NOAH ISSERMAN PHD

Noah Isserman is a professor, strategist, and entrepreneur focused on the financing and future of social goods.  An award-winning researcher and educator, he builds systems that unearth and explore problems—and address them through entrepreneurial action. As a strategist, he works with organizations on the same questions.  Noah has worked with hundreds of startups, companies, nonprofits, and government organizations on mission and messaging—this work is generally at the board level, and has taken place on six continents.  As an entrepreneur and CEO, Noah has helped build and sell two profitable enterprises, WholeData LLC (acquired by the Upjohn Institute) and MAStorage, Inc, both of which deliberately generated social as well as commercial value.  

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Noah is faculty director of the Origin Ventures Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership at the University of Illinois, where he co-founded and directs the award-winning iVenture Accelerator and Illinois Social Innovation.  As Visiting Assistant Professor of Business Administration, he was part of the four-person design team for the $48 million Siebel Center for Design, and has served as a strategist for the $1.2 billion Discovery Partners Institute, $38 million Illinois Innovation Network, and $59 million I-ACT autonomous transportation research facility.  In 2018, he was visiting scholar at the Australian Centre for Social Impact.  Noah was formerly at the University of Cambridge, where he was a Commager Fellow and Gates Cambridge Scholar.  His PhD research at Cambridge won the Outstanding Dissertation Award from ARNOVA, the primary association for nonprofit and philanthropy research.

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He has supported entrepreneurship and changemaking from several advisory boards and expert groups, including the Council of LAUNCH (an initiative of USAID, Nike, the US State Department, and NASA), the European Venture Philanthropy Association, the founding leadership team of the Community Solutions Incubator, and ventures including Loop Health, MakerGirl, and Dyad.  His work and research has been funded by the US State Department, VentureWell, numerous foundations and firms, and many fellowships and awards.