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The Goergen Entrepreneurial Management Program

Lawrence Gelburd
Independent Consultant
Lecturer, Wharton
lgelburd@wharton.upenn.edu

Courses:

Management 230: Entrepreneurship

Bio:

Lawrence Gelburd earned a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from Brown University in 1977. Two years later, he joined four other entrepreneurs to form Pittsburgh-based high-tech company American Auto-Matrix (AAM). During the next ten years, the company raised over $7 million in venture capital and employed more than 80 people. AAM developed cutting-edge microprocessor-based, networkable monitoring and control systems for environmental, process, fire and security applications in commercial and industrial facilities. AAM sold systems directly to national accounts including Abbott Laboratories and Underwriters’ Laboratories (UL), and through a domestic and international dealer network. Former competitors Barber-Colman, United Technologies and Mitsui chose to sell AAM products as their own.

While with AAM, Lawrence worked as an engineer, manager, product planner, and director of national and international accounts. He traveled extensively, selling products and training customers across the U.S., Great Britain, Singapore and Japan. He was a member of the ASHRAE special project committee which created ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 135-2001, BACnet -- A Data Communication Protocol for Building Automation and Control Networks, now approved as International Organization for Standardization ISO 16484-5 and European Committee for Standardization CEN 16484-5. In 1989, the prestigious consulting firm Frost and Sullivan hired Lawrence as a reviewer for their report on Fuzzy Logic Computing Techniques. AAM was sold in 1989.

Lawrence received his MBA from Wharton in 1991 with a concentration in Marketing. Lawrence is an independent consultant, developing business plans and strategies for a variety of low and high tech start-ups. At Penn, Lawrence is a Lecturer, teaching Management 230: Entrepreneurship and Management 406: Formation and Implementation of Entrepreneurial Ventures at the Wharton School, as well as Engineering and Applied Science 445/545: Engineering Entrepreneurship at the School of Engineering and Applied Science. He also teaches business plan development and consults for the Wharton Small Business Development Center, and teaches in the Leadership in the Business World program at Wharton. In addition, he is also an Entrepreneurial Fellow at Penn’s Weiss Technology House and is an Executive in Residence for the Science Center. Lawrence is also an accomplished record producer, working with Grammy winner Phil Nicolo.

Lawrence Gelburd is committed to consulting and teaching as rewarding opportunities to lead others towards the excitement and personal growth that entrepreneurship affords.