Denise Lee

Before founding her most recent company as a solo entrepreneur, Denise co-founded five start-up companies whose outcomes have included the outright sale of a company to a large corporation, the sale of her interest in a company to a private buyer, business shuttering after success in order to pursue a different opportunity, and business shuttering after failure to get a product to market. Two of the businesses Denise co-founded were in the medical industry, two were in the construction industry, and one was in the education industry.

The company Denise has most recently founded, DMZLee Enterprises, is also in the education industry. DMZLee Enterprises provides educational services to a wide variety of individuals, businesses, and nonprofit organizations via the publication of textbooks and other educational materials and the development and delivery of professional webinars.

In addition to being an entrepreneur, Denise is a CPA with six years of public accounting experience.

Denise is currently a faculty member in the Department of Marketing and Entrepreneurship at Kent State University where she is involved in teaching and coaching entrepreneurship students. In 2011, Denise received the Kent State University College of Business Teaching Excellence Award. In 2014 and 2022, she was nominated for the same award.  In 2015, she received a Faculty Recognition Award from the Kent State University Teaching Council.

Denise has developed and taught a wide variety of traditional and online entrepreneurship courses at Kent State University, including Introduction to Entrepreneurship, Entrepreneurial Tools, Entrepreneurial Marketing, Entrepreneurial Finance, New Venture Creation and Entrepreneurial Experience. She is also Coordinator for Kent State University's Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Program.

As an entrepreneur, Denise has specialized in overall business strategy, business planning, process and procedure development, and overall company management. Denise has extensive experience in all phases of the administrative development and proper exit of young business ventures.  As a CPA, Denise specialized in audit, business valuation and corporate taxation.