Biography of Dr. William Osgood

In four decades, Dr. William Osgood has helped hundreds of thousands of individuals on a global scale to start, grow and succeed in business through his work as a professor, author, counselor, business consultant and professional speaker. As an entrepreneur himself, Osgood co-founded and launched the Knowledge Institute, Inc. (www.bdki.com), a philanthropic organization that specializes in economic development by creating interactive business-to-business resource communities, educational curriculum and collaborative public/private business assistance programs.

Utilizing his combined areas of expertise as president of the Knowledge Institute, Osgood has brought together for the first time, America’s public business assistance network and private sector business-to-business leaders in launching a free public service resource community tailored to the interests and needs of small and medium-sized businesses. The first of its kind, www.BUZGate.org promotes awareness, access and use of thousands of free entrepreneurial assistance programs and educates individuals regarding productivity-enhancing technologies, products and services. In 2007, BUZGate actively served over 2,000,000 small business ventures by referring them to over 20,500 local, regional and national small business assistance programs.

An internationally recognized expert in small business development by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), Osgood’s work has led to the creation of several other innovative economic development platforms including BIC-NET, a program providing subsidized business planning and management support to growing small business ventures that was adopted by the SBA's and became a national Business Information Center (BIC) network; the Workforce Knowledgement System™, a workforce profiling system adopted by the U.S. Department of Labor; the NH High Tech Council; the NH Small Business Development Center; and a unique model for venture creation.

He has written numerous books published in several languages and distributed internationally on topics dealing with managing and financing a business. This includes Panic, People & Process, A Practical Guide to Starting & Growing Your Business, the Common Sense Strategic Management Learning System™ adopted by the SBA, the Strategic Knowledge Management System™, the Business Planning Guide, and the New England Business Resource Directory. In 2007, Osgood launched a 10-Step Venture Launch curriculum in collaboration with SCORE Counselors to America’s Small Business to support veterans in business returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, and has also developed specialized management training curriculum for managers of child care centers, and internship “how to” guides for students, academia and business.

Prior entrepreneurial successes include the conception, launch and ultimate sale of an Internet-based environmental technology firm, and the successful turnaround and ultimate sale of a manufacturing company, which he grew to industry preeminence on an international scale over a ten-year period. Osgood is viewed as an expert in the development of business management models, methodologies and educational curriculum and he has received awards for innovation and economic development impact from government agencies, Fortune 500 companies and nonprofit public assistance organizations.

His small business development origins stem from beginning his career as manager of urban affairs at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston while also teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in entrepreneurship at Northeastern University, University of New Hampshire, Southern New Hampshire University, Boston University, College for Lifelong Learning, University System of New Hampshire, as well as lecturing at Babson College, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, and New Hampshire Technical College.

Education & Service

Boston University, Doctorate in Organizational Behavior, summa cum laude,

Northeastern University, Masters in Business Administration (MBA)

United States Veteran