ERROL GERSON

Curriculum Vitae –Errol Gerson:

Professional practice:

Errol Gerson is the Managing Partner at The Gerson Group Consultants, with offices in Los Angeles, London and Johannesburg, South Africa. The Gerson Group provides strategic Management consulting services to mid-size to large enterprises – specializing in strategic Financial Management planning, Strategic Tax planning, Succession Planning, Strategic Marketing and Management, Merger and Acquisition Strategies and Blue Ocean Strategy consulting.

After graduation from the University of Southern California (BS Accounting 1970, MBA Finance and Management 1972) Gerson worked in public accounting and Consulting for the first 6 years of his career. In 1978 he went out on his own and founded a Business Management and Accounting company which began with one employee, and ended up with over 80 employees in two states. He sold the company to his partners and so-founded cow, the first Interactive Design firm in the US in 1992 and subsequently sold his share to investors in 1998.

Gerson was then recruited to joining Creative Artists Agency in 1998 as Director of New Media Consulting, and was there until he was recruited to become the COO of the National Lampoon Television network which he ran for five years. Since leaving the Lampoon, he has been the Principal of the Gerson Group until today.

Educational Practice:

As an educator Errol Gerson has been teaching Business Management, Entrepreneurship and Leadership for Designers at the world-renowned Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, for the past 47 years. Errol has now taught some 6,500 students over a period of more than 141 continuous semesters at Art Center. During his tenure at Art Center, Errol Gerson has been the recipient of numerous Great Teacher awards, culminating with him being the recipient of the ‘first’ Legacy teaching Award given in 2006 for 100 semesters of teaching. Gerson teacher both The Entrepreneurial Spirit as well as Business 101, a course which was mandatory for most students for over 25 years. The course covered all aspects of operating, running and growing a ‘design based’ business, but the course content is applicable to virtually any and every small business. The advanced ‘Spirit of Entrepreneurship’ course is limited to 25 -30 students who have a desire to learn how to develop and grow an enterprise venture. Gerson also teaches a new course at Art Center called, “The Art and Practice of Leadership” which focuses on preparing designers for long-term leadership roles in their chosen field.

Errol Gerson has also guest lectured at his Alma Mater USC-Marshall, The Drucker School of Management at Claremont Graduate School, the Kelly School of Business at Indiana University, Cal-State Northridge and many other colleges and universities. He lectures on Negotiation Strategies, Blue Ocean Strategies, Sales and Marketing, Wealth Creation, and other related areas of business. He has taught professional seminars for the A.I.G.A., Advertising Photographers of America, Society of Illustrators, Industrial Design Society of America, Wedding Photographers International and others. Gerson has been widely published on a myriad of subjects related to the Business of Design, The Role of Design in Society, The basics of Entrepreneurship, Success and Motivation strategies, Goal setting and Life planning. Many of these articles can be found in LinkedIn, The Huffington Post, the AIGA quarterly, American Management Association, Journal of Social Science Review and others.

Gerson is on the Board of several local charities in Southern California, served as an officer of The USC-MBA association, The American Institute of Graphic Artists where he is the Senior Adviser) and also Mentors students each semester at the Art Center. He is a passionate golfer, avid English football (soccer fan) and is in the process of writing his first academic book entitled, ‘MOTIV8’ – the 8 Steps to keep constantly motivated. Gerson was awarded the prestigious “Fellow” award by the A.I.G.A. in 2017 recognising his decades of contribution to design education. Errol Gerson was born and raised in Johannesburg South Africa, where after high School he attended the University of the Witwatersrand studying accounting, prior to immigrating to the United States in 1966. Gerson received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Southern California (USC) in 1970, and subsequently earned an MBA at USC in 1972 majoring in Finance and Management. Mr. Gerson has also completed extensive coursework (non degree) in Management, Finance, Tax law, Psychology, Business Law, and attended the Harvard Negotiation Project

Gerson is on the Board of several local charities in Southern California, served as an officer of The USC-MBA association, The American Institute of Graphic Artists where he is the Senior Adviser) and also Mentors students each semester at the Art Center. He is a passionate golfer,avid English football (soccer fan) and is in the process of writing his first academic book entitled, ‘MOTIV8’ – the 8 Steps to keep constantly motivated. Gerson was awarded the prestigious “Fellow” award by the A.I.G.A. in 2017 recognising his decades of contribution to design education. Errol Gerson was born and raised in Johannesburg South Africa, where after high Schoolhe attended the University of the Witwatersrand studying accounting, prior to immigrating to the United States in 1966. Gerson received a Bachelor of Science in Accounting from the University of Southern California (USC) in 1970, and subsequently earned an MBA at USC in 1972 majoring in Finance and Management.Mr. Gerson has also completed extensive coursework (non degree) in Management, Finance,Tax law, Psychology, Business Law, and attended the Harvard Negotiation Project