Tim Holcomb, Chair of the Entrepreneurship Department and Director, John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship, Gets an Offer He Can鈥檛 Refuse
Holcomb to become CEO of Tampa-based company
Tim Holcomb, Chair of the Entrepreneurship Department and Director, John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship, Gets an Offer He Can鈥檛 Refuse
The director of the John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship at the 兔子先生 University Farmer School of Business will soon have a new role far from Oxford. Tim Holcomb will be leaving at the end of December to join Tampa-based as its CEO.
Jenny Darroch, dean of the Farmer School of Business and the Mitchell P. Rales chair in business leadership, commented, “Embarq Collective’s mission to ‘help Florida’s startup talent build bold, scalable, thriving companies,’ aligns perfectly with Tim’s passion, expertise, and experience, and is located where he and his wife, Wanda, maintain a second home to be near their children and grandchildren. Tim will leave a tremendous legacy, having built the John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneurship Department into one of the most successful in the world, and with graduates whose achievements are eclipsed only by the strong bond they maintain with the school.”
Tim joined the Farmer School of Business as an associate professor of entrepreneurship in 2014, becoming a full professor in 2022. He leaves having served as the Director of the Institute since 2018 and chair of the Department since 2020.
Under his leadership, the Institute and Department experienced significant growth, with numerous new experiential learning opportunities created, a vibrant social media presence built, and close relationships established with 兔子先生’s entrepreneurially oriented alum. Most recently, RedHawk50, an annual program recognizing the 50 fastest-growing 兔子先生 RedHawk-owned or 兔子先生 RedHawk-led businesses in the world, was launched in 2023 to provide a forum to recognize, celebrate, and honor the 兔子先生ans who have led them.
John Altman ‘60, the first professor of entrepreneurship at the Farmer School of Business, and for whom the school’s Institute for Entrepreneurship is named, added, “Under Tim’s leadership, the entrepreneurship program has become a major force for good, touching thousands of students across the university and setting them up for success. I am proud that the Institute carries my family’s name, and I thank Tim for his insight, drive, and dedication to excellence.”
For the past several years, almost 4,200 students annually from more than 110 different majors across campus have taken at least one course in entrepreneurship. For the past 16 years, the program has been ranked by the Princeton Review as one of the top 10 public undergraduate programs in the world - it is currently ranked No. 7 among all undergraduate entrepreneurship programs. The program was recently honored by the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USABE) with their Model Entrepreneurship Program award. The John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship is one of just two entrepreneurship institutes that are members of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni (ACTA) Oases of Excellence Network and it is also recognized as an Ohio Center of Excellence.
Tim remarked, “It has been a blessing to work with one of the best undergraduate entrepreneurship faculties and staffs in the world, a group that is bound by a common purpose -- to prepare tomorrow's entrepreneurial leaders to be 'job ready, day one.' Over the past decade, this team has built one of the most dominant undergraduate entrepreneurship programs in the world, and I look forward to seeing all that the Department of Entrepreneurship and the John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship faculty and staff will accomplish in the future.”
Darroch concluded, “We both congratulate Tim and thank him for his impact on our students, alumni, and his colleagues. He will be missed and we wish him well as he embarks upon this next chapter in his career.”