John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship Annual Report 2021-'22

CELEBRATING 15 years OF BEING RANKED top 10 BY PRINCETON REVIEW

DIRECTOR’S REMARKS

Entrepreneurship at Miami University’s Farmer School of Business: Preparing Tomorrow's Entrepreneurial Leaders To Be ‘Job Ready, Day One’

Tim R. Holcomb Ph.D. Professor and Chair of the Department of Entrepreneurship Director of the John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship Farmer School of Business Miami University

Creativity, innovation, and an entrepreneurial mindset are guiding forces in the increasingly dynamic and ever-changing environment of the 21st century. Why? Because creativity, innovation, and an entrepreneurial mindset equip society to flourish in environments that require courage, tenacity, and passion, always ready to pivot and respond to emerging challenges, dynamic change, and opportunities.

Miami University and the Farmer School of Business have developed a much-deserved reputation as having one of the top undergraduate entrepreneurship programs in the world. The Department of Entrepreneurship and the John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship are home to leading scholarly academic research in entrepreneurship that annually ranks among the Top 25 in the Global University Entrepreneurship Research Productivity Rankings. Our innovative curricular and co-curricular entrepreneurship programming was awarded the NASDAQ Center of Entrepreneurial Excellence Award as the top entrepreneurship program and institute in the world in 2020, and our world-class teacher-scholars have helped the Farmer School’s entrepreneurship program rank among the “Top 10 Public Schools for Undergraduate Entrepreneurship Studies” for fifteen consecutive years in The Princeton Review® and Entrepreneur Magazine annual survey of undergraduate entrepreneurship programs.

At the Farmer School of Business, we believe in the transformative power of learning by doing. Driven by relentless pursuit of excellence, we combine strong research and academic scholarship with immersive, practice-based experiential learning opportunities in every class and in every co-curricular program that connects students with leading entrepreneurial ecosystem builders across the nation. Distinguishing features include small class sizes and faculty with entrepreneurial experience that deliver personalized learning and an interdisciplinary focus that engages students from every undergraduate major across campus—from business, science, engineering, and technology to the humanities and the arts. Our goal is to unleash students’ entrepreneurial mindsets, ignite their imaginations about what is possible, and motivate them to innovate, create value, and elevate their impact on society.

I invite you to join us on our entrepreneurial journey as one of the top entrepreneurship programs in the world. Together, we will prepare tomorrow’s entrepreneurial leaders to be ‘job ready, day one.’

Love and Honor,

Tim R. Holcomb Ph.D.

'21-'22 ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEPARTMENT AT A GLANCE

4,510 UNDERGRADS TOOK AT LEAST ONE ENTREPRENEURSHIP COURSE

1,043 STUDENTS PARTICIPATED IN CO-CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES

$75k IN INVESTMENTS MADE BY STUDENTLED VENTURE FUNDS

145 ACTIONABLE BUSINESS MODELS DEVELOPED

$150k AWARDED IN SCHOLARSHIPS

39 STUDENT-LED STARTUPS LAUNCHED BY STUDENT-FOUNDERS

$255k CASH AND IN-KIND FUNDING AWARDED TO STUDENTLED STARTUPS

394 ANGEL INVESTORS, VCS. ACCELERATOR DIRECTORS AND MORE MENTORED STUDENTS

41 STUDENTS INTERNED AT STARTUPS, VCS, SOCIAL VENTURES, ACCELERATORS, ETC.

$70,744 AVERAGE FIRST YEAR COMPENSATION FOR ESP GRADUATES

OUR APPROACH TO ENTREPRENEURSHIP: HANDS-ON LEARNING

INTERDISCIPLINARY FOCUS

Every student in our program is also majoring in another discipline, blending students from across Miami’s academic specialties to create diversity in creative thought, strategy, decision making, and action. Through the entrepreneurship program they can earn a co-major, minor or certificate in addition to other pursuits.

IMMERSIVE, PRACTICE-BASED LEARNING

Integral to our program is the belief in learning by doing. Our students enjoy experiential learning opportunities through our many co-curricular programs that provide full immersion experiences, practicing and implementing their newly acquired skills to solve real-world problems.

ECOSYSTEM

Our classes and co-curricular programs all integrate entrepreneurial ecosystem partners where students receive mentorship, advice, and coaching from some of the best. Professionals such as angel investors, venture capitalists, founders, social entrepreneurs, corporate innovators and more provided guidance from over 394 different organizations in the ’21-’22

“We don’t just teach the students about entrepreneurship, we teach them to do entrepreneurship.”

