Lynne Doti, the David and Sandra Stone Professor of Economics at Chapman University, has taught at Chapman since 1971. She became interested in the role of entrepreneurs as director of the Leatherby Center for Entrepreneurship and Ethics where she met a number of the successful business owners in Orange County, California. She was on the board of Eldorado Bank, Tustin, when it sold for a record multiple. In 2006 she helped organize Plaza Bank, Irvine, and served on its board of directors.

Lynne is the author of Banking in an Unregulated Environment and co-author with Larry Schweikart of California Bankers, Banking in the American West and American Entrepreneur. She has also written about 25 articles on banking, using history as a laboratory to test theories of branching, structure and regulation and served as the editor of Essays in Economic and Business History, an academic journal. The Economic and Business History Society elected her President twice.

Involvement in community issues resulted in her serving as chair of the Orange City Budget Committee, as a finance commissioner for the city of Anaheim and several state and national political programs.