Alejandro Amezcua

Alejandro S. Amezcua, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at the IÉSEG School of Management.

He researches new venture strategy by adapting theories on organisational sponsorship and population ecology to evaluate whether new ventures that accept government support outperform their peers. He completed the first National Census of Business Incubators and their Tenants, a longitudinal database that tracks the performance of over 19,000 incubated businesses in the United States. His dissertation—Boon or Boondoggle? Business Incubation as Entrepreneurship Policy—investigated the effectiveness of incubation policy and examines which features of incubators contribute to business success. Additionally, this work earned the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Doctoral Dissertation Award. The Academy of Management Journal has published some of his findings and the national press has cited his research multiple times.

Prior to IÉSEG, Dr. Amezcua held an Assistant Professorship in Entrepreneurship at Syracuse University and researched entrepreneurship policy at the Max Planck Institute. Previously, he worked for the National Council of Nonprofit Associations as Associate Director for Communications and Outreach, where he improved public understanding of the nonprofit sector and forged stronger alliances with government, corporations, and foundations. He also worked for the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation where he supported grant-making that addressed race relations and the management capacity of the nonprofit sector.

Dr. Amezcua holds a Ph.D. and an MPA in Public Administration from the Maxwell School of Syracuse University. He is also a former Jane Addams Fellow in Philanthropy, where he studied nonprofit management and fundraising at Indiana University’s Center on Philanthropy. He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology and Comparative Studies in Race and Ethnicity from Stanford University.