Donald M. Spero knows a thing or two about entrepreneurship. In 1971 he helped launch semiconductor equipment manufacturer Fusion Systems in Rockville, which he guided as president and CEO until forming Spero Quality Strategies in 1992, a Bethesda company that provides seed capital and mentoring for entrepreneurs. In 1997, Eaton Corp. bought Fusion Systems for $300 million.

As a post-graduate student in physics -- among his degrees is a doctorate in physics from Columbia University -- Spero started work on some of Fusion Systems' core technology at the University of Maryland. Now he has returned to College Park as director of the Dingman Center for Entrepreneurship at the university's Robert H. Smith School of Business, where he also will be named professor of practice of entrepreneurship.

"I've been an entrepreneur my whole life," Spero said.
"This is a different approach to it." Spero, 60, joined the center last month, where he succeeded Charles O. Heller, who directed the center for 10 years. Heller remains as the center's entrepreneur-in-residence, and he chairs the Inner Circle, a group of regional business leaders active in helping to guide the center. He is also the school's first professor of practice and entrepreneurship.

"Don Spero's blend of intellectual vision and real-world success meshes well with the Dingman Center's activities and its position as an outstanding focal point for entrepreneurs in the mid-Atlantic region," Howard Frank, dean of the Smith School, said in a statement. "His leadership will take the center to an even higher level of prominence."

The Dingman Center, which offers the Smith School's entrepreneurship concentration at the MBA level, conducts mentor programs and offers counseling for founders of area start-ups. In addition to academic, research and outreach programs, the center manages the Baltimore-Washington Venture Group, which in partnership with the regional Private Investors Network provides entrepreneurs opportunities to raise early stage private equity.

Spero may be able to offer the students a different kind of expertise as well. A national champion and Olympic finalist in single sculls, he's still active in rowing. He can also lead a chorus of "We're in the Money": He's been a member of the Washington, D.C., chapter of the Barbershop Quartet Society since 1977.

Before taking his new job, Spero said he had invested in eight or nine tech start-ups around the country; he will be taking on no new companies to concentrate on his duties at the Dingman Center.

So how have entrepreneurs changed since the early '70s when Spero was founding his company?

"Now they're smarter, better educated and have a lot more tools," Spero said. "There's more capital. There's a higher level of entrepreneurship. When I was doing it I was little more of a Lone Ranger."

An illustration of how mainstream entrepreneurs have become: In the fall, some students admitted to the Dingman Center's recently launched Entrepreneurship Citation Program -- which focuses on starting, managing, financing and developing new venture growth strategies -- will room together in a dormitory and have chances to create start-up businesses.