Meet Our Staff

Brett Smith

Founder and Executive Director of L.I.F.E., Cintas Endowed Chair of Entrepreneurship

PhD, University of Cincinnati
MBA, Georgia State University
BS, Miami University

Brett Smith is the Cintas Endowed Chair of Entrepreneurship and founding director of the Center for Social Entrepreneurship and the founding research director of Leading the Integration of Faith and Entrepreneurship (L.I.F.E.). His research interests focus on social and faith-based entrepreneurship. His research has been featured in leading academic journals including Academy of Management Journal, Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, Journal of Business Ethics, Journal of Business Venturing, Leadership Quarterly, and Long Range Planning. Smith serves as on the editorial board for the Journal of Business Venturing and as an associate editor of the Journal of Social Entrepreneurship. His newest book, tentatively titled The Five Elements of Ethical Thinking: Succeeding Without Selling Your Soul, is currently under contract with Princeton University Press and will be published in 2025.

Recent Publications:
Smith, B., Jones, J., Hymer, C., Roccapriore, A. (2024). “Does Religion Matter to Angels? Exploring the Influence of Religion in Entrepreneurial Investor Decision-Making.” Small Business Economics, 62:1337-1360.

Smith, B., Barbosa, S. (2023). “Specifying the Role of Religion in Entrepreneurial Action: A Cognitive Perspective.” Small Business Economics, 62: 1315-1336.

Smith, B., Lawson, A., Jones, J., Holcomb, T. & Minnich, A. (2022). “Trying to serve
two masters is easy, compared to three: Identity multiplicity work by Christian impact
investors.” Journal of Business Ethics, 179: 1053-1070.

Awards:
2019 Farmer School of Business Senior Faculty Award for Research Excellence
2016 Schulze Award for an outstanding teaching and education publication

Cory Driver

Managing Director of L.I.F.E.

PhD, Emory University
MDiv, Luther Seminary
MA, Ohio State University
BA and BS, Purdue University

Cory Driver works to expand the reach and deepen the impact of L.I.F.E.’s research and teaching expertise at Miami University and across the higher education ecosystem. His teaching and research focus on resource transformation between financial and spiritual capital and the intersection of religious identities. Previously, he served as an assistant bishop in the Indiana-Kentucky synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and the director of graduate studies at the Evangelical Theological Seminary in Cairo.

Recent Publications:
Forthcoming (2025). God, Gender and Family Trauma: How Re-Reading Genesis can be a Revelation. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.
(2022). “Sacrilege: Side-Hustles and Non-Living-Wage [Church] Work.” in Journal of Lutheran Ethics 22 (1), 2022.
(2021). Life Unsettled: A Scriptural Journey for Wilderness Times. Minneapolis: Fortress Press.

Tara Hoppe

Associate Director of L.I.F.E.

BS, Miami University

Tara Hoppe has over a decade of experience leading, developing, and promoting new initiatives, programs, and events at Miami University. She enjoys cultivating relationships and engaging with a variety of stakeholders. As a dynamic leader, Tara is dedicated to driving positive change.

Leah Mussari

Assistant Director, Center for L.I.F.E.

Leah Mussari is grateful to be serving as the Assistant Director, Center for L.I.F.E. In this role, she works to support curricular and co-curricular experiences at the intersection of faith and entrepreneurship in higher education. Leah brings passion and experience with creating and curating educational programming for teachers and students. She enjoys engaging with educators and students who are passionate about integrating their faith with their ventures.

BA, Miami University

Jen Bennett

Director of Teaching, Curricular and Co-Curricular Experiences

Dr. Jen Bennett is a builder of people, programs, and faith-based ventures. With over two decades of experience in education spanning youth ministry, K–12 teaching, school leadership, and higher education, she now serves as the Director of Teaching and Co-Curriculars for the Center for L.I.F.E. (Leading in the Integration of Faith and Entrepreneurship) at Miami University. In this role, Jen equips educators and institutions to integrate faith and entrepreneurship across disciplines and campuses.

She has designed and led a variety of high-impact initiatives, from pitch competitions and speaker series to entrepreneurial conferences and community-based challenges, that empower students to launch ventures rooted in faith and step confidently into their leadership. Through experiential learning opportunities and co-curricular programming, Jen helps students and educators explore how faith and entrepreneurship intersect in meaningful and practical ways.

A frequent conference speaker and national collaborator, Jen shares best practices at the intersection of faith, entrepreneurship, leadership, and influence. She is the author of #BeWorthFollowing: How to Be Different and Influence People in a Crowded Social World, host of the She Impacts Culture podcast, and founder of The Waco Gathering, a leadership experience for Christian women entrepreneurs.

Michael Conger

Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship

PhD, University of Colorado Boulder
MBA, Iowa State University
BMus, Wheaton College

Michael Conger serves as research faculty for the Center for L.I.F.E. Michael’s research and teaching focus on how entrepreneurial action can contribute to solving social and environmental problems and how social enterprises are changing the roles of businesses and organizations in society.

