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Adjunct Faculty
Tom Mierzwa has over 18 years of
experience as a manager and consultant
to small and large businesses, federal
agencies, and state and local
governments. His work includes analyzing
opportunities for innovation in products
and operations, advising organizations
on strategies for internal venture
formation, and training programs to
enhance staff creativity. As a manager,
he recently served as Vice President,
COO for The Onyx Group, a planning and
technology company that develops systems
tools for facility management.
In his consulting life, he is a
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. Tom is also the founder of
Creative Agreements, a professional
services firm that uses a mediation
approach to fashion working agreements
among owners during business start-up
phases, and to structure alliances
during growth phases of their
businesses. He has been a mediator for
the DC Mediation Service and a
mediator/arbitrator for the DC Bar's
Attorney-Client Arbitration Board since
1990. He has served as an advisor and
business plan reviewer for the
University of Maryland’s MIPS Program
and its TAP Program. He has served as a
business mentor with the Dingman Center
for Entrepreneurship, and was a mentor
for the American Women for Economic
Development business assistance program.
As an adjunct faculty member of the
Robert H. Smith School of Business, he
has taught courses in Technology
Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and
Corporate Venturing. He has taught a
range of innovation courses for the
Gemstone Honors program on campus. At
the University of Maryland University
College Graduate School, he has taught
courses in Strategic Planning,
Innovation and Creativity, Technology
Management, Human Resources Management,
and New Venture Formation.
His doctorate from the University of
Southern California focused on
management of innovation with a
dissertation that examined how
entrepreneurial ideas are launched as
“internal agency ventures” in public
sector organizations. He also holds an
MPA in Organization Development from USC
and an MLA in Urban Design from Harvard
University. His professional
affiliations include the Academy of
Management, the International Creativity
Network, and the American Society for
Technology Innovation.
His research interests include
Mapping Innovation Processes in
entrepreneurial ventures; Individual
Creative Orientation and Opportunity
Recognition within large organizations;
and Conceptual Toolmaking – the use of
graphic models to explain theoretical
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
everyday improvements brought about by
good design, management, and
engineering.
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