Professor Joins Whitman EEE Department To Lead CASSE Program, Further Entrepreneurial Sustainability

Paul Momtaz recently joined the Whitman faculty as a visiting associate professor in the Department of Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises (EEE). In his role, he will not only continue his research but also head the Certificate of Advanced Studies in Sustainable Enterprise (CASSE) program.

“I was eager to join the Whitman School because of the strength of its EEE program,” he says. “They are doing some extremely strong research here, and it is one of the top entrepreneurial departments in the world.”

Momtaz holds the DSS Endowed Professorship of Entrepreneurial Finance at the Technical University of Munich (TUM) School of Management in Germany. Prior to that, he was a visiting professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania and held the Endowed Chair of Private Equity at the House of Finance in Germany.

His research centers on entrepreneurial finance with a focus on sustainability and digital technologies. Momtaz’s fascination stems from his belief that there are plenty of open questions at the intersection of these topics. He notes that bringing sustainability into an idea or innovation may benefit society, but it may not always benefit the entrepreneur, which makes the novel field of entrepreneurial sustainability an intriguing one. In part, his research looks at these issues from the entrepreneur’s role in terms of finding the right balance between sustainability and profit, as well as the role of financiers and how governments might subsidize sustainable entrepreneurship to the benefit of all.

This semester, Momtaz is focusing on his research and his role as the new director of CASSE, a program offered by the Whitman School in conjunction with SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry and the Syracuse Center of Excellence in Environmental and Energy Systems. CASSE allows qualified graduate students the opportunity to complete a certificate the brings together the economic, environmental and social aspects of sustainability and their interdependence, as well as closely examine the drivers of sustainability strategy in business—technical, natural, legal, financial and social. By completing the 15-credit CASSE program, Whitman students are prepared to join multidisciplinary collaborations that lead to sustainable solutions in organizational change in the workplace.

“The ability to prepare students to work in roles as sustainability analysts is a great advantage that Whitman offers,” says Momtaz. “Even over the past two or three years, you can see a soaring interest in the mindset of students who feel compelled to bring awareness of sustainability into the workplace. This is, of course, of great interest and importance to me, as well, and I am eager to work with our students and partners to further the impact of sustainability both at the Whitman School and beyond.”

Momtaz has published his work in a number of journals, including the Strategic Management Journal, Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, the Journal of Business Venturing, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, and the Journal of Corporate Finance. His work has also been discussed by The Economist and the European Parliament. Momtaz received the Ewing Marion Kauffmann Foundation 2023 Early-Career Award for his work on sustainability entrepreneurship at the Academy of Management. He also serves as editor at Small Business Economics.

Momtaz has a Ph.D. in finance from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), and another Ph.D. and a habilitation in economics from the University of Hamburg in Germany, as well as an M. Phil. From Cambridge University in the U.K.

By Caroline K. Reff