Weinert Center Hall of Fame

The Weinert Center Hall of Fame was developed to recognize the Gold Standard for entrepreneurs.  Those inducted to the Hall of Fame include:

Aaron Kennedy

Aaron Kennedy, MBA '89, CEO and founder of the national restaurant chain, Noodles and Company, was the first inductee of the UW-Madison Entrepreneur Hall of Fame, which is an initiative of the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship. Kennedy was inducted on October 17, 2003, as part of the Weinert Center's Alumni Reunion held at the Fluno Center.

 Kennedy returned to Madison to share his entrepreneurial story of launching his firm, which currently has more than 45 company-owned restaurants nationwide, with the Center's current students and alumni. He explained how he came up with the idea for a new type of restaurant, developed a business plan on a napkin, obtained funding from his friends and relatives and launched the business. He described the lessons he learned about becoming a business owner. For example, he said that everything takes twice as along as you think it should and human resources are very important. He also talked about how to hire the right employees and keep them, choose the right location for a business and know your customers. This same list was mentioned several times during the day by Weinert Center alums, who talked about the businesses they have started since graduating from the program. Kennedy was presented with a football signed by Head Football Coach Barry Alvarez as well as student athletes Jim Sorgi and Jeff Mack.  

Kennedy serves on the Dean’s Advisory Board ~ University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Business and is a Member of the Weinert Center Advisory Board.

Carol Bartz

Carol Bartz, CEO of Autodesk, was inducted into the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship’s Entrepreneur Hall of Fame on Oct. 12, 2004.

A nationally known business leader, Bartz has led the Fortune 100 company Autodesk to extraordinary growth and success. Autodesk’s growth from $285 million in 1992, when she was named CEO, to nearly $1 billion this year has made it the world’s leading supplier of design software. Forbes Magazine calls her one of the 100 most powerful women and Autodesk is cited by Fortune Magazine as one of the nation’s 100 most desirable places to work. Bartz is a 1971 UW-Madison graduate in Computer Science.

Bartz was presented the award at a Wisconsin Innovation Network (WIN) luncheon at the Pyle Center. At the luncheon, she discussed the “marriage” of the digital world and the world of connectivity.

Robert Pricer

Bob Pricer, a longtime teacher of entrepreneurship, was honored at the eighth annual celebration of the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship in May, 2005.

 Pricer retired in 2002 after a successful career teaching entrepreneurship. Popular with students and alumni, he was selected by BusinessWeek in 1996 as one of the nation's top entrepreneurship professors and received numerous honors for his teaching and public service.

Jim Weinert

Jim Weinert was honored at the eighth celebration of the Weinert Center for Enrepreneurship in May 2005.

Jim Weinert, MBA ‘69, became a successful entrepreneur in the Minneapolis area. He encouraged the idea of teaching entrepreneurship at UW-Madison before it became a national phenomenon. He gave the School of Business support to enable students in the WAVE (Weinert Applied Ventures in Entrepreneurship) program to invest in promising business ventures and provided funds to endow the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship. Weinert remains active in the program by mentoring student entrepreneurs and serving on the board of several businesses run by former Weinert students. He is also chairman of Tri Pro in Minneapolis.

Jack Lavin

Jack Lavin wasinducted into the Weinert Center’s Hall of Fame in 2006.   In June 2003, Mr. Lavin won the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award – Illinois in the Financial Services category. Jack has over 20 years of banking and capital markets experience including international finance and derivative markets while at Citibank, Drexel Burnham Lambert, and Bankers Trust in New York, London, and Chicago. Jack earned a BBA at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a MBA from the American Graduate School of International Management (Thunderbird).

Bruce Neviaser has over 25 years experience in hotel and commercial real estate management, development and acquisition. He was the co-founder and Chairman of The Great Lakes Companies, the predecessor company to Great Wolf Resorts, Inc., the largest developer and operator of indoor waterpark resorts in the U.S. Beginning in 1994, Great Lakes developed and owned real estate with a total development cost exceeding $650 million and which included 1,100 senior housing units, 14 hotels and the first 7 waterpark resorts that formed the core portfolio for Great Wolf Resorts (NASDAQ:WOLF). WOLF was spun off and became a public company in December, 2004.

Upon completion of the IPO, Bruce served as Chairman of the Board of WOLF and also founded Continuum Investment L.P., an angel investment firm specializing in early stage investments in biotech, software, and internet related businesses that focus on utilizing proprietary products and services to enhance operating efficiencies for targeted markets. Continuum’s portfolio currently consists of fourteen companies based in the Midwest and Southern California. Bruce and his partner, Patrick Genn, who are the general partners of Continuum, serve on the Boards of all of their portfolio companies and take an active role in management.

Bruce’s approach to business has been based on recognition of opportunities, creating a strategy to capitalize on those opportunities, and then developing a team of people with the necessary skills and experience to ensure successful execution of that strategy. This approach was the basis for the growth and success of Great Lakes, which grew from 2 employees to over 2,200 by the time of the public offering, and has also been utilized in the activities of Continuum.

In addition to the various corporate Boards that he sits on, Bruce serves on the Advisory Board for Weinert Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the UW-Madison School of Business, the Dean’s Advisory Board of the UW School of Business, and is Chairman of the Development Committee for the $450 million expansion of the Paul Carbone Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Wisconsin. He also serves on the Board of the Boys and Girls Club of Dane County and participates in a variety of community activities and organizations.

	Aaron Kennedy, CEO, Noodles & Company, 2003		Jim Weinert, Owner, TriPro, Inc., 2005
	Carol Bartz, CEO, Autodesk, 2004		Robert Pricer, Professor, 2005
	Jack Lavin, President and CEO, Arrow Financial Services LLC, 2006		Bruce Neviaser, Continuum Investment Partners LLC, 2008