— Tim R. Holcomb, Director

HOW WE DO IT

ENTREPRENEUR IN RESIDENCE

ENTREPRENEURSHIP CO-MAJOR

ENTREPRENEURSHIP CERTIFICATE

REDHAWK VENTURE PITCH

ENTREPRENEURSHIP MINOR

ALTMAN SUMMER SCHOLAR INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

ALTMAN SUMMER SCHOLAR INTERNSHIP PROGRAM

This program provides an immersive, practice-based learning experience for students in startups and high-growth companies. Prior to embarking on their internship, students take a spring semester course, preparing them with soft and hard skills to ensure they get the most out of their experience. With opportunities to work on high-impact projects within host organizations, students also enjoy coaching from entrepreneurship faculty throughout the summer, and wrap up their experience with a portfolio of projects at the end.

400+ interns

PLACED SINCE THE PROGRAM STARTED OVER 95% SATISFACTION RATE FROM PARTNER COMPANIES AND STUDENTS

40 students

INTERNS AT COMPANIES INCLUDING:

LOCATIONS FROM CINCINNATI TO LA; CHICAGO TO PERU

67% WERE ASKED TO CONTINUE EMPLOYMENT DURING THE ACADEMIC YEAR; 40% OF THEM WERE EXTENDED A FULLTIME POSITION

"Sam has been amazing! Culture wise, he is a 10/10. He’s fit in perfectly here! Sam is one who can take any task or something he has never done before and really exceed expectations. He is always willing to go the extra mile on everything. One thing I really enjoy about him is his mindset. He wants to learn, he wants to grow, and he wants to get things done!"

Anthony Integrity Power Search

"An important customer of ours requested last minute support in Pittsburgh. We received the request Tuesday afternoon that they wanted support Wednesday morning. I was getting ready to cancel my Wednesday meetings when Abby stepped in and said that she would make the trip to Pittsburgh. She drove to Pittsburgh from Columbus late Tuesday night and met the customer at their facility at 5:30am. The customer was blown away by the support Abby provided."

Jeff Soundtrace

"We had a need to develop a pricing representation for an existing client. Abbey took the core information, developed a presentation template that consolidated several strings of information into one easy to understand packet. This sounds simple, but the information, and how it translates is not, and she was able to complete this with little direction. She controlled the internal review process, including the necessary key stakeholders, and drove the project to completion. We are now implementing that same model for future applications, which are very frequent."

Marc Heritage Exposition Services

REDHAWK VENTURES

Established in 1997 with financial support from Procter & Gamble, RedHawk Ventures was one of the first student-led seed stage venture capital funds in the U.S. Today, RedHawk Ventures stands as one of the few venture capital funds in the nation that is entirely run by undergraduate students and provides these students with the opportunity to invest in Miami University student or alumni-led startups, exposing them to the complexities of venture capital investing.

Fund members come from diverse backgrounds and majors but all share one common goal: maximize the value of every startup that enters the investment pipeline while empowering a fluid entrepreneurial ecosystem at Miami University. Through capital

investments, consulting projects and hands-on collaboration with founders, the RedHawk Ventures team works to achieve these goals.

RedHawk Ventures maintains a hands-on relationship with our various portfolio companies by leveraging our student talent, resources, and professional network. In the 2021-22 academic year $25,000 was invested in Plane Ahead and they focused on raising $1.5 million for their second round of funding.

RedHawk Venture Pitch Competition

Held bi-annually at the end of the Fall and Spring semesters, the $100,000 RedHawk Venture Pitch Competition provides studentfounders completing our RedHawk Launch Accelerator Program as well as our Startup Launch and Technology Commercialization courses an opportunity to pitch startups to angel investors, venture capitalists, and accelerator directors in a Demo Day-style format.

REDHAWK

30 WORK-READY FUND MEMBERS

3.78

FUND AVERAGE GPA

VENTURES IS 1 of 10 STUDENT-LED VC FUNDS AT UNDERGRADUATE INSTITUTIONS

REDHAWK LAUNCH ACCELERATOR

The Institute's seed-stage startup accelerator for Miami University student-led startups with high growth potential.

Based in the Cincinnati Startup Ecosystem, programming takes place in the spring out of Union Hall in Over-the-Rhine and COhatch in Hyde Park, led by faculty Daniel Jones and Mark Lacker. Our 7th cohort included the following six startups: Bloxsmith, Step up Social, AutoHive, emilyOandbows, Virra, and Space Foundry. Previous graduates have garnered more than $45 million in follow on funding since 2015.

Participating startups receive:

• one-on-one mentoring from Miami’s pool of more than 700 startup and business professionals across the U.S.

• a $750 grant to fund operations and customer acquisition.

