John D. Kasarda (1945- ), Director of Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise and Kenan Distinguished Professor of Entrepreneurship

In 2004, the university received an $11 million grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to launch the Carolina Entrepreneurial Initiative, a program designed to spread entrepreneurship and foster economic development on campus and across the state. Its projects developed experiential learning opportunities for students, faculty and staff who wished to start new ventures in commercial, social, artistic or scientific areas. Professor John Kasarda of the Frank Hawkins Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise was the first director of the initiative and relied on successful entrepreneurs, many of them Carolina alumni, to serve as advisors.