Ed Leach, long known as half of the team of “Ed and Mary” at LaunchDal, has a new title. He is now Director of Education at the Centre for Entrepreneurship Education & Development.

Leach until recently was Director of the Norman Newman Centre for Entrepreneurship at Dalhousie University. In that role, he worked with his wife Mary Kilfoil to develop Dalhousie’s Starting Lean program and LaunchDal, the umbrella group for launching startups at the university.  

In joining CEED he will help to develop entrepreneurship training and best practice throughout Nova Scotia.

“Dr. Leach is an expert in the field of entrepreneurship education and his addition to the CEED team is part of repositioning our programs and services,” CEED President and CEO Craig MacMullin said in a statement. “Over the next year, CEED will be refreshing its programming and extending its reach throughout the province.  Dr. Leach’s expertise and experience in program development will be an integral part of that repositioning.”

The statement said Leach is a distinguished author of several papers on the subject of entrepreneurship and is a recognized expert in Lean Startup methodologies. He was also the driving force behind Canada’s Business Model Competition, which has attracted student entrepreneurs from across the country for five years.

CEED has been concerned with the issues of entrepreneurship education for over 20 years. It provides assistance to prospective entrepreneurs by providing assistance in business planning, training and early-stage debt financing through the Urban Seed Capital Initiative and the Self-Employment Benefits program. 

In addition, CEED offers workshops and camps for primary and secondary school students throughout the province designed to develop entrepreneurial skills and behaviors, as well as delivering the Youth Employment Skills Program on behalf of the Department of Community Services.