Jaap Donath

Assistant Executive Director of Programs

Alan B. Levan | NSU Broward Center of Innovation

Jaap Donath is Assistant Executive Director, Programs at the Alan B. Levan NSU Broward Center of Innovation at Nova Southeastern University where he oversees the Founder’s Journey programs, Ideate, Incubate, Accelerate and the Veterans Programs. Jaap has over 30 years of economic development experience, including over 25 years with the Miami-Dade Beacon Council, the official economic development partnership for Miami-Dade County, as Senior Vice President, Research & Strategic Planning. In this role he has been involved in the entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem in South Florida since the late 1990s, including as a member of the BioFlorida Southeast Chapter leadership, Life Science South Florida Executive Committee and past member of the eMerge Americas Steering Committee. He also participated in tech tradeshows such as CeBIT (was the world’s largest IT tradeshow) and MEDICA (world’s largest medical device tradeshow) both in Germany and BIO International Convention in the U.S.

He was a speaker at the 2023 Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers Annual Conference, has been a pitch competition judge and speaker on entrepreneurship and ecosystem building.

In addition, he was an Adjunct Professor at Barry University teaching “International Business” and “Business Consulting” in the MBA program and member of the Business School’s Strategic Planning Committee and taught “Research & Inquiry” in the MBA program at Johnson & Wales University. He also taught at Florida Atlantic University, Florida International University and St. Thomas University.

Jaap Donath, a native of the Netherlands, received a Ph.D. in International Business and International Relations from the University of Miami. He received a M.A. in International Relations from the same institution and a B.A. in Education for History and Dutch Language at the Christelijke Hogeschool Windesheim in the Netherlands. He is fluent in English, Dutch, and German.

He has been a speaker at national and international economic development and business conferences. He has published internationally 26 articles, book reviews, and op-ed articles and lectured and presented papers at conferences in the Netherlands, Sweden and the United States. In addition, he has been interviewed by national, regional and local media, including Time Magazine, Bloomberg News, Florida Trend, and the Miami Herald.

He has been involved in the community by being a member of the Mission United (United Way of Broward County) Advisory Council, the Alliance of Entrepreneur Resource Organization and past member of the 21st Century Schools Bond Advisory Committee (Miami-Dade County Public Schools) overseeing a multi-year, $1.2 billion capital improvement project and a member of the Miami Dade College Hialeah President Campus Advisory Committee. He was also past Chair and Board member of the North Dade Regional Chamber of Commerce, one of the largest chambers in South Florida.