Keller Center - Educating Leaders for a Technology-Driven Society

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The James Wei Visiting Professor in Entrepreneurship

Made possible by the generous support of several Princeton alumni, the James Wei Visiting Professorship in Entrepreneurship is a key element of Princeton's broadening scope of entrepreneurship education at Princeton University. The Visiting Professor brings a unique and creative educational experience to the students (undergraduate and/or graduate) through classroom teaching and other projects.

The appointment is implemented either as one-semester with full support, or a full year with half-support. In the latter case, the expectation is that the other half support will be provided by the visitor's home institution.

The Keller Center is now accepting applications for the James Wei Visiting Professor in Entrepreneurship for academic years 2013-2014 and 2014-2015. Please visit this link for information on how to apply.

Current James Wei Visiting Professor


Jim Hornthal.jpgJames Hornthal '76  is the James Wei Visiting Professor in Entrepreneurship for academic year 2012-2013. In the fall 2012 semester, Jim will teach "EGR 495: Special Topics in Entrepreneurship: The Lean LaunchPad". The course provides real world, hands-on learning about what it's like to actually start a company. Taking the course will enable students to get their hands dirty talking to customers, partners, competitors, as they encounter the chaos and uncertainty of how a startup actually works. Students will work in teams and be paired with experienced mentors, learning how to turn a great idea into a great company.

Jim is a life-long entrepreneur, angel investor and venture capitalist who is also a Fellow of The Lester Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, where he co-teaches the Lean LaunchPad course for engineering, MBA and Executive MBA students. He has also co-taught the Lean LaunchPad for Berkeley-Columbia Executive MBA students.

Jim began his entrepreneurial career as a freshman at Princeton, where he started several student agencies, and eventually managed the Student Agency organization his senior year. He has been part of the founding team for five high tech companies, including Preview Travel, the first publically traded online travel service. In 2000, Preview merged with a division of The Sabre Group to form Travelocity.com, which was subsequently acquired in full by Sabre in 2002.

Jim's active angel investing activities are complemented by his role as a Venture Partner with CMEA Capital, an established venture capital firm with over $1 billion under management that invests primarily in early stage technology, energy and life science companies.

Currently, Jim is the co-founder and Chairman Triporati, Inc. and PolitEar, Inc. and serves on the Board of Directors of KIND Snacks and Via.com (Bangalore, India), and is on the Board of Trustees of the One Voice Movement.

Jim received his AB in Economics in 1976, cum laude, and his MBA from Harvard in 1978, where he was a Baker Scholar.

Former James Wei Visiting Professors

Innaugurated in 2007, this professorship is a key element of Princeton's broadening scope of entrepreneurship education in the School of Engineering and Applied Science at Princeton University. Previous holders of this professorship include: