John Dick is the Managing Director of Velocity at the University of Waterloo, where he leads on-campus entrepreneurship programming, startup incubation, and efforts to foster the university’s innovation culture. Prior to Velocity, Dick co-founded Nicoya and served as Chief Scientific Officer, leading product development, IP strategy, R&D growth, manufacturing, fundraising, and business development through Series A. He holds a PhD in Materials from Imperial College London, as well as degrees from McGill University and Wilfrid Laurier University.

Darsel Keane is the Director of the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Auckland, where she leads programs that develop innovation capability, support ventures, and build entrepreneurial culture across the university. Keane has been part of the Centre’s development for more than 14 years, progressing from student leader to Director. Her work focuses on interdisciplinary innovation, entrepreneurship education, research translation, and inclusive participation, and she recently completed a PhD examining the impact of entrepreneurship education on entrepreneurial mindset development.

Cindy Klein Marmer is Executive Director of the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship at Babson College. During her 22 years at Babson College, she has launched and led initiatives supporting student and alumni entrepreneurs, including the Butler Launch Pad and the Fast Track coaching program. Beyond Babson, she advises and invests in early-stage ventures, volunteers to address food insecurity, and teaches and speaks on entrepreneurship topics, including customer discovery, business models, storytelling, and financial forecasting. 

Frank Rimalovski is the Executive Director of the Leslie Entrepreneurial Institute at New York University, where he leads multidisciplinary entrepreneurship programming supporting students and faculty across NYU’s schools and colleges. With more than 30 years of experience in technology as an investor and entrepreneur, Rimalovski is also Managing Director of the NYU Innovation Venture Fund. He co-authored Talking with Humans and Testing with Humans, widely used texts on customer discovery and Lean Startup methodology, and serves as an instructor for the NSF I-Corps program.

Maurice Steinhoff is the Head of Entrepreneurship at HHL Digital Space and Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurial Management at HHL Leipzig Graduate School of Management. He co-founded HHL Digital Space, which delivers incubation, acceleration, and corporate education programs, and is a co-founder and host of Stage Two, a venture competition for university spin-offs. Steinhoff’s research focuses on venture building, business model innovation, and entrepreneurial support structures, with recent work examining digital transformation and generative artificial intelligence in entrepreneurship education.

Rachel Stockey is the Head of Skills at the Entrepreneurship Institute at King’s College London, where she leads entrepreneurial skills programs for students, staff, and alumni. Stockey created the Seven Skills of an Entrepreneurial Mindset framework, which guides entrepreneurship education at King’s and beyond. A qualified coach and Mental Health First Aid Instructor, she works with founders and advocates for sustainable approaches to entrepreneurship and founder well-being. She is also a trustee of Launch It, supporting young people from low socio-economic backgrounds in pursuing entrepreneurship.

Kurt White is the Manager of Programs at the Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking at the University of Calgary, where he leads programming initiatives designed to empower founders with the skills needed at every stage of their journey. Prior to joining the Hunter Hub, White spent 10 years in the nonprofit sector, leading cross-functional teams in program development, community outreach, and strategic direction. He has also provided pro bono consulting to socially driven organizations and holds an MBA from the University of Calgary and a bachelor’s degree from Brock University.

The GCEC’s current strategy is focused on expanding its global reach, welcoming new members, and continuing to deliver value to its existing membership. A key priority is refining and developing member benefits that support the changing needs of the university entrepreneurship community and strengthen the GCEC’s role as a global network. 

"I am so pleased to have such a globally diverse cohort of new members join our board of advisors," commented Holly DeArmond, Executive Director of the GCEC. "They each bring a different perspective based on their experiences as GCEC members and leaders in our field. I will look to them for guidance as we enhance our programs and operations with a focus on growing our membership globally.”

The new board member application and selection process was led by the GCEC Governance Committee chaired by Monica Dean, former Managing Director of the Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Southern California. 