Recent Publications:
Vedula, Siddharth, Jeffrey G. York, Michael Conger, Elizabeth Embry. 2021. “Green to Gone? Regional Institutional Logics and Firm Survival in Moral Markets.” In Press at Organization Science
Gras, David, Michael Conger, Anna Jenkins, Michael Gras. 2020. “Wicked Problems, Reductive Tendency, and the Formation of (Non-)Opportunity Beliefs” Journal of Business Venturing, 35(3).
Jones, Jessica, Jeffrey G. York, Siddharth Vedula, Michael Conger, Michael J. Lenox. 2019. “The Collective Construction of Green Building: Industry Transition Toward Environmentally Beneficial Practices” Academy of Management Perspectives, 33(4), 425-449.

Awards:
2020 James Robeson Junior Faculty Research Excellence Award Nominee
2019 Miami University Associated Student Government Outstanding Professor Award

Jessica Jones

Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship

PhD, University of Colorado
BS, Miami University

Jessica Jones is the Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship at Miami University. Her research explores the challenges and opportunities of launching new ventures without traditional access to resources and support, with a particular focus on how entrepreneurship drives meaningful societal change. Passionate about the intersection of business and impact, she focuses on topics like social entrepreneurship and impact investing and prioritizes collaborative partnerships that can inform both research and practice.

Recent Publications:
Jones, J., & Murray, A. (2025). Contending with Perceived Legitimacy Tensions: Impact Investing in Pluralistic Institutional Environments. Journal of Management Studies.
Cottle, G. W., Jones, J., Anderson, B. S., & Hornsby, J. S. (2025). Weathering the pivot: Stability and turnover in new venture teams. Journal of Business Venturing Insights, 23, e00518.
Jones, J., Hymer, C., Roccapriore, A., & Smith, B. (2024). Does religion matter to angels? Exploring the influence of religion in entrepreneurial investor decision-making. Small Business Economics, 62(4), 1337-1360.

Nathan French

Associate Professor of Comparative Religion

PhD, Religious Studies, University of California Santa Barbara
MA, Islamic Studies, Washington University in St. Louis
BA, Centre College
Nathan French is an affiliate faculty member at the Center for L.I.F.E. and an associate professor in comparative religion at Miami University, where he is also an affiliate in international studies in the Department of Global and Intercultural Studies. His research and teaching focus on Islamic studies, Middle East studies, Islamic legal theory, and comparative approaches to law and violence.

Recent Publications:
(2020) And God Knows the Martyrs: Theodicy, Violence, and Asceticism in Jihadi-Salafism. Oxford University Press

Jeff Haanen

Strategic Consultant

MDiv, Denver Seminary
BA, Valparaiso University

Jeff Haanen is a writer and entrepreneur. He is the founder of Denver Institute for Faith & Work, a community of teachers, learners, and leaders committed to Christian faith, work, business, and community renewal. He also writes for various publications, including Christianity Today and Comment, and is the author of two books. He advises and works across a range of industries, including business, church, and higher education.
Recent Publications:
Working from the Inside Out: A Brief Guide to Inner Work That Transforms Our Outer World (Downers Grove, IVP: 2023)

“Can Faith Make Markets More Moral?” in The Morality of Markets: Arguments for the Free Market System, American Enterprise Institute, November 28, 2023, p94.

Advisory Board

Dan Owolabi

Cofounder and CEO, Branches Worldwide

Dan Owolabi is the founding executive director of Branches Worldwide, a fast-growing nonprofit dedicated to making long-term investments in high-impact Christian entrepreneurs around the world. With 20 years of experience teaching leadership, Dan is a sought-after keynote speaker and a member of the Global Leadership Summit teaching faculty. To date, Dan has worked with leaders in over 15 countries and four continents, helping them clarify their identity and leverage their influence to serve others. Dan’s latest book, Authentic Leadership, quickly became an number one release on Amazon. He holds a graduate degree from Ashland University. He focuses on American leadership and is completing a doctorate in global leadership at Fuller Theological Seminary.

M. Eric Johnson

Bruce D. Henderson Professor, Owen Graduate School of Management, Vanderbilt University

M. Eric Johnson is former dean of Vanderbilt University’s Owen Graduate School of Management and a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia’s Darden School of Business. Formerly, he was an associate dean and the Benjamin Ames Kimball Professor at Dartmouth College’sTuck School of Business in Hanover, New Hampshire. His achievements include earning the Dean’s Award for Teaching Excellence from the Owen Graduate School of Management in 1995 and 1997, winning the CIBER/POMS international case competition in 2000, and receiving the Accenture Award for an outstanding research paper in logistics in 2001. He received undergraduate and master’s degrees from Pennsylvania State University and a doctorate from Stanford University.

Angelique Johnson

Founder, MEMStim LLC

Angelique Johnson is an accomplished entrepreneur, inventor, and business coach, having raised millions. With a PhD in engineering from the University of Michigan and a ministerial license, she leverages a strategic and holistic approach to help businesses grow. Angelique is the founder and CEO of MEMStim LLC, a medical equipment manufacturer that makes implantable electrode leads providing targeted electrical stimulation to highly dense, small nerve fiber groups.

