Academic Degrees
PhD, Management, Northwestern University, 1978
MBA, Industrial Management, DePaul University, 1968
BS, Commerce, DePaul University, 1966
Biography
Harold P. Welsch is a professor emeritus in the Department of Management & Entrepreneurship. Before taking emeritus status in 2019, Welsch served as a professor of entrepreneurship in the Driehaus College of Business. He is the founder of DePaul’s entrepreneurship program and founding Coleman Entrepreneurship Chair. Welsch has been active in entrepreneurship development for more than 30 years in his role as educator, consultant, researcher, entrepreneur, author and editor.
Welsch is well known for his expertise in entrepreneurship education, gestation patterns, privatization, technology commercialization, entrepreneurship career paths, formal and informal strategic planning, information seeking and decision behavior, ethnic entrepreneurship, economic development and small business problems. Welsch's work has appeared in many publications including the Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice, Journal of High Technology Management Research, International Small Business Journal, Journal of Small Business Management, Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, Revue International PME, Research in Entrepreneurship, Group and Organization Studies, Internationales Gewerbe Archiv, and Human Relations. His recent books include Strategic Entrepreneurial Growth (2nd ed.) by Thomson/South Western, Entrepreneurship The Way Ahead by Routledge and The Strategy of Entrepreneurship (in Chinese) by Thomson.
Welsch served as chair of the Academy of Management Entrepreneurship Division, president of the International Council for Small Business and president of the U.S. Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship. He has served on the editorial board of the Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship; the International Journal of Small Business Management, Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Change; Small Business Forum; the Journal of Small Business Management; and Family Business Review. Welsch also served on various boards of directors, and consults for both large and small firms. He also has served as principal of Devon Enterprises, a real estate investment and management firm.
His work carries him throughout the world in his efforts to promote entrepreneurship development and education. He received a doctorate in Humane Letters from Estonian-American University for his work in introducing entrepreneurship in Estonia. He was instrumental in establishing small business development centers in Poland, and served in a pilot program to establish an MBA program in Prague, Czech Republic. Welsch was awarded the Harold Washington Community Service Award for his economic development efforts in Chicago's neighborhoods, and has served as director of the Small Business Institute and on the Executive Committee of the MIT Enterprise Forum. He has served as a national judge for several prestigious entrepreneurial awards, including The Blue Chip Enterprise Initiative's Entrepreneur of the Year Award sponsored by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Connecticut Mutual Insurance Company, and KPMG's Hi-Tech Entrepreneur of the Year Award.
Welsch has received grants from the Coleman Foundation, the Booz-Allen-Hamilton Foundation, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Commonwealth Edison, the U.S. Department of Transportation, United States Information Agency (USIA) and Argonne National Laboratories.