• the opportunity to make at least one investor pitch to more than 100 accelerator directors, angel investors and VCs from 20-plus states during the Altman Institute’s RedHawk Venture pitch competition.

WORLD CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION WEEK

World Creativity and Innovation Week (WCIW) strives to make the world a better place through creativity. Headquartered here at Miami University, the organization works across 127 countries which host a collective 500+ celebrations. Here, the students annually host “Creativity City”, a celebration that hopes to unite all academic disciplines from artists and biologists to computer engineers and accountants. WCIW is constantly striving to include more nations, businesses, and disciplines across the world to spread their creative fire.

IN 2022

Everything from workshops to exhibits, from hack-a-thons to cook-a-thons, creativity and innovation was happening everywhere.

65.13% OF ALL THE WORLD'S COUNTRIES PARTICIPATED

522 INDIVIDUAL CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION EVENTS AND CELEBRATIONS WERE REGISTERED ON WCIW.ORG

Creativity and Innovation can and should span all sciences and academic disciplines. Our Headquarters celebration at Miami University worked to connect these students outside of the classroom in a fun and educational way. Our students promote and practice creativity and innovation on our headquarters campus through the 4th annual ‘Creativity City’. The celebration brought together engineering and education majors, artists and biologists; computer scientists with creative writers; business majors with liberal arts majors, and many more.

Dr. Jim Friedman, the WCIW Chief Steward appeared, participated, or contributed to more than 20 international creativity festivals, panels, and collaborative calls to action this year.

With more than 520 celebrations in 127 countries across the globe, we had lots of unique expressions of creativity.

MIAMI UNIVERSITY CENTER FOR CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION

MUCCI is dedicated to creating an exciting and inclusive environment where students from all majors and campuses can spark their creativity, take on early opportunities to grow professionally, and build a network of relationships that will support them beyond their years at Miami.

Throughout 2021-22 MUCCI was able to unite all five colleges on campus through a creative celebration, engaging a third of the campus in the on-campus celebration of Creativity City and engaged 40 different student organizations to plan creative celebrations. Internationally, there were connections made with 127 different countries, face-toface Zoom conversations from all seven continents, and multiple hosting opportunities for guests from Africa to campus.

SOCIAL INNOVATION WEEKEND

Miami Entrepreneurship’s Social Innovation Weekend is a 48-hourlong, intensive, experiential workshop. Students form teams and work with key public and private stakeholder organizations at the state, county, and local city-level to ideate, test, develop, and pitch plans for companies, projects, or initiatives to address a pressing social or environmental problem. SIW 2022 focused on Mental Health and Resilience. Throughout the weekend, students engaged with over 100 mentors, and 25 student teams pitched their ideas to a panel of industry experts.

Participating organizations include:

Student Organizer

Majors: Social Work and Entrepreneurship

Amber Peskin ’23

“Social Innovation Weekend gave me the chance to organize the magic that completely changed the trajectory of my career. I hope it has that same affect on other students. There’s a whole lot of good here.”

Will Landman ’23

Participant

Major: Engineering Management

“It’s important to always be looking for a ways to come up with creative solutions to important issues. Being an engineering major, a lot of my courses pertain to technical problems and not broader social impact. SIW frames everything in terms of broad, important issues that we can all contribute to.”

Keshon Woods ’24

Participant

Major: Human Capital Management and Leadership

“Being a minority, the impacts that such things as climate change or any social issue create, I see firsthand. It happens to me and people that I know all the time. Seeing what people are considering or what I can come up is very important to me as it will effect me and my community.”

Anastasija Mladenovska ’25

Participant

Majors: Political Science, Russian Studies (REES), Philosophy, French

“A friend of mine participated a few years ago and even switched his major after it, so I wanted to check what it was all about. I want to take advantage of all the opportunities available at Miami, and this was definitely one of them after hearing about everyone’s amazing experiences.”

ADVANCING WOMEN IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Advancing Women in Entrepreneurship (AWE), a female-founded and female-led student organization, teaches women entrepreneurs how to say "yes" in the most daunting situations. As a member of the organization, students have the opportunity to hear from female founders about the challenges they have faced, learn how to combat common issues women face in the workplace, and gain a support system on Miami’s campus.

35 new members

JOINED IN THE ’21-’22 SCHOOL YEAR

RAISED MONEY FOR SWEET CHEEKS , A LOCAL NONPROFIT FOUNDED

BY A MIAMI GRAD

HOSTED

2 POP-UP SHOPS

FEATURING

20+ FEMALE-OWNED LOCAL BUSINESSES

HOSTED 9 speakers

INCLUDING MULTIPLE FEMALE MIAMI ALUMNI ENTREPRENEURS

STARTUP WEEKEND

Techstars Startup Weekend™ is a weekendlong competitive experience where aspiring entrepreneurs, designers, creative thinkers, and engineers come together to produce a viable startup business model. During this 48-hour experience, teams and their ideas are judged by ecosystem professionals and given real world feedback to pursue their startups further.

