Education
MBA, George Washington University
BA, University of Colorado
Biography
Georgann Jouflas received a Bachelor of Science degree in International Affairs from the University of Colorado. This program included intensive study of culture and business practices in Asia, the Middle East, Europe. In 1983, she received a Masters of Business Administration from George Washington University in Washington, DC. The area of emphasis for the program was Management, Planning, and Control covering the financial and practical side of running a business.
While obtaining her MBA, Ms. Jouflas worked in the government liaison office for a major oil conglomerate reporting on congressional and agency hearings. Upon graduating, Ms Jouflas worked for a Los Angeles software company. This company grew from “garage start-up” to the second largest value-added IBM reseller in Los Angeles. In this entrepreneurial venture, Ms. Jouflas was a Product Manager, developing a vertical market software product. She was responsible product feature implementation, beta test sites, technical support, and sales. Ms. Jouflas learned the practical side of entrepreneurship while growing up. She actively participated in the operation in her family’s sheep ranching operation and real estate management business.
In 1990, Ms Jouflas returned to western Colorado and was the owner operator of a restaurant/bakery and a restaurant/nightclub. During this time, she also was CEO of a small food manufacturing company whose products were carried by several major food distributors in Los Angeles, Chicago, and Denver.
After selling her businesses in 1996, Ms Jouflas worked for the Western Colorado Business Development Center (The Business Incubator). In this role, she helped develop a Kitchen Incubator program that assists entrepreneurs in food manufacturing in all aspects of business development. Working with the Small Business Development Center Ms. Jouflas was the Lead instructor for the Leading Edge Program, a 12-week course helping small business owners with all aspects of running a business and writing a business plan. She is also developing the Competitive Edge program, a one-year program for small businesses assisting owners in strategic planning and networking. She also consults with other small business owners helping them implement accounting software systems in their business.
Ms. Jouflas has also been a business instructor at Colorado Mesa University since 1991. Consulting and research work include:
- Listening to Business program: this program completes an in-depth interview of 100 business leaders every two years and reports the resulting perceptions identifying upcoming trends affecting the local economy;
- Planning Oversight Committee of the Grand Junction Chamber of Commerce: interviews are conducted monthly with entities going through the local planning processes. Confidential results from these interviews were used to assist local planning departments in making their processes more effective and efficient.
- The Point, a student run business. In 2013, Ms. Jouflas worked with CMU students to open The Point a student-run coffee shop and bar. She currently is the advisor for this interdisciplinary project helping students learn applied skills to manage a business.
- Program Manager for the Coleman Faculty Entrepreneurship Fellows program at CMU working with over 10 fellows from various disciplines to infuse entrepreneurship in the courses.