Mike Haynie

Mike Haynie

Every year, North Penn High School graduates somewhere between 800 and 1,000 students. Some students go onto colleges or universities, some join the United States Military, while others find success in their own personal business or full-time employment endeavors. Since graduating from North Penn High School in 1988, alumnus Mike Haynie has achieved unique, exceptional rankings in each of the above career paths.

Mike Haynie received his B.A.A.S. in Political Science in 1992 from the University of Delaware. From there, Mike served as an officer in the United States Air Force for 14 years (1992-2006). His career fields while serving in the military included operational and contracting, supply chain, acquisition and program management and logistics. During his service, Mike received his M.B.A. from the University of Oregon in 2000 and his doctoral degree in Entrepreneurship and Strategic Business Management from the University of Colorado at Boulder; Leeds College of Business in 2005.

Mike Haynie has emerged as one of the world's leading scholars on issues of entrepreneurial decision-making, competitive strategy, and entrepreneurial identity. Dr. Haynie' s research has been published in most of the world's leading entrepreneurship and business journals, and he currently serves on the editorial review boards of the Journal of Business Venturing, the Strategic Entrepreneurship Journal, the Journal of Management Studies, and the Journal of Military, Veteran and Family Health.

Dr. Haynie joined the faculty at Syracuse University in 2006, where he currently serves as the Vice Chancellor, responsible for Strategic Initiatives and Innovation. In this role, Dr. Haynie leads a broad portfolio of programs, responsibility centers, and innovation initiatives. Specifically, as the Barnes Professorship in Entrepreneurship at SU's Whitman School of Management, Dr. Haynie leads the University's robust portfolio of entrepreneurship and innovation programs. In addition, Haynie serves as the Executive Director of Syracuse University's Institute for Veterans & Military Families (IVMF), and also is responsible to expand and enhance the offerings of SU's University College - the institution's point of entry for nontraditional and continuing education students. Finally, Dr. Haynie also provides strategic leadership and executive oversight to the Syracuse University's Office of Veterans and Military Affairs, and to SU's Office of Government and Community Relations.

Shortly after joining Syracuse University, he founded the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) program - a university-based social venture designed to empower post-9/11 veterans through entrepreneurship. Since the program's inception more than 1100 veterans with disabilities have received the EBV training, and the initiative has expanded to a network of ten world-class business schools across the U.S.

The program's structure is a month-long online course, followed by a 10-day, all expenses paid program that's offered on eight campuses nationwide. Program participants are treated like true business executives. They're taken out shopping for business suits and professional attire and stay in hotels as opposed to dorms. "I want to help them change who they perceive that they are,"said Haynie. "You have to create that new vision that says,'I am an entrepreneur. I am a business owner.'"

Haynie explained that he feels an obligation to support the men and women who stepped up and volunteered to shoulder the burden of a decade at war. Nearly half of the veterans who return from war come home with disabilities, which can make it difficult to hold a traditional "9 to 5"job.

Mike Haynie believes that there's something about veterans which sets them apart, making them especially prone to succeeding in entrepreneurship. "You learn to become entrepreneurial in the context of serving in the military,"Mike said. "The boss comes up to you and says,'Here's what we need you to accomplish, it's gotta be done in two days...figure it out.'"

More than 70% of the veteran who entered Mike Haynie's program started a business within four years. Nine grads are running multimillion-dollar businesses.

Haynie later went on to launch the Institute for Veterans and Military Families (IVMF) at Syracuse University in 2011, as the nation's first interdisciplinary academic institute, focused purposefully on informing and impacting the policy, economic, wellness, and social concerns of the nation's veterans and their families.

Today IVMF training and educational programs directly impact more than 35,000 veterans and family members annually, and the IVMF is widely acknowledged as the nation's hub of academic thought leadership related to the post-service concerns of America's veterans and military-connected families.

Dr. Haynie is a sought after advisor and speaker related to business strategy, veterans' issues, and entrepreneurship. His work has been widely featured by the media, to include the ABC Evening News, MSNBC, CNN, CNBC, and Fox News, and also in the New York Times, LA Times, INC Magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Chronicle of Higher-Education, Fortune, and Entrepreneur Magazine. In 2013, Dr. Haynie's efforts to empower veterans through entrepreneurship was featured by the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes, in a story titled "Succeeding as Civilians."

Dr. Haynie currently serves as the chairman of the U.S. Secretary of Labor's Advisory Committee on Veterans' Employment, Training, and Employer Outreach, appointed to that role in 2014 by Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez. In 2015, U.S. Secretary of Veteran Affairs Bob McDonald appointed Haynie to serve as the vice chairman of the newly created MyVA Advisory Committee, chartered to provide advice to the Secretary related to the Department's efforts to set the course for long-term excellence and reform at VA. In addition, Haynie serves on the New York State Governor's Council on Returning Veterans and their Families, and as a member of the advisory committee for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting's Veterans Coming Home project.

Professor Haynie has received numerous awards for his community engagement, scholarship, and teaching. Some include the U.S. Air Force Academy's Snyder Memorial Award, the Guttag Research Fellowship, the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) Award for Research Excellence, the Michael Mescon Award for the Best Empirical Research in Entrepreneurship, and the McGraw-Hill/Irwin Award for Innovation in Entrepreneurship Pedagogy. In 2012, the editors of INC Magazine named Haynie's EBV program as one of the'10-Best' college-based entrepreneurship training programs in the United States, and Syracuse University has recognized Dr. Haynie's work with the Oberwager Prize (2007), and with Syracuse University Chancellor's Citation for Excellence in Engaging the World (2010).

An active member of the NPHS cross country and track teams, Mike Haynie believes that his time at North Penn was central to his preparation for future business endeavors as well as his role at Syracuse. He appreciates the value of attending a large, public and diverse high school. "Being able to experience growing up with so many of my classmates who came from such diverse backgrounds was instrumental in preparing me to be successful both in my military career and in higher education,"Haynie said.

Haynie's fondest memories from his time at North Penn High School include his good friends and the strong sense of feeling like he was part of a community. Although no longer a member of the North Penn community, Mike grew up with plenty of North Penn pride, as his sister, Wendy Haynie-Bealer and his mother, Pam Haynie, are both NPHS alumni as well. In fact, Pam Haynie taught in the North Penn School District for 35 years at Oak Park Elementary.

"It has been really interesting to me to see the evolution of the district since I've graduated, not only from an alumnus' perspective, but also as the son of an employee,"said Mike.

When asked what he thinks North Penn will be like in another 50 years, Mike noted that, "The educational space is changing quite a bit, more and more even at the high school level. I think we're going to see students from'nontraditional backgrounds' in the high school doing some great things and helping other to see things from a different perspective. When we look 50 years down road, I think the most significant change will be how we leverage changing technology to reach and impact students in ways we haven't even dreamed of yet."