Taylor Botshon '26

Major: Marketing and Entrepreneurship

"I loved being in an environment where any idea is possible. Also being able to talk to the mentors who have real word experience gave me confidence that I can also achieve a goal

Harry Makee '23

Major: Marketing, Entrepreneurship certificate

"This was my second time participating in SUW and again was amazed by the students and faculty who helped create such a memorable experience. It blows my mind to see how many people have business aspirations and are willing to work that hard to really put together something feasible in 48 hours."

In 2021, 148 students registered and 72 different professionals, mentors, and judges all participated in the competition.

STUDENT ENTREPRENEURS

Abigail Bartlett ’23

Finance, Accounting and Entrepreneurship

Incoming Investment Banking Analyst at Goldman Sachs

Cincy Inno 5 Under 25

Managing Director of Redhawk Ventures

Andre

Farinzo Jr. ’23

Marketing and Entrepreneurship

Co-Founder of Virra

One of Denver’s Top 50 Music Startups to watch, 2022

Emil Barr ’24

Business Economics

Main St. Ventures, Launch It Cincy competition

’21 winner

Founder of Step Up Social

Step Up Social is the world’s largest college-student-run marketing agency. Specializing in social media growth using short-form videos on TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook. Their clients include Fortune 500 companies and they achieved $1 million in revenue this year, and closed a $40,000 angel round in March 2022.

Virra markets a technology platform and services specializing in the creator economy to help artists/musicians/entertainers not only connect with fans and music curators but also monetize their connection with fans and music curators. Since its launch in 2017, the company has helped over 6,000 artists find new audiences, connect with superfans, and sell using our custom merch campaigns and concert ticket funnels. As a result, its clients have landed 3+ million followers on Instagram, produced 15+ million streams on Spotify, and generated 150+ million views on YouTube.

Blake Faulkner ’23 Finance, Entrepreneurship, and Anthropology

Cincy Inno 5 under 25

Founder of Bloxsmith

Bloxsmith empowers developers through their marketplace with the technology and community to sell their creations cross-metaverse for interoperable use in building games. The young company has accumulated a growing list of regional and national awards and accolades, since its founding including:

• D raperU’s Demo Day: beat 59 other startups live from 24 countries to place 1st.

• Stonks: 2min pitch, raised over $625k in investor interest, 525% oversubscribed on the allotted allocation on the platform.

• Rough Draft x General Catalyst Spring 2022: Won the NYC region winning a $25k investment.

• Global Student Entrepreneur Awards (GSEA) Nationals: semi-finalist

• Redhawk Venture Pitch Comp: won 1st receiving $5k in grants.

Mason Williams ’23 Computer Science, Entrepreneurship Minor

Founder of Space Foundry

Space Foundry is a player-to-player online trading platform that specializes in in-game assets for the video game Star Citizen. Since its founding in January 2020, it has provided value for thousands of customers in over 60 countries and has experienced impressive growth, with a six-figure annual GMV from year one and an average annual GMV growth of 115%. The platform built a loyal customer base throughout the years and was a main sponsor for the largest Star Citizen event in January 2022, called the Daymar Rally. Space Foundry was later acquired in December 2022.

VENTURE CAPITAL IMMERSION PROGRAM

The Miami University Venture Capital Immersion program takes a practice-based, immersive approach to educating students about venture capital and early-stage investments. Each year, faculty nominate students to participate in the Venture Capital Immersion program, and nominees are screened by Entrepreneurship faculty for admission into the program. Students from all disciplines have participated since the program was launched in 2017. VCIC participants complete team-based work assignments and valuation and investment decision practice rounds with real Midwest seed and early-stage companies. This immersive approach requires students to vet each company and its founding team, assess the company’s addressable market and customer acquisition assumptions, and complete valuation and deal assessments as part of the investment decision.

Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC)

Those chosen to participate in the program are eligible to compete in the Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC), an invitationonly, international competition with student venture teams from more than 70 elite business schools around the world.

Miami University student venture teams have finished in the Global Top 3 in four of the first seven years of competition, and have won their regional finals six years in a row.

