Lindi Roelofse
T. Wayne Davis Chair in Entrepreneurship
BCS 013P
Lindi Roelofse
T. Wayne Davis Chair in Entrepreneurship
Lindi Roelofse joined UNI in 2019 after serving Wartburg College as a visiting professor and co-founder of the Entrepreneurial Wicked (Complex Interconnected Societal) Problems initiatives. She was born in South Africa near the Cape of Good Hope — a good omen for what is to come. Roelofse spent her childhood in the southern hemisphere, growing up in South American and South Africa. She’s held several strategic leadership positions and served on expert panels throughout her professional career. Roelofse has received awards in excess of $4 million in grants and processed new economic development investment in excess of $750 million.
Hobbies & Interests
Roelofse likes to celebrate optimism, passions and making a difference but also believes it’s important to carefully look at ways to de-risk ideas and plans. She enjoys keeping track of her family’s passports who were each born on a different continent and looking over her about 200 Canadian geese in her yard as well as a white fluffy Norwegian forest cat. In her spare time, she plays chess, listens to podcasts, plays piano and supports the Panthers.
Ph.D. (Management Studies) Newcastle University (UK); M.B.A. (Strategic Management) University of Iowa; B.A. (Psychology) University of Iowa
Entrepreneurial Fundamentals, Entrepreneurial Strategy, Entrepreneurship
Lindi tackles a wide range of topics faced by entrepreneurs: strategy, innovation, collaboration, but she takes them to a new level of difficulty and importance. The importance comes from Lindi's determination to tackle really hard problems, like multinational social enterprise development or solving wicked problems in complex organizations. Her current portfolio of projects brings together multiple community partners to engage successful Black entrepreneurs in the creation of relevant, effective and sustainable entrepreneurship education that expands and replicates their success.
Lindi has presented original research at several international conferences in the areas of Management and Marketing. She is also the lead author on several government research publications. She actively contributes consulting functions in new product development, re-positioning ventures, and facilitating collaborative partnerships.
She also taught undergrad, graduate and executives at several AACSB accredited universities including: University of Iowa (US-IA), Drake University (US-IA), Groningen University (NL), and Newcastle University (UK).
Lindi's students often engage in real-world, client-centered consulting projects for businesses, organizations and governments. Her students have completed work on dozens of initiatives in the Cedar Valley. Beyond the Cedar Valley of Iowa, research and consulting student projects have involved clients in Silicon Valley, Utah, Greece, Wales, Sweden, Ireland, Nepal, England, China, Taiwan, South Africa, and beyond.
Prior to Lindi’s present position, she served as a government and nonprofit executive and supported 800+ Iowa (or prospective) organizations, startup, expand and/or reorganize. Her project management responsibilities included a pipeline that built up and fluctuated around $700 million of new capital investment into the State of Iowa.
Lindi is a professional member of the Academy of Management, Strategic Management Society, and US Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship.