Keystones of Entrepreneurship Knowledge

Rob van der Horst is a regional economist from the Erasmus University Rotterdam, The Netherlands. After ten years of applied regional economic research at the Netherlands Economic Institute (NEI), he joined EIM Business & Policy Research in 1986. He has been responsible for a variety of (applied) economic research projects on entrepreneurship and SMEs. He was involved in projects in all EU countries, several Eastern European countries, the Russian Federation, Dubai, South Africa and Jamaica. He has been a consultant to the OECD and UNIDO. He is the director of EIM’s Brussels’ office. He is also the executive director of the ENSR: the European Network for Social and Economic Research, bringing together research institutes in 32 European countries. From 1992 to 2004 he was the project director of ‘The Observatory of European SMEs’, a research project for the European Commission. In the framework of the Observatory project a large number of reports have been prepared about structure and developments of SMEs in Europe. Rob van der Horst is currently serving as Senior-Vice President for Research and Publications of the ICSB.

Sandra King-Kauanui is currently an Associate Professor of Management & Entrepreneurship at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona. She teaches Entrepreneurship, Family Business and Organizational Behaviour. Since 1996, Dr. King-Kauanui has been an active member of the ICSB board serving as SVP of Finance and SVP of Research and Publications. She is currently serving as President of the ICSB for 2004–2005. Sandra has conducted research on various aspects of Entrepreneurship, including her recent work in spirituality and entrepreneurship, and in Family Business in various countries around the world, including Mainland China. As a result of her research, she has participated in over 60 research presentations in various international, national and regional conferences. In addition she has published her research in numerous academic journals. Previous to her career as an academic, Sandra started and operated her own business for twenty years. Through her company, she, along with her employees, provided tax, financial and business planning for over five hundred entrepreneurs and family-owned businesses. For three years, she hosted a cable TV talk show featuring discussions on financial, business and tax planning ideas. The business was successfully transferred to the next generation when she began her career at the University.

Susan Duffy is the Executive Director of the International Council for Small Business (ICSB), a global organization of researchers, policy makers, practitioners and educators dedicated to advancing entrepreneurship and small business worldwide. Susan works with an international team of SME professionals to build global networks that disseminate research, share best practices, and support policy for small and medium enterprise development. Susan also runs the international headquarter office of ICSB at the George Washington University (GWU) in Washington, DC, USA. An educator for over ten years, Susan founded the GWU Women’s Entrepreneurial Leadership Initiative. Built on primary research of current successful women entrepreneurs, this innovative curriculum combines core entrepreneurship courses with personal and professional development activities, including leadership training, network building and mentor support. Susan also lectures in Family Business Dynamics, Small Business Management and New Venture Environmental Scanning and received the GWU School of Business and Public Management’s Undergraduate Teaching Award in 2002. Susan presents her work at national and international conferences and has published research articles on the State of Entrepreneurship Education in the United States and Expanding the Field of Family Business Research. Before coming to the George Washington University in 1998, Susan was a family business owner in the commercial construction industry. She has held leadership positions in health care and worked as an organizational consultant in private and public work systems. Susan has a Master’s Degree in Applied Behavioral Science from the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland and a Bachelor’s Degree in Nutrition Science from the Pennsylvania State University. Currently Susan is a doctoral candidate researching entrepreneurial learning at The George Washington University School of Business.