Carl J. Schramm, Ph.D.

Carl Schramm is University Professor at Syracuse University and former president of the Ewing Kauffman Foundation, the world’s largest philanthropy dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship with a $2 billion endowment. The Economist has referred to Schramm as the “evangelist of entrepreneurship.” Recognized internationally as a leading authority on innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic growth. His research opened the field of expeditionary economics. In 2007 Schramm and then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown created Global Entrepreneurship Week, now celebrated in 140 countries.

Professor Schramm’s academic career began at Johns Hopkins where he created the nation’s first research center on healthcare costs. He has founded or cofounded five companies, including HCIA and Greenspring Advisors, a merchant bank. He has served in major corporate roles including EVP of Fortis (now Assurant) and was CEO of Fortis Healthcare. He has advised major corporations including Ford, Diebold, J&J, Apple and numerous insurance and reinsurance companies. He has served as a member of the Science Advisory Board of Mars, a trustee of the Milbank Memorial Fund, and was an advisor to the board of John Templeton Foundation. He has been a member of the Singapore Prime Minister’s Research, Innovation, and Enterprise Council. He chaired the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Measuring Innovation in the 21st Century Economic Advisory Panel. He has been a director of two public companies and several startups. He is a founding member of the Board of the International Intellectual Property Commercialization Council, a U.N. recognized NGO, headquartered in Hong Kong.

His research work is focused on entrepreneurship, innovation, and economic growth. He has authored, coauthored, or edited several books including Better Capitalism; Good Capitalism/Bad Capitalism; Inside Real Innovation; The Entrepreneurial Imperative, and Controlling Healthcare Costs.

Schramm is a Batten Fellow at the University of Virginia and has served as a visiting scientist at MIT. He is on the board of the Tusher Center for Intellectual Property at UC Berkeley. He was the inaugural Art & Carlyse Ciocca Visiting Professor in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at UC Davis in the academic years 2013 and 2014.

Professor Schramm holds a Ph.D. in economics from Wisconsin where he was a Ford Foundation Fellow and a New York State Regents Graduate Fellow. He earned his J.D. at Georgetown. He was a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow at the National Academies of Science. He holds five honorary degrees and the University of Rochester’s George Eastman Medal.