In just a few weeks, Weatherhead School of Management adjunct professor Michael E. Goldberg will head to Vietnam, where he’ll begin a five-month stint teaching on a Fulbright award. Goldberg will teach entrepreneurial finance at Vietnam’s National Economics University in Hanoi, where he and his family will move in January.
Goldberg has taught courses on entrepreneurial finance at Weatherhead School since 2009. He is a co-founder of the Bridge Investment Fund, which is a venture capital fund focused on investing in Israeli medical device companies that have strong synergies with Cleveland’s thriving healthcare sector. He also recently became a senior adviser to Kaiwu Capital, a China-based venture capital fund.
The U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs sponsors the Fulbright Program. Recipients of Fulbright awards are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement and for their demonstrated leadership potential in their fields. It operates in more than 155 countries.
Goldberg will lecture on expanding access to early stage capital in Vietnam and will work closely with leading Vietnamese venture capital funds and entrepreneurs to develop his courses at National Economics University (NEU). With more than 45,000 students, NEU is one of the most prestigious economics universities in Vietnam.
“There is a growing interest among companies in Cleveland and my students at Weatherhead in increasing their understanding of the market dynamics of emerging economies in Asia, such as Vietnam and China,” Goldberg said. “The Fulbright award and my new partnership with Kaiwu Capital in China will enable me to help better connect my students, portfolio companies and network in Cleveland to expanding opportunities in Asia.”
Goldberg recalled that during his first visit to Vietnam in 1998, the Southeast Asian nation was transitioning from its centrally planned economy to a market-oriented economy. His discussions with leading business administration programs and investors in Vietnam revealed great interest in the topics of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial finance.
A native of Cleveland, Goldberg earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton University, a Master of Arts in international relations from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University and a Master of Business Administration from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.