Derek Hoffman

Derek Hoffman

Adjunct Professor, Entrepreneurship

120 Delaney Hall
Phone:
Email: dhoffman@unca.edu

I’m a father, husband, and entrepreneur who has called Asheville, North Carolina home for over 17 years. My professional journey has been shaped by curiosity, experimentation, and learning through experience. After college, I helped launch a fast-casual burrito restaurant and later co-founded a record label in New York City, early ventures that taught me the realities of building something from the ground up. I then gained valuable perspective within a large corporate environment before embarking on a 15-year entrepreneurial journey as a co-founder of a successful digital publishing venture that achieved a top-50 website traffic ranking in the United States. Today, I am a
limited partner at Range Ventures, where I invest in innovative, early-stage technology startups.

Community service has been a central part of my life and work. For more than a decade, I’ve mentored student-athletes through the UNC Asheville Leaders for Leaders program and currently serve on the Hanger Hall School Board of Directors. I also co- founded a nonprofit supporting families of pediatric cancer patients and served on its board for ten years. In addition, I’m a certified 200-hour yoga teacher with a deep passion for holistic well-being, personal growth, and the transformative benefits of the practice.

I hold a BA from the University of Michigan and studied abroad at the University of Melbourne in Australia. Outside of work, I love spending time with my family, cooking, watching basketball, walking my dog, enjoying live music, playing sports, and traveling the world whenever possible.