About the GCEC
The GCEC was established in 1996 to foster collaboration, communication, and the mutual pursuit of excellence among university-based entrepreneurship centers.  Initially focusing on U.S.-based centers, the GCEC (formerly the National Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers or NCEC) has also evolved to include international universities. 

The GCEC has more than 600 individual members from approximately 350 schools and colleges. It is known for its annual conference and awards program but, in recent years, has launched a virtual webinar series, a global summit, and a center leader certification program. The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship at Rice University in Houston, Texas, serves as the global headquarters of the GCEC.

Hosting a GCEC event brings entrepreneurship center directors and leaders to campus for three days of sessions, networking, and institutional showcase. Host campuses gain international visibility and align their programs with the global GCEC network.

Applicants can submit to host either 2028 event format:

• GCEC Conference: Requires facilities for 500–600 attendees and international airport access serving the network’s core regions in North America, the UK, and Western Europe.
• Global Summit: Designed for locations outside North America, focusing on regional entrepreneurship ecosystems and localized engagement.

“Hosting the 2025 GCEC conference was an incredible honor,” said Kurt White, 2025 Conference Director and Program Manager at the University of Calgary’s Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking. “Welcoming international colleagues to our campus enabled us to highlight our local ecosystem while strengthening our center’s global presence.”

Selection follows a two-step process. Institutions must first submit a letter of intent. The GCEC Board of Advisors Site Selection Committee, chaired by Hayes Ferguson of Northwestern University, will then review submissions and invite selected schools to submit full proposals. Multi-institution co-hosting proposals are accepted.

Letters of intent are due by November 2, 2026. Complete guidelines and submission requirements are available on the GCEC Hosting Page. Inquiries may be sent to marketing@globalentrepreneurshipconsortium.org.

About the GCEC

The GCEC was established in 1997 to foster collaboration, communication, and the mutual pursuit of excellence among university-based entrepreneurship centers. Initially focusing on U.S.-based centers, the GCEC (formerly the National Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers or NCEC) has also evolved to include international universities. 

The GCEC has more than 600 individual members from approximately 350 schools and colleges. It is known for its annual conference and awards program but, in recent years, has launched a virtual webinar series, a global summit, and a center leader certification program. The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship at Rice University in Houston, Texas, serves as the global headquarters of the GCEC.

Mike Hoyt (right) and Vasudev Murthy (left) connecting during the GCEC Global Summit.

At the 2024 GCEC Global Summit in Bangkok, Thailand, Mike Hoyt of Central Wyoming College met Vasudev Murthy of Rishihood University in India. Within a year, that conversation led to a cross-border partnership connecting students in Wyoming and India.

The Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) convenes educators and practitioners to exchange ideas and build partnerships. The Bangkok Summit provided the setting for Hoyt, director of the Bootstrap Collaborative at Central Wyoming College, and Murthy, executive director of the School of Entrepreneurship at Rishihood University, to meet. They connected through a shared interest in using games to teach entrepreneurship. Over the three-day summit, conversations continued, and plans began to form. Nearly a year later, those conversations led to collaboration among their students.

The institutions differ in their histories and contexts. Central Wyoming College is a community college in Riverton, Wyoming. Rishihood University in Sonipat, India, is a private institution founded in 2020 with a focus on multidisciplinary programs. The distance between the campuses is about 7,600 miles. The students they serve come from different educational backgrounds, systems, and cultures. Despite these differences, Hoyt and Murthy saw ways their work could complement one another.

A Partnership Gains Momentum

The partnership gained momentum when the University of Wyoming contacted Central Wyoming College’s president about expanding engagement in India. Because of Hoyt’s work in Southeast Asia and his connection with Murthy, he joined a Wyoming delegation traveling there in 2025. During the visit to India, Hoyt visited several institutions but prioritized a visit with Murthy at Rishihood to discuss joint programming.

