HISTORICAL PAGE -- VISIT THE CURRENT CONFERENCE.
Entrepreneur Conference 2003 Speakers
Dr. Ray Smilor
President of the Beyster Institute
Ray is President at the Beyster Institute / Foundation for Enterprise Development. Previously, he was vice president of the Kauffman Center for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. In that capacity, he helped build one of the most prominent organizations promoting entrepreneurship in the United States. Before joining the Kauffman Center, Ray was a tenured professor at the Graduate School of Business at the University of Texas - Austin. He also served as the executive director of the IC2 Institute at UT, which became an internationally recognized think-tank for entrepreneurship and economic development. Ray has also been very involved in the writing and editing of several books and articles on entrepreneurship.
His writings range from articles in academic journals to opinion pieces in newspapers and magazines, and his work has been translated into a number of languages, including Japanese, French and Italian. A sought-after motivational speaker, Ray appears regularly on the nationally syndicated radio show, "Entrepreneurs! Living the American Dream." He was selected as an Entrepreneur of the Year in 1990 and inducted into the Entrepreneur of the Year Institute. He earned his Ph.D in U.S. History from the University of Texas - Austin. His newest book, Daring Visionaries: How Entrepreneurs Build Companies, Inspire Allegiance and Create Wealth, was released on May 2001.
