Tom Mierzwa is an adjunct faculty member of the Robert H. Smith School of Business at the University of Maryland , where he has taught courses in Innovation, Entrepreneurship, Growth Strategies for Emerging Companies, Corporate Venturing, and a Capstone Strategy Course. He served as a team mentor for the University's Gemstone Innovation Honors program, is a business mentor with the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship, and was a mentor for the American Women for Economic Development business assistance program. He is an advisor and business plan reviewer for the University of Maryland 's MIPS Program and its TAP Incubator Program. At the University of Maryland University College, Graduate School of Management and Technology, he has taught courses in Strategy, Technology Innovation and Creativity, Technology Management, New Venture Formation, Marketing High-Technology Products & Services, and Innovation & Sustainable Development.

Tom is the founder and Principal of The Fountainhead Group , a team of specialists who conduct innovation audits and assist corporations and government agencies in new product development and operational improvement. He is also the founder of Creative Agreements , a professional services firm that uses a mediation approach to form working agreements among business owners during start-up phases, and structure alliances during growth phases of their businesses. He has been a serial entrepreneur. In addition to his management consulting businesses, he also started a wine importing business and a facility mapping business. He recently completed four years as VP/COO of The Onyx Group, a technology company that develops software applications for master planning and management of large-scale facilities. He currently serves on Advisory Boards of several companies in the Washington DC area.

Research Interests:

His doctorate from the University of Southern California examined how entrepreneurial initiatives are launched as internal corporate ventures in public sector organizations. He holds an MLA in Urban Design from Harvard University and a BFA in Environmental Design from the University of Illinois . His research interests include: mapping innovation processes; creative orientation and opportunity recognition within large organizations; and conceptual tool-making, the use of graphic models and learning objects to explain business concepts.

His favorite sports are golf and swimming. He is very interested in all aspects of golf---as a competitive sport, as an aesthetic experience, and as a business. Although he holds no patents, he is an inventor at heart, and very interested in the practical innovative solutions brought about by good design, management, and engineering.

ENPM 808N Corporate Technology Ventures (offered Fall 2009)