Lina Rugova

Dr. Lina Rugova is an entrepreneurship and innovation leader, ecosystem builder, business advisor, and educator whose work focuses on building the infrastructure entrepreneurs need to grow. Across nonprofit, academic, civic, and private-sector settings, she develops programs, partnerships, and institutions that connect founders and growing companies to capital, mentorship, market access, education, and opportunity.

She is the Founder and President of Emerge and Rise, a San Antonio-based 501(c)(3) venture development organization created to expand access to entrepreneurial resources for underserved and underrepresented founders. Since its founding, Emerge and Rise has delivered more than 100 workshops, panels, and community programs, engaged more than 300 entrepreneurs and small business owners, and developed partnerships with more than 45 organizations, universities, and institutions. Its work has also expanded internationally through entrepreneurial ecosystem partnerships and cross-border initiatives connecting San Antonio with communities and organizations abroad.

Dr. Rugova also serves as Director and Chapter Co-Lead of Founder Institute San Antonio, part of the global pre-seed accelerator network, where she supports early-stage founders through company formation and venture development. She is a founding member and Operations Chair of the San Antonio Applied Innovation Council, a private-sector working group focused on connecting industry, public infrastructure, higher education, and economic development to support business expansion, market access, and applied innovation.

In the private sector, Dr. Rugova is Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Korevia Advisory Group, where she advises scaling companies and international firms on growth strategy, U.S. market entry, capital readiness, and strategic partnerships. Her broader advisory career includes work with more than 260 small and mid-sized businesses across multiple industries, building on nearly two decades of experience spanning healthcare technology, operations, management consulting, public-sector strategy, entrepreneurship, and organizational growth.

Dr. Rugova is also a full-time Faculty Instructor and AI Faculty Lead at Palo Alto College, part of the Alamo Colleges District. She teaches business management, entrepreneurship, marketing, project management, and applied consulting at the associate and bachelor’s levels. Her teaching emphasizes experiential learning, connecting students with real businesses and real organizational challenges rather than hypothetical case studies. Across teaching and mentorship, she serves more than 450 students annually.

Her work increasingly extends beyond individual ventures to the design of entrepreneurial ecosystems themselves. She develops and facilitates programs in design thinking, innovation, intrapreneurship, entrepreneurship, organizational strategy, and ecosystem building for founders, educational institutions, economic development organizations, and private-sector partners. Her international work includes cross-border ecosystem development, soft-landing initiatives, entrepreneurship curriculum development, and partnerships connecting founders and institutions across multiple countries.

Dr. Rugova earned her Doctor of Business Administration in Entrepreneurship from Walden University and holds a Master of Management in Corporate Innovation and Entrepreneurship and a Bachelor of Science in Business from Penn State University. Her professional training includes Lean Six Sigma, continuous improvement, risk and crisis management, digital strategy, artificial intelligence, design thinking, and emerging technologies.

At the center of her work is a simple idea: entrepreneurship ecosystems become stronger when access is designed into the system rather than left to chance. Her work focuses on building those systems, connecting the people inside them, and creating pathways that allow entrepreneurs, organizations, and communities to grow.