Columbia Entrepreneurship is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2021 #CoachingColumbia Awards. Inspired by the incredible example of mentorship and generosity provided by our friend and former Columbia Trustee, Bill “Coach” Campbell ’62CC, ’64TC, we honor and recognize members of our startup community who give their personal time to Columbia founders in the throes of their journey.
Liz Leahy ’96BUS
#CoachingColumbia Honoree and “Pitch Coach in Residence” at the Columbia Startup Lab
Liz Leahy is an early stage investor, start-up advisor, and entrepreneur with 20 years of experience leading companies to achievement. With proven success developing digital platform solutions and building brand and marketing strategies, Liz uses her skills to harness the power of discovery, creativity, and innovation. Liz is also a champion for equality in funding. She is a CBS Women’s Circle Founder, a group that serves to celebrate and elevate female business leaders. She recently launched Purple Sage Ventures, an early-stage fund focused on underrepresented founders who are undervalued and underfunded.
Liz sits on the Board of the Columbia Business School Lang Center for Entrepreneurship and is the current Board Chair of the Georgetown University Angel Investor Network (GAIN).
Dave Lerner
#CoachingColumbia Honoree, Director of Entrepreneurship, and Mentor in Residence at the Columbia Startup Lab
Dave is a serial founder and angel investor in 125+ companies. His personal blog, explores the worlds of university entrepreneurship, angel/venture investing.
In his years with Columbia Entrepreneurship, he’s helped launch the Columbia Startup Lab, the Columbia Design Studio, Startup Law Studio, CTech, and a host of new tech programs and curricula throughout the University’s many schools. He is also an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship at Columbia Business School where he teaches the Greenhouse Accelerator Program and the Launch Your Startup class, as well as at Columbia Engineering where he teaches the Entrepreneurship Bootcamps to incoming Masters students.