Weinert Center
About Weinert Center
MBA Specialization in Entrepreneurship
Faculty & Staff
Students
Recruiters
Alumni
WAVE Program
Wisconsin Entrepreneurship Bootcamp (WEB)
Support the Weinert Center
Websites of Interest
Contact Us
Information about:
The School of Business
The Wisconsin MBA
MBA in Entrepreneurial Management
Students pursuing an MBA career specialization in Entrepreneurial Management develop a broad range of skills crucial for success in the field of entrepreneurship both today and in the future. Our graduates start new ventures, join professional firms providing services or funding to emerging ventures or assume leadership roles in small businesses or entrepreneurial divisions of large enterprises.
Center of Expertise
Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship
 |
Entrepreneur Magazine/Princeton Review recently ranked Wisconsin's Entrepreneurship program as #7 among Public US Universities and #1 in the Big 10. |
The hub of entrepreneurial activity at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business is the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship. The Center was established in 1986 and endowed in 1999 by James Weinert, MBA 1969, then chairman of Tri Pro of Minneapolis.
The Center also works to bring students together with researchers at UW-Madison, one of the world’s leading research universities, to explore potential commercialization of technological opportunities. UW-Madison was recently awarded a prestigious $5 million Kauffman Foundation grant to further expand entrepreneurship on campus.
As a student in Entrepreneurial Management, you will receive a strong, real-world focus on venture initiation, planning and management. The quality of the Entrepreneurial Management program is increasingly recognized. Our students, alumni and faculty have earned national attention from publications including BusinessWeek, Inc. magazine, The Financial Times and Entrepreneur magazine.
Winning Ways
Our students have won awards in a variety of national MBA student competitions, including business plan and venture capital investment competitions. These competitions opened new horizons and provided additional entrepreneurial opportunities for students who participated.
Brent Newport was one of three Weinert Center alumni who won awards at the 2006 Governor’s Business Plan Contest. Center alumni beat out more than 200 business plans to place first, second and third place, and win more than $15,000 in the prestigious competition.
Starting a New Business
The Weinert Applied Ventures in Entrepreneurship (WAVE) course is for second-year students and provides them with a year-long applied practicum in starting and growing entrepreneurial businesses. The practicum involves a weekly seminar, hands-on work with start-up businesses and interaction with local and national experts on a variety of topics important to the education of aspiring entrepreneurs. Students also use the WAVE program as a platform to launch their own ventures. The Center often awards $100,000 equity investments to promising start-ups developed by the students who have taken this course. Several successful student ventures supported by these funds or by raising their own capital have been launched from the program. A few recent companies include an on-line organic food market, a biomedical device manufacturer and an identity protection service.
Typical Job Titles of Our Recent Graduates
- Founder
- CEO
- General Manager
- Business Development
- Partner
- Consultant
The WAVE & Weinert Center Advisory Boards
The program is supported by outstanding advisory boards, consisting of venture capitalists, bankers, founders, legal professionals, scientists, consultants and others. These business leaders help give overall direction to the program and also provide extensive coaching and mentoring of students.
WAVE Advisory Board
- Joe Boucher - Neider & Boucher, S.C., Founder & Partner
- Scott Braucht - Scott Braucht Associates, Founder & President
- Laura Francis - Promega, VP and CFO
- John Komives - Lakeshore Group, Ltd., Founder
- Greg Lynch - Michael Best & Friedrich, LLP, Partner
- Mike Mathews – Ruedebusch Development & Construction
- John Neis - Venture Investors of Wisconsin, Inc., Managing Director
- Bruce Neviaser – Continuum Investment L.P., General Partner & Founder
- Dan Nichols - Anchor Bank, S.S.B., Exec. VP
- Chuck Oehler - Primorigen Biosciences LLC, Chairman and President
- Neil Peters-Michaud - Cascade Asset Management, Founder & CEO
- Paul Reckwerdt - TomoTherapy, Founder & President
- Terry Sivesind - Poseidon Probes LLC., President & Co-Founder
- Pete Zaballos - Frazier Technology Ventures, Vice President
Weinert Center Advisory Board
- Andy Albert -- Svoboda Capital Partners, Managing Director & Operating Partner
- Laurie Benson - Inacom, CEO & Founder
- Chris Hornung – Next Testing, President
- Steve Jacobson - Fairway Independent Mortgage Co., President
- Jack Lavin - Arrow Financial Services, CEO & President
- Aaron Kennedy - Noodles & Company, Founder & Past Chair
- Tom Pyle - The Pyle Group, Chairman
- Irwin Smith - Nakoma Capital Management L.L.C.
- Michael Smith – Bag Borrow or Steal, President & CEO
- Neil Thall - Aldata Solution, Inc., Former CEO
- David Walsh – Foley & Lardner, Partner
Entrepreneurship Specific Curriculum & Electives
- Entrepreneurial Management
- Entrepreneurial Growth Strategies
- Introduction to Strategic Management in the Life & Engineering Sciences
- Venture Creation
- Entrepreneurial Finance
- Technology Entrepreneurship
- Law and Entrepreneurship
- Weinert Applied Ventures in Entrepreneurship (WAVE) I & II
Students also individually tailor their program by taking other electives from across the UW campus.
Alumni Success
While a student, Neil Peters-Michaud developed a business with seed money from the WAVE Fund. Cascade Asset Management has since grown into a company with multiple locations and is a nationally recognized leader in the safe disposal of electronics, such as computers and monitors. Neil and his wife, Jessica Peters-Michaud, co-own the Madison-based firm. They announced in 2005 that they would give $20,000 annually for five years to support a graduate student in the entrepreneurship program to express appreciation for the entrepreneurial program provided by the Wisconsin MBA.
“The Weinert program gave me the opportunity to develop a detailed business plan for my venture. My instructors, classmates, the Weinert Board and alumni all provided invaluable guidance and access.”
Neil Peters-Michaud, Founder and CEO, Cascade
Asset Management
Jessica Peters-Michaud and Neil Peters-Michaud, MBA 1999 Cascade
Asset Management, Madison, Wis.
Contact
 |
Weinert Center for Dan Olszewski, Director |