Lavin Entrepreneurship Center Staff
Meet the Lavin Center Team
In order to fuel the passions and dreams of entrepreneurs, the Lavin Center provides a wide range of support staff. These members have expertise that include web design, accounting, strategic consulting, and marketing, among many other areas.
The Lavin Center staff also has a far reaching network that starts with SDSU faculty and goes to outside contributors from the likes of CEOs, senior level executives, business founders, SDSU alumni, and affiliated industry organizations. We represent and provide access to hundreds of other academic and business professionals who support the Lavin Center’s mission of entrepreneurship which is to actively inspire entrepreneurs in and outside the San Diego community.
Lavin Center Staff
Alex DeNoble
Executive Director, Lavin Center Professor
email: [email protected]
Alex F. DeNoble is a Professor of Management and Executive Director of the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center in the College of Business at San Diego State University. He currently also serves as the Chair of the College of Business Steering Committee. Prior to his role in the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center, he served for 3 years as the Chair of the Management Department in the College of Business.
His primary areas of expertise include entrepreneurship and corporate innovation, technology commercialization and strategic management. He has conducted research in these areas and has taught related classes in the University's undergraduate, graduate and executive MBA programs. He has published articles in such journals as IEEE Transactions on Management, the Journal of Business Venturing, the Journal of High Technology Management Research, the Journal of Technology Transfer, International Marketing Review, and Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice.
His other professional activities encompass both executive training and strategic consulting. Recent assignments have included business plan development consulting for new and existing entrepreneurial firms, market research and analysis for technology-based companies and entrepreneurship training for Taiwanese, German, Russian, Japanese, Mexican, Middle Eastern, Finnish, Danish and U.S. executives. Over the past several years, he has conducted training programs or consulted with such companies as Qualcomm Inc., Siemens Corporation, Delta Electronics (Taiwan), the U.S. Russia Center for Entrepreneurship, Banco Nacional de Commercio Exterior (the National Export Bank of Mexico), NEC Electronics USA, Shell Technology Ventures, and Orincon Technologies (now a part of Lockheed Martin).
Dr. DeNoble is the recipient of several awards including the 2008 Monty Award from SDSU for Outstanding Faculty Contributions, 2004 Educator of the Year award from San Diego's T-Sector Magazine; the 2001 Gloria and Edwin Appel Award from the Price-Babson Fellows program for excellence in entrepreneurship education, and the 2000 Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award (in the supporter category).
He received a B.S. in Accounting from Monmouth University in 1975, a M.S. in Accounting from Virginia Tech in 1977 and a Ph.D. in Strategic Management from Virginia Tech in 1983.
Beryl Pratts
Finance and Programs Analyst
email: [email protected]
Beryl Pratts is currently working as the Finance and Programs Analyst for the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center. She is responsible for financial forecasting, budgeting, and program evaluation, as well as streamlining and managing financials for the Center's programs.
Prior to working at the Center, Beryl worked a variety of accounting positions with Sempra Energy, San Diego Gas and Electric and Southern California Gas Companies. Beryl has worked in financial analysis with experience in financial systems. She graduated with a degree in Business Administration, Accounting major from Loyola University in New Orleans, Louisiana.
Student Staff
Sarah Ainsworth
Program Coordinator
Email: [email protected]
Sarah Ainsworth is a third year Business Management student at San Diego State University. She was born and raised in San Diego, California to a family with entrepreneurial spirit. In April 2022, Sarah was brought on as a Programs Coordinator at the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center. Sarah’s responsibilities include coordinating the LEAP program, the SEED Fund Program, SEED Fund Dinners, the L. Robert Payne Lecture Series and the California Entrepreneurship Educators Conference. At the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center, she makes it a priority to remember to plan and execute in a way which will properly attest to Leonard Lavin’s vision. Her passions include sustainability, travel, uniting people for a common goal, and climate advocacy. In her free time, Sarah enjoys going to the gym, skiing, live music and spending time in the sun.
Anna Skulteti
Executive Assistant
Email: [email protected]
Gwen Butterfield
Director of the Lavin Entrepreneur Program
Email: [email protected]
Pooja Vaidya
Web Developer & CRM
Email: [email protected]
Blake Sanders
Internship Director
Email: [email protected]
Urandari Otgonbaatar is a first year international MSA student specializing in Accounting Information Systems (AIS) at San Diego State University. She received her BBA in Accounting from Mongolia in 2018 and worked as a Fixed Asset Accountant in one of the biggest telecommunication company in Mongolia. On campus, she is serving as a Treasurer for the Beta Alpha Psi - Beta Eta Chapter in 2022.
Urandari has joined the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center Staff as an Accounting Assistant in January of 2022. For the center, she prepares the monthly financials and helps aid in the financial strategies of the center. With her accounting skills, Urandari is excited to share her experience and knowledge to the Lavin Center as well as expand her accounting skill set.
Kaleb Smith
Videographer
Email: [email protected]
Will McCaffrey
Writer
Email: [email protected]
Sylvia Paredes
Events Coordinator and Creative Supervisor
Email: [email protected]