizations, innovation diffusion, and technology transfers.
As a management consultant, he specializes in supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) with customized services focused on strategic planning processes and human capital development and other supporting services including leadership coaching, organizational development processes, financial planning, and business valuation. He also has consulted for over twenty-five years in the faith-based non-profit sector and is highly experienced in the development of fundraising strategies.
Dr. Cohu has consulted on numerous start-up enterprises and worked with business incubators and accelerators from coast to coast and internationally. He has also served as an entrepreneurial pitch competition judge at events all over the country. As an educator, Cohu has coached many student start-ups from inception through launch to Series D financing or exit strategy. He has advised and worked with venture capital and private equity groups around the globe.
Dr. Cohu is passionate about using business and economic development as a tool to support ministry and foreign mission efforts and has directed entrepreneurial mission projects and teams in 55 different countries. He has also been heavily involved in creating and advising micro-financing funds focused on supporting entrepreneurship, social enterprises, economic development, and poverty alleviation.
Jeff is married to Jan and has two adult children. In his free time, he loves fishing, camping, playing sports, and supporting his favorite teams (St. Louis Cardinals, Kansas City Chiefs, and Arkansas Razorbacks).
Academic Degrees
B.B.A., Harding University (Accounting)
M.B.A., University of Arkansas (Strategic Management)
M.S., Eastern Michigan University (Organizational Development)
M.A., Wayne State University (I/O Psychology)
Ed.S., University of Arkansas (Higher Education)
Ed.D., Eastern Michigan University (Educational Leadership)
Ph.D., University of Southern Mississippi (International Economic Development)