Later that year, Hoyt returned to Rishihood as a visiting faculty member. He lived in a dorm, ate in the cafeteria, and delivered lectures in several formats. “What’s so intriguing about India is the scale,” Hoyt said. “There are so many people and opportunities for student entrepreneurs to pursue.”

Students now work together through several programs. These include virtual brainstorming sessions, online exchanges where students critique ideas, comparative coursework, and a joint hackathon linked to the Wyoming Business Challenge with mixed teams. Agriculture has become one area of focus. In Wyoming, agribusiness relies on large equipment. In India, many farms rely on human labor while interest in technology grows.

“There’s a natural alignment between Wyoming and our region of India around AgriTech.” said Murthy. “Mike’s initial visit to our campus helped spark those connections, and now the students are continuing those conversations and developing ideas together.” — Vasudev Murthy

The institutions are planning a virtual forum with participants from Wyoming and Sonipat, focused on agriculture, ranching, manufacturing, and policy. Students will moderate the discussions.

Looking to the Future

Future steps may include travel and exchanges. Murthy hopes to visit Wyoming, and both institutions hope that students will participate in short-term study abroad programs. “In my area of Wyoming, many students have never left the state,” Hoyt said. “Connecting online is the first step, but we want them to experience another culture and entrepreneurship ecosystem.”

Rishihood Professor, Dr. M. Chitra, will be coming to Central Wyoming Campus in April. She will be presenting at the Central Wyoming and Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CWIE) Conference, offering lectures, connecting with ecosystem partners, co-facilitating a student hackathon, and building the relationship between the two institutions. The institutions have signed a memorandum of understanding and are exploring more collaboration, including joint classroom activities, student club connections, course development and articulation, and student mobility.

The collaboration began with a conversation between two GCEC members in Bangkok. It has grown into a collaboration that connects students across countries. “Entrepreneurship is starting something new and helping it grow,” Hoyt added. “That includes giving students in Wyoming and India a platform to imagine what they might build together.”

To learn more about the GCEC Global Summit and register for this year's Summit, please visit the official event page in São Paulo .

While the annual conference has served as GCEC’s flagship event since its inception in 1997, the Global Summit is held biannually and incorporates many of the hallmarks as the annual conference, with an added emphasis on the host region and the strength of its entrepreneurial ecosystem.

First, we head south for the GCEC Global Summit, hosted by Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing (ESPM) in vibrant São Paulo, Brazil, July 23–25, 2026. 
The GCEC Global Summit theme is centered on “Building and Nurturing Entrepreneurship Ecosystems.” Designed as more than a conference, the 2026 Summit will be a living case study of how universities, entrepreneurs, and capital grow together in a high velocity market. Attendees will also experience the vibrant culture of São Paulo, Latin American’s business heart. 

Then, the GCEC will return north for the annual Conference, hosted by Florida State University in Tallahassee, Florida, in Fall 2026 (exact date coming this winter). The conference theme focuses on momentum in three key areas: The Power of Momentum in Entrepreneurship; Fostering Momentum for Tomorrow’s Innovators; and Accelerating Momentum for Impactful Change.  

Two continents. Two unique experiences. One unforgettable year of learning, networking, and innovation.

About Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing (ESPM)
Founded in 1951 and celebrating 75 years in 2026, ESPM is the Southern Hemisphere’s leading school specialized in marketing and community. ESMP bridges academia, industry, and society. With applied labs and partnerships in hubs such as Cubo Itaú, Google for Startups, and Plug and Play, the school is embedded in Sao Paulo’s innovation ecosystem. 

About Florida State University
Under the leadership of President Richard McCullough, FSU prides itself on being not just a preeminent research university, but also one of the nation’s most entrepreneurial universities. This is evidenced not just in FSU’s bold creation of the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship, the nation’s first and only freestanding college of entrepreneurship, but also in its continued investment in a multitude of other assets in support of entrepreneurship and innovation.

