Michael Conger

Michael Conger is the David F. Herche Endowed Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at the Farmer School of Business at Miami University.

His research and teaching focus on how entrepreneurial action can contribute to solving social and environmental problems and the ways in which social enterprises are changing the role of business and organizations in society.

Michael received his Ph.D. in Management and Entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado, Boulder. His dissertation work at CU focused on the emergence of social/sustainable enterprise and the Benefit Corporation in the United States. Michael’s expertise lies in the areas of hybrid organizations, social and environmental entrepreneurship, social movements and collective action, public/private partnerships, social and institutional change, identity, values, ethics, and the role of business in society.

Michael recently received the 2011 Founders’ Award from the Society for Business Ethics. He has presented his research at the Darden Entrepreneurship and Innovation Research Conference; BCERC; NYU/Stern Social Entrepreneurship Conference; SEE Conference on Sustainability, Ethics and Entrepreneurship; Society for Business Ethics, and the Academy of Management. Michael’s recent publications include articles in Patterns of Social Entrepreneurship (Edward Elgar), Constructing Green (MIT Press), and Frontiers of Entrepreneurship Research, 2012 (Babson).

Prior to entering academia, Michael worked for 12 years as a software engineer, business analyst, project manger, and director in the consulting, insurance, investment banking, medical supply, and software industries. He also co-founded two technology startups and has served on the board of several non-profit organizations.

Michael grew up in the woods and on the lakes of Northern Wisconsin and now lives in Oxford, OH with his wife, Kim and their two children, Katie and Andy.