LSU Hires New Louisiana Small Business Development Center State Director

BATON ROUGE – LSU is now the new host organization for the statewide network that provides training and technical support to small businesses and entrepreneurs throughout Louisiana. Bryan Greenwood is the new state director of the Louisiana Small Business Development Center, or LSBDC, which is a network consisting of 10 regional offices. 

“The Louisiana SBDC Network can adopt new technologies in its delivery of services to improve efficiency, be more accessible to our clients and contribute to Louisiana’s overall economic impact. This in turn can improve the lives of our small business owners and startup entrepreneurs that compete in a global marketplace,” Greenwood said.

The LSBDC is part of the new LSU Office of Innovation & Ecosystem Development, which includes the LSU Office of Innovation & Technology Commercialization and the LSU Innovation Park with more than 200 acres of land available for lease, over 80,000 leasable square feet in existing buildings, small business services and SBIR/STTR consulting services for the state of Louisiana. 

Greenwood previously was the associate state director for programming at the LSBDC and has worked with entrepreneurs and small business owners in the areas of strategic and business planning, technology commercialization, business process analysis and financial analysis and modeling for more than 10 years. He also works with entrepreneurs in accessing capital by assisting them with the development of the information needed to obtain debt or equity capital financing. He has assisted more than 200 entrepreneurs and small business owners statewide in a variety of industries and areas. 

In addition to providing business management consulting services, Greenwood has conducted training events in the areas of strategic planning, business planning, finance, marketing and business operations. He has served on the LSU Stephenson Entrepreneurship Institute faculty as an instructor, teaching MGMT 2000: Innovation and Creativity and MGMT 3111: Business Planning courses. Greenwood earned both his MBA and a B.S. in finance from LSU. 

Aside from his primary duties, Greenwood conducts an extensive amount of public speaking on behalf of the Louisiana SBDC Network. He plays an active role in supporting community endeavors, providing services and boosting awareness of what the LSBDC can offer to existing small businesses and startup entrepreneurs. He also regularly engages in community outreach and public speaking activities including lecturing in business classes, recruiting companies to take part in classroom case‐projects and organizing training events. He also  works with economic development groups to promote the startup, growth and development of small businesses and the commercialization of new products thereby creating jobs for Louisiana. 

Greenwood’s community and economic development service roles include being a current member of the Louisiana District Export Council and the Louisiana Small Business and Entrepreneurship Council, or LSBEC. 

The new state office is located at LSU Innovation Park located at 8000 Innovation Park Drive in Baton Rouge. With Greenwood’s leadership, LSU will help manage the 10 regional offices and the approximately $4.4 million annual program budget funded by the U.S. Small Business Administration, Louisiana Economic Development and the participating universities that house the regional SBDC offices.

Over the past 15 years, the LSBDC network has provided 350,000 hours of entrepreneurial counseling to more than 55,000 entrepreneurs and offered over 5,000 training workshops and seminars to more than 92,000 attendees. LSBDC has helped 630 new businesses start up in Louisiana and created more than 3,500 jobs.