Jerome Katz started out in a variety of jobs –  general flunky in the main family business, traveling auto parts salesman in another family business, occasional (and usually awful) musician, occasional (and almost equally awful) poker player. He turned an undergraduate internship in city government into a consulting firm, and eventually sold it for a profit, turning his sights onto the realm of entrepreneurship education. Like many entrepreneurs, he started many times. His BA from Rhodes College was his second school. His PhD took three tries (two ABDs – all but dissertated – and one time all the way through).

Today he holds an endowed chair in entrepreneurship and runs an entrepreneurship program which has made the national top-50 rankings every year since 1994, without much in the way or resources to support it. Along the way he has written several papers, a few of which have been included in compilations of “classic” research papers in entrepreneurship. He created a textbook Entrepreneurial Small Business (published by McGraw Hill) which is used in over 200 schools, and he has consulted on entrepreneurship education to the Kauffman, Coleman, Soros, and GE Foundations.