Gisèle Stolz
Current University
George Mason University
Research Area
Workforce development
Background
Gisèle Stolz is director of Entrepreneurship and Innovation Programs at Mason's Office of Innovation and Economic Development.
Previously, she was director of Entrepreneurship Programs and Business Incubators in Mason's Office of Entrepreneurship and Economic Development.
She provided experiential learning programs, both within the university to graduate students, faculty and staff who want to launch a business, and to the regional ecosystem. She also ran the network of Mason business incubators and Mason's maker space.
Before that, she was the Small Business Development Center Director at the Community Business Partnership (MEC Springfield) where she provided business counseling to small business owners. Stolz advised more than 400 clients, providing guidance on growth, financing, marketing and business efficiency.
Stolz started her career in corporate banking in Tokyo, then Hong Kong. After moving to the United Arab Emirates, she became the Business Development Director at the French Chamber of Commerce in Abu Dhabi where she helped SMEs expand their business in the UAE. She jumped into the startup world in Switzerland, first working for a high-tech start-up before joining the business accelerator at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, as the head of programming.
Alma Mater
Stolz graduated from the French Grandes Ecoles system with a degree in Finance and obtained her MBA from INSEAD.