Laura Hirschfeld Hollis assumed the directorship of the Gigot Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the University of Notre Dame, on July 1, 2010.

Hollis, a “double domer” who earned her bachelor’s in English and law degree from Notre Dame, has expertise in entrepreneurship and public policy, technology commercialization, economic development and general business law.

As director, Hollis is responsible for the strategic leadership, goals and action plans of the Center. This includes assessing the Center's performance in various areas, including the quality of the curriculum, family business programs, the success of the annual Notre Dame Business Plan Competitions and social entrepreneurship initiatives.

Laura Hollis most recently served at the University of Illinois as the associate director for the Academy for Entrepreneurial Leadership and clinical professor of business administration in the College of Business. As associate director, Hollis was responsible for curriculum and other program development, including a cross-campus undergraduate minor in entrepreneurship, courses, seminars and workshops for University of Illinois faculty, students and staff.  

The Champaign, Ill., native joined the University of Illinois in 2000 and has taught business law, entrepreneurship and public policy to engineering and business undergraduate students. Hollis also served as program director for the Technology Entrepreneur Center in the College of Engineering for ten years, during which time she helped build a new entrepreneurship curriculum and related programs.  She was instrumental in the creation and development of the University's i-emerging technology showcases on Illinois’ Urbana-Champaign and Chicago campuses.

Hollis has taught law at both the graduate and undergraduate levels for 20 years.  She has been a tenured associate professor of law at the University of Detroit Mercy, and a visiting professor of law at Michigan State University.  In addition to her legal publications in the Temple Law Review, Cardozo Law Review and the Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy, she was a freelance writer for The Detroit News and HOUR Detroit Magazine, and a frequent public speaker.  She also ran her own communications consulting company, Vox Angelis, LLC.

Hollis has received numerous awards for her teaching, research, community service and contributions to entrepreneurship education, including twice being selected as Professor of the Year at the University of Detroit Mercy. She is married to Jess Hollis, a musician, voiceover artist and audio engineer, and they have two children, Alistair and Celeste.