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Howard Haines

Associate Director, New Ventures
Howard Haines

Howard Haines is the Associate Director, New Ventures
of Virginia Tech’s Apex Center for Entrepreneurs. The Center serves students of all disciplines to help them discover their passions, to connect them to an extended support system, and to provide foundational skills to develop into entrepreneurial leaders. Howard’s own passions mirror the center and revolves around helping others find and achieve their own dreams through experiential learning and entrepreneurship so that they can improve their own lives and solve societal problems in sustainable and profitable ways.

Prior to joining Virginia Tech, Haines was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of South Dakota where he helped develop a new Innovation and Entrepreneurship major, curriculum, and cross-campus collaborations to commercialize university technologies using project-based approaches. He has also advised or been a part of hundreds of start-ups, including several of his own, as well as assisting in the development of multiple accelerator programs in both the private and academic sectors. Before discovering his passion for entrepreneurship, Haines also worked for and consulted with small to medium sized businesses, Fortune 500 companies like American Express and Amazon, and global joint ventures culminating in more than 15 years of experience in creating and delivering solutions in a variety of industries.

Haines holds a bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management from the Utah State University in Logan, Utah. He also received a Master’s of Business Administration from Brigham Young University. Additionally, Haines holds an Education Specialist degree (Ed.S.) in Learning Sciences and Instructional Technology from Utah State University where his research focused on discovering how novice entrepreneurs learn to become successful habitual entrepreneurs. He continues his research while hosting a podcast, Entrepreneurs’ Apprentice, where he interviews expert entrepreneurs about how they accomplish various cognitive tasks throughout the process of starting a new venture.