N.C. A&T Appoints Johnson Director of Center of Excellence in Entrepreneurship and Innovation

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (Sept. 25, 2023) – Following a nationwide search, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State university has appointed Sean Johnson as professor and director of the Center of Excellence in Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEE&I).

As director, Johnson will oversee all responsibility for all administrative, entrepreneurial, research and development related functions in the interdisciplinary center involving faculty, staff and the university community at large.

Prior to joining N.C. A&T, Johnson served as senior project manager in the Workforce Development Center at Cincinnati State Technical & Community College since 2019. In this position, he launched and lead the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Business initiative, providing access to education, capital, and a network for entrepreneurs seeking to scale their businesses.

“I love helping other entrepreneurs be successful,” he said. “Connecting them to vital resources and providing access to practical knowledge needed to be successful is satisfying. Too many businesses start but so many don’t last. We’re trying to launch and grow businesses that will be around 10, 20, 30 years from now.”

Johnson has an extensive portfolio in workforce and business development, specifically in sales, marketing management, financial administration, training, and education administration. He holds a B.A. in banking and finance from Morehouse College, an M.M. in finance from Northwestern University and an M.A. in ministerial leadership from Wesley Seminary.

Johnson’s goal is to make CEE&I a point of transformative engagement for the entire university and community stakeholders. He will begin by developing partnerships and programming that will allow CEE&I to achieve that goal in alignment with A&T’s strategic plan, Preeminence 2030.

“We want to be the pulse of entrepreneurship and innovation for the university and for Greensboro at large,” said Johnson.

CEE&I is an interdisciplinary community advancing A&T’s entrepreneurial capacity by providing exemplary entrepreneurship education, cutting-edge research, results-oriented acceleration and incubation program and impact-driven community and corporate engagement program. It accepts students, faculty and staff across all disciplines and is open for business and collaboration.

“We are looking forward to working with anyone across academic disciplines and university departments who has a desire to be innovative,” said Johnson.