Justin Deng, Treasurer
Justin Deng joined the board of directors at LAEDA in 2021 and
is currently the chair of the Finance Committee. He found that business training for entrepreneurs seemed to be a sustainable and effective method for helping people. Since 2019, he has also been involved with LAEDA, a nonprofit in Camden, NJ that focuses on small business training and helping entrepreneurs access capital. LAEDA commissioned Justin to evaluate the feasibility of a commissary kitchen in the Camden area. This commissary kitchen, the Food Development Business Center (FDBC), would aim to provide high-quality commercial kitchen equipment and cooking space to small food entrepreneurs on a rental basis.
Justin Deng received his PhD in accounting at New York University (NYU) before becoming an Assistant Professor of Accounting at Rutgers-Camden in 2018. During his time at NYU, Justin became interested in small business development as a way to economically empower a community. He visited Haiti for the first time in 2018 with a small team to evaluate the approaches of various non-profits towards poverty alleviation.