About the GCEC
The Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC) was established in 1997 to foster collaboration, communication, and the mutual pursuit of excellence among university-based entrepreneurship centers.  Today, the GCEC is the premier leadership organization addressing emerging topics of importance to the world’s university-based centers for entrepreneurship. The GCEC is headquartered at Rice University in Houston, TX. 

The conference, hosted by the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada, is the flagship event of the GCEC, which facilitates collaboration of global entrepreneurship center leaders with the goal of advancing, strengthening and celebrating the role universities fulfill in educating future entrepreneurs. More than 500 leaders from universities and colleges around the world participated in 100-plus breakout sessions, where entrepreneurship educators shared their expertise and showcased their programs.

At the close of the conference, 12 universities were awarded top honors in nine categories, and others were highly commended. The 2025 GCEC awardees:

Outstanding Emerging Entrepreneurship Center, schools with less than 7,500 students 
Winner: Center for Free Enterprise & Entrepreneurship at Florida Southern College  

Outstanding Emerging Entrepreneurship Center, schools with more than 7,500 students
Winner: William S. Spears Institute for Entrepreneurial Leadership at Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business

Exceptional Activities in Entrepreneurship Across Disciplines
Highly Commended 1: Centre for Enterprise and Entrepreneurship Studies at the University of Leeds

Highly Commended 2: Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the University of Auckland

Winner: Greg Arnold Center for Entrepreneurship at Stephen F. Austin State University

Outstanding Contributions to Venture Creation

Winner 1: Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at the University of Connecticut

Winner 2: Entrepreneurship Institute at King’s College London

Excellence in Specialty Entrepreneurship Education
Winner: Center for LIFE: Leading the Integration of Faith and Entrepreneurship at Miami University

Outstanding Student Engagement & Leadership 
Winner: Startup and Innovation Collaboratory powered by Blackstone LaunchPad at the University at Buffalo 

Exceptional Contributions in Entrepreneurship Research
Winner: Neeley Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Texas Christian University

Excellence in Entrepreneurship Teaching and Pedagogical Innovation
Winner 1: Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship
Winner 2: Veale Institute for Entrepreneurship at Case Western Reserve University 

The Nasdaq Center for Entrepreneurial Excellence award represents the highest honor that a university entrepreneurship center can receive: 

Nasdaq Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence:
Winner: The Price Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at UCLA Anderson School of Management 

Each year, the GCEC recognizes the host institution with an award for its leadership in organizing the annual conference:

GCEC Center of Entrepreneurial Leadership
Winner: The Hunter Hub for Entrepreneurial Thinking at the University of Calgary 

One Legacy award recognized an individual for their pioneering work advancing entrepreneurship in universities and directing a university entrepreneurship center that created a legacy impact on the field. The candidates for this award demonstrate a long-term commitment to entrepreneurship in an academic setting, achieve a standard of excellence and make a substantial impact upon students, faculty, staff, startups, and their region. 

GCEC Legacy Award 
Winner: Judi Eyles from Iowa State University

Professor Gurpreet Singh Jagpal of Aston University chairs the annual awards, with honorees chosen by a panel of peers and previous winners.

Under the leadership of executive director Holly DeArmond, who is charged with accelerating the growth and longevity of the institution, GCEC is rolling out more offerings for members. The vision is to facilitate the development of a highly qualified network and seamless global collaboration with continuous learning of best practices over the course of the year, not just condensed into one annual conference. 

“We’re continuing to strengthen and expand the GCEC portfolio to better serve our members and attract new ones,” DeArmond said. “Right now, our focus is on giving members deeper insights into the impact of university entrepreneurship centers through a new global survey. We’re also focused on expanding our global reach so we can truly be the leading consortium for higher education entrepreneurship.”

In 2026, the GCEC will offer its members two opportunities to convene. The second annual GCEC Global Summit will be held on July 23-25 at the Escola Superior de Propaganda e Marketing (ESPM) located in São Paulo, Brazil. The 30th annual GCEC Conference will be held in October 2026 at Florida State University located in Tallahassee, FL.