Dr. Michael D. Ames, Chairman of the Advisory Board

Michael Ames’ mission is to advance free enterprise. He has helped people lead and become successful for over thirty years. Dr. Ames has provided in-depth counselin g to over thirteen hundred business owners. He has encouraged thousands of business school faculty, students, and entrepreneurs to develop their leadership potential, serve their community, and to become the best that they can be.

Dr. Ames’ Small Business Institute® has won 39 awards for outstanding student consulting to small business owners from the U. S. Small Business Administration, including six regional awards (top ten in the nation) in 1990, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996; and two national first place awards in 1992 and 1996. His Institute has also won sixteen Regional awards from the successor competition conducted by the Small Business Institute Directors Association (SBIDA), and ten national awards in 1996 (1st), 1997(1st), 1998(1st), 2000 (2nd) 2001(1st), 2002 (1st), 2003 (2nd), 2004 (1st), 2005 (1st), 2006 (2nd) and 2007 (1st).

Dr. Ames has received the Sargent Americanism Award of the Society of Manufacturing Engineering Education Foundation. He holds a Leavey Award for Excellence in Private Enterprise Education from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge in recognition of his Institute's innovative work with MBA students. Dr. Ames has also received a Showcase Award from the Small Business Institute Director Association recognizing his progressive and innovative Institute. In February 2000, Dr. Ames was named a fellow of SBIDA in recognition of his outstanding guidance of student field case projects.

Dr. Ames founded the multi-disciplinary entrepreneurial management program at California State University, Fullerton (CSUF) and its successor program, the College of Business and Economics Entrepreneurship Concentration. Reflecting Dr. Ames’ teaching philosophy, the concentration gives students the opportunity to study the art and science of entrepreneurial leadership, counsel small businesses, and to plan and launch their own businesses, all with expert coaching from successful entrepreneurs. Dr. Ames has been the faculty advisor for entrepreneurship students since 1989. He has been named Faculty Advisor of the Year by the national convention of the Association of Collegiate Entrepreneurs. Many of his graduates are successful business owners. More than one company owned by one of Dr. Ames' former students has earned a place on the INC. 500.

In June 2003, a CSUF team, with Dr. Ames as Principal Investigator, was awarded a grant from the U. S. Small Business Administration to lead the Small Business Development Center program in Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties. The initial grant was for six months ($800,000). The grant was renewed in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008 ($1,600,000 per year). As part of the grant, CSUF hosted the TriTech Small Business Development Center from June 2003 to December 2005. TriTech is dedicated to fast tracking the development of innovative, high-tech companies in hardware/software, telecommunications and bioscience in the three-county region. Overseen by Michael D. Ames, Tri Tech had $44,000,000 in documented economic impact during calendar years 2004 and 2005. Other centers overseen by Dr. Ames in 2004-2007 added an additional $194,000,000 in documented economic impact for the region. Dr. Ames is nationally known for his work on integrated service delivery models for economic development via private enterprise, technical development and funding. The models stress building wide networks with professional depth to provide technical, managerial, financial, and commercialization coaching to aspiring entrepreneurs and company founders.

Dr. Ames holds a Ph. D. in Business and Economics from Claremont Graduate University. He is a Full Professor of Management at California State University, Fullerton. The College of Business and Economics at CSUF is the second largest AACSB accredited business program in the nation. Dr. Ames has been the Small Business Institute Director at the College since 1978 and the founding Conrey Center for Entrepreneurship Director since 2001. Dr. Ames has published numerous works on management subjects in blind, peer-reviewed journals, including: “How Best to Form Micro-Cap Markets? Infrastructure Elements and Working Models,” “The Small Business Equity Capital Situation: An Economic Development Perspective,” “Business Incubators as Economic Development Tools: Rethinking Models Based on the Korea Experience,” “Field Case Consulting: Ten Keys for Success,” “Transforming Consultant’s Recommendations into Business Improvement: A Model and Action Agenda.” He wrote a textbook entitled Small Business Management (West Publishing Company), and with the cooperation of 127 successful chief executive officers, Pathways to Success (Thompson Publishing Co.) -- a book, workshop and related materials about what it takes to achieve leadership success in our free enterprise system.

Commenting on his career, Dr. Ames says, “As I have taught in my writings and in class, you cannot finish until you start. Give yourself permission to succeed in our free enterprise system. Step forward, set a positive example, and earn respect. Leadership is an equal opportunity employer.”