About me
Dr. James Stapleton is a nationally recognized entrepreneurship leader. He has been a creative and tech startup founder, coach, investor, and regional entrepreneurship ecosystem developer for over 30 years, and is driven by a passion to help improve the quality of others’ lives.
James co-founded Codefi in Cape Girardeau, Missouri in 2014. Codefi’s award-winning approach centers on boosting regional economies by growing the tech entrepreneurship pipeline, filling gaps in early-stage capital, creating high-quality digital occupations, and increasing technical education and skill-building. Codefi has supported the launch of 100 tech startups that have raised $50 million in equity capital and created over 400 jobs. It has also trained over 600 adult software developers and introduced coding to 5,000 5th-8th grade students in twelve states.
Dr. Stapleton has worked for over 15 years with federal, state, and local agencies and leaders, advocating for increased focus on tech-based economic and workforce development, especially in smaller metros, cities, and rural regions. In 2022, Codefi partnered with the efactory at Missouri State University and with the support of over 100 leading companies and strategic partners, launched the Southern Missouri Innovation Network. Innovate SOMO connects a group of regional nodes and communities across the southernmost 47 counties in Missouri, to the resources and expertise needed to transform entrepreneurial support and workforce development. The founders of Innovate SOMO have raised over $20M in federal and state funding.
Dr. Stapleton earned a Ph. D. from Southern Illinois University, and an MBA and M.S. in Education from Southern New Hampshire University. He was also formerly a tenured Associate Professor in Business and founding Executive Director of the Douglas C. Green Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Southeast Missouri State University, which delivered entrepreneurship development programs across nine states in the lower Mississippi Delta region.
