Dr. Randy Blass

Senior lecturer, florida state university college of business

Workshop D Speaker | The Secret Sauce: Maximizing your Social Capital Network | Wednesday, June 21st

Dr. Randy Blass is a senior lecturer in the Department of Management at Florida State University’s College of Business. He also is a senior research fellow in the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) and recently served on the Small Business Administration’s Council on Underserved Communities. 

Blass is a 25-year veteran of the United States Air Force, with extensive operational experience in training and development and tactical and strategic planning. 

Blass received his bachelor’s degree in American studies from the University of South Florida, his master’s degree in administrative science from George Washington University, his master’s degree in military operational art and science from Air University and his Ph.D in business administration from Florida State University.

Workshop: In this session we will explore the importance of social capital to the success of a new enterprise as well as its importance to an existing and growing venture. Entrepreneurial social capital will be presented as an “owned” resource of external suppliers, customers, community leaders, and other entrepreneurs, and as such, perhaps the most important resource an entrepreneur controls. Participants will assess their own social capital, analyze the results, and as a group, discuss ways in which social capital can be developed, maintained, and leveraged to benefit entrepreneurial pursuits. Also discussed, will be how veterans seeking to launch entrepreneurial ventures have unique social capital challenges that stem from loss of interaction in hometown, frequent reassignments, and differences between how military and civilian social systems operate.