David Miller

Director, Faith & Work Initiative, Princeton University

David Miller is director of Princeton University’s Faith & Work Initiative, a senior professional specialist in ethics, and a lecturer. He also advises corporate CEOs and senior executives on ethics, values-based leadership, culture, and the role of faith at work. David lived and worked for eight years in London, where he was a partner in a private equity firm that specialized in international investment management, corporate finance, and mergers and acquisitions. After his corporate experience, he entered academia, receiving an MDiv and a PhD in ethics from Princeton Theological Seminary. He joined the Princeton University faculty in 2008 and launched the Faith & Work Initiative. Before that, he taught for five years at Yale Divinity School and Yale School of Management and was the executive director of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture.

Michaela O’Donnell

Mary and Dale Andringa Executive Director Chair, Max De Pree Center for Leadership, Fuller Theological Seminary

Michaela O’Donnell is the executive director of the Max De Pree Center for Leadership. She joined Fuller Theological Seminary’s faculty in 2021 as assistant professor of marketplace leadership. Michaela’s first book, Make Work Matter: Your Guide to Meaningful Work in a Changing World (2021), reflects her heart as an entrepreneur and practical theologian. The book is a how-to for anyone pursuing a calling in a changing world. In addition to her academic work, Michaela has more than 10 years of experience as a leader in the marketplace, principally as the owner and managing director of Long Winter Media, a vibrant creative agency that helps brands make a social impact through multimedia content.

Kenda Creasy Dean

Mary D. Synnott Professor of Youth, Church, and Culture, Princeton Theological Seminary

Kenda Creasy Dean, is an ordained United Methodist Church pastor in the Greater New Jersey Annual Conference and the Mary D. Synnott Professor of Youth, Church, and Culture at Princeton Theological Seminary. Kenda is the author of numerous books on youth, church, and culture, the best known of which include Almost Christian: What the Faith of Our Teenagers Is Telling the American Church (Oxford, 2010), Practicing Passion: Youth and the Quest for a Passionate Church (Eerdmans, 2004), and The Godbearing Life: The Art of Soul Tending for Youth Ministry with Ron Foster (Upper Room, 1998). She earned a PhD 1997. She has also written related to social entrepreneurship in her book, Innovating for Love: Joining God’s Expedition through Christian Social Innovation (Memphis: Market Square, 2022)

Strategic Advisers

Henry Kaestner

Managing Director, Sovereign’s Capital

Henry Kaestner is a cofounder and partner of Sovereign’s Capital, an investment fund that invests in the United States and Asia. Previously, he was the cofounder, CEO, and chairman of Bandwidth.com (NASDAQ:BAND). He started Republic Wireless with his best friend and business partner, David Morken. The values of Bandwidth have always been faith, family, work, and fitness. Henry is involved in a number of ministry and philanthropic activities. He cofounded Faith Driven Entrepreneur, Faith Driven Investor, and DurhamCares.

Jeff McMullen

David H. Jacobs Chair in Strategic Entrepreneurship, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University

Jeff McMullen is the David H. Jacobs Chair in Strategic Entrepreneurship and a professor of entrepreneurship at Indiana University’s Kelley School of Business. He is the editor in chief of the Journal of Business Venturing and former editor in chief of Business Horizons. Jeff earned an MBA and PhD in strategic management and entrepreneurship at the University of Colorado and a bachelor of accountancy at New Mexico State University. His research has been published in numerous premier journals. In 2018, he won the Foundational Paper Award from the Academy of Management’s Entrepreneurship Division for his paper “Entrepreneurial Action and the Role of Uncertainty in the Theory of the Entrepreneur.”

Dan and Saroya Williamson

Dan and Saroya Williamson Family Foundation

Dan and Saroya Williamson created the endowment to support the entrepreneurship department’s groundbreaking L.I.F.E. (Leading the Integration of Faith and Entrepreneurship) program. Dan is the founder and former president and CEO of Aspen Medical Products, a leader in designing, developing, and marketing upper and lower spinal orthotics.

Jim Bechtold

Chief Innovation Officer, CEO Forum

Jim Bechtold is chief innovation and impact officer of the CEO Forum. In this role, he’s responsible for leading strategic initiatives through concept, qualification, and execution. Jim just finished his role as co-Leader of the Association of National Advertisers’ #SeeHer movement. He led the movement’s strategy and co-designed the Gender Equality Measure tools to improve advertising and media return on investment by eliminating gender bias against women and girls. Jim held executive positions at P&G, where he was vice president and general manager of multiple organizations. Jim is cofounder of Crossroads Church, one of the fastest-growing and largest churches in the world (with a weekly attendance exceeding 35,000). He was co-leader of the nationally acclaimed STRIVE K-12 Educational Reform initiative (via the KnowledgeWorks Foundation). He lives in Cincinnati, Ohio, with his wife and three adult children.

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