About

Lee Erickson is an experienced Associate Director of Economic Development and Student Programs at Penn State University. With a passion for supporting startup teams, he connects them to the resources and tools they need to get their businesses off the ground running. Lee has worked tirelessly to build and grow a culture of entrepreneurship at Penn State, making him a valuable asset to the university. Lee's research interests lie in the strategic use of crowdsourcing by organizations to meet their goals. He has developed a framework that identifies four strategic uses of crowdsourcing, including marketing/branding, cost reduction/productivity, product/service innovation, and knowledge capture. His research links the motivation of the organization to organizational goals and desired outcomes and identifies and describes common crowdsourcing tasks associated with each strategic use. Lee's industry experience includes co-founding and serving as CEO of Erickson Barnett, a full-service marketing agency specializing in B2B technology marketing. He provided brand and identity creation, web design and development, advertising, direct marketing, marketing collateral design, and high-end presentations and demos to clients such as AT&T, LexisNexis, and NASDAQ. Lee has also held positions at Penn State University, including Chief Amplifier at Happy Valley LaunchBox, a no-cost accelerator and co-working space designed to provide local startups with the support and resources needed to build a sustainable business and a viable plan for growth. He was also the Undergraduate Studies Entrepreneurship Academic Program Coordinator, responsible for developing entrepreneurship curriculum, events, and networking activities for the College of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) students in support of the Digital Entrepreneurship & Innovation minor. Lee holds a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in Crowdsourcing and Innovation from Penn State University, a Master of Arts (M.A.) in Educational Communications and Technology from New York University, and a Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) in Elementary Education from Virginia Tech. He has relevant experience of 33.63 years and possesses skills in research, web development, and Spring.