Education/Professional Certification:

Ph.D.(1977): State University of New York at Buffalo
M.A. (1975): State University of New York at Buffalo
B.S. (1972) with High Distinction: Pennsylvania State University

Areas of Expertise:

Small to medium-sized, closely-held businesses

Biography:

Rich is a tenured member of the Management Faculty and the Northeast Utilities Scholar in Technological Entrepreneurship at the University of Connecticut School of Business. He serves as Executive Director of the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CCEI), with leadership responsibilities for developing and implementing the School’s strategy in the field of entrepreneurship. He is a member of the Investment Advisory Board of Next Generation Ventures, LLC, a Connecticut venture capital firm. Rich’s research stream focuses on small to medium-sized, closely-held businesses. Recent publications include: The role of an entrepreneurially alert information system in promoting corporate entrepreneurship, with Simsek, Z., Lubatkin, M. H. and Veiga, J. F., The Journal of Business Research (2009); The impact of professional isolation on Teleworker Job Performance and Turnover Intentions: Does Time Spent Teleworking, Interacting Face-to Face, or Having Access to Communication-Enhancing Technology Matter? with Golden T. D., and Veiga, J. F., Journal of Applied Psychology (2008); Modeling the multilevel determinants of top management team behavioral integration, with Simsek, Z., Lubatkin, M., and Veiga, J., Academy of Management Journal (2005); and The effects of parental altruism on the governance of family-managed firms, with Lubatkin, M., Schulze, W. S., and Ling, Y., Journal of Organizational Behavior (2005). Rich served as Associate Dean for Graduate Programs, Business Partnering and External Alliances from 1998 – 2006 at the UConn School of Business and had oversight responsibilities for all graduate programs, regional campus administration, the School’s operating budget ($30+ million), finance staff, business placement and career services, information technology services, executive education, School-wide marketing and brand development, the Business School’s experiential learning initiatives, and for forming externally oriented alliances and partnerships. Before joining the University of Connecticut in 1995, Rich spent more than two decades in the business world, working for several firms including Eastman Kodak, Corning, Inc. and Xerox. He has extensive experience as an entrepreneur having started four enterprises and is expert in relating the overall external environment to its implications for tactical and strategic decision-making and in integrating forecasting systems for products, markets and industries at various stages of maturity.