Eric Liguori

Eric Liguori is a Professor and Associate Dean of the Jim Moran College of Entrepreneurship at Florida State University, where he also serves as Director of Research for the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship. Liguori’s expertise in entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship education is sought after by leading Fortune 100 companies and governments alike. Liguori worked with Hewlett-Packard to help launch HP’s Learning Initiative for Entrepreneurs, which to date has provided over 2.5 million courses in eight languages, to more than 1.3 million learners, spanning over 200 countries around the globe. In 2023 he served as a subject matter expert for Amazon.com, helping develop the curriculum behind Amazon’s Small Business Academy. At a global level, Liguori has worked with leading organizations and agencies including the International Labour Organization, the U.S. Department of State, the Korea Entrepreneurship Foundation, and the Saudi Ministry of Education. In 2023 he was called “a true trailblazer in entrepreneurship education” by the U.S. Consul General to Dubai. Liguori is a Past President of the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE), the largest academic organization dedicated to advancing entrepreneurship education through bold teaching, scholarship, and practice. In 2021 he was inducted as a Justin G. Longenecker Fellow, USASBE's highest honor, for his “outstanding contribution to the development, furtherance and benefit of small and medium businesses.” And, in 2023, he was named USASBE's Entrepreneurship Educator of the Year, making him one of only a select few to ever receive two of USASBE's Lifetime Achievement Awards. He is an active angel investor, primarily in CPG and e-commerce companies, with three such companies currently in his portfolio. From 2017-2024 he served on the Investment Screening Committee of RIVF, a $25M private equity fund. He’s a Cohort 14 graduate of Venture Capital University, a joint initiative of UC Berkeley, the National Venture Capital Association, and Venture Forward. He holds a PhD in entrepreneurship from the Ourso College of Business at Louisiana State University.