SOCIAL IMPACT FUND

The John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship’s Social Impact Fund, is one of just eighteen student-managed social impact funds (SMSIF) in the nation and one of only two SMSIFs managed solely by undergraduate students. Students are equipped with high-level skills and real-world learning in social impact investing and create a portfolio of impact investments for Miami University with an overall goal to build a better world through their investments.

MASTER’S IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

Launched in ’21-’22, our new graduate level program.

Our new Master’s in Entrepreneurship and Emerging Technology program, launched in ’21-’22, leverages a core curriculum, community ecosystems, and professional mentorship to deliver the experiencedriven program. Primarily online, MEET integrates a one week intensive experience in San Francisco to maximize industry insights and connections. This technology entrepreneurship degree fully prepares you to innovate the future of business.

FOR

In ’21-’22, the Altman Institute’s $250,000 student-led fund made its fourth investment in Blue Ocean Solids.

Cincinnati-based Blue Ocean Solids is a water treatment sustainability company that makes a variety of chemical products to treat corrosion, scale, microbes, and fouling in boilers, cooling towers, and closed-loop water systems.

L.I.F.E. RESEARCH LAB Leading the Integration of Faith

and Entrepreneurship

Established at Miami University in 2018, led by the John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship’s Center for Social Entrepreneurship.

The goal is to provide practically relevant, academically rigorous knowledge at the intersection of faith and entrepreneurship. It includes the L.I.F.E Research Lab, the L.I.F.E. Research Conference, the L.I.F.E. academic course, and the L.I.F.E. student group.

The 2nd annual international LIFE Research Conference in April 2022 hosted (virtually) 100 scholars from over 20 countries discussed research opportunities on the intersection of religion and entrepreneurship.

ESP 432: “Integrating Faith and Entrepreneurship” became an official Miami University FSB course in Entrepreneurship, and has included students from every university college and has brought guest speakers, founders and CEOs of companies like Cloverleaf, Coterie, OCEAN, the Aruna Project, Big Idea Productions, Praxis Labs, Deloitte, Impact Foundation, and more!

In August 2022, LIFE piloted a PhD seminar leading up to the Academy of Management Annual Meeting where 10 PhD students from 8 countries came together to engage with research at the intersection of religion and entrepreneurship. The seminar was taught by professors from Miami University, University of Tennessee, and Virginia Tech.

RESEARCH AND PUBLICATIONS

For the first time ever, ranked among the Top 25 in the Global University Entrepreneurship Research Productivity Rankings (at no. 23) produced annually since 2009 by the Neeley School of Business at TCU.

Brett R. Smith Ph.D.

Cintas Chair in Entrepreneurship and Founding Director, Center for Social Entrepreneurship and Professor

Dr. Smith’s paper “Trying to Serve Two Masters is Easy, Compared to Three: Identity Multiplicity Work by Christian Impact Investors” was published in the Journal of Business Ethics. The paper was co-authored by Amanda Lawson, Jessica Jones, Tim R. Holcomb and Aimee Minnich. “Entrepreneurship at the Baseof-the-Pyramid: The Moderating Role of Person-Facilitator Fit and Poverty Alleviation” co-authored by Brett R. Smith, Joshua R. Knapp and Benedetto L Cannatelli, was published in the Journal of Social Entrepreneurship. Additionally, his co-authored paper “When the Beacon Goes Dark: Legitimacy Repair Work by Subsequent Entrants in an Emerging Market Category” with Brian J. Bergman Jr. and Glenn E. Kreiner, was published in the Journal of Business Venturing.

Christopher J. Sutter Ph.D.

David and Vicki Endowed Associate Professor

Dr. Sutter’s co-authored paper “Venture Distress and Problemistic Search among Entrepreneurs in Brazilian Favelas,” was published in the Journal of Business Venturing. The paper was co-authored by Anna-Katherina Lenz, Rafael Goldszmidt, and Cesar Zucco. In addition, his co-authored paper "What Makes Resource Provision an Effective Means of Poverty Alleviation? A Resourcing Perspective" with Babita Bhatt and Israr Qureshi, was published in Organization Science.

16 published academic articles

11 OF THOSE WERE IN THE FINANCIAL TIMES' TOP 50 ACADEMIC JOURNALS

ALUMNI SUCCESS

Erin Rothman ’01

B.S., Technical and Scientific Communication and Environmental Science

Co-Founder of Storm Sensor Seattle in Seattle, WA

Michael Markesbury ’15

B.A., Zoology, Animal Biology, and Entrepreneurship

Rithvik Venna ’15

B.A., Zoology and Animal Biology

Co-founders of Oros in Portland, OR

Nichole Mustard ’95

B.S., Zoology

Co-founder of CreditKarma in San Francisco, CA

Oliver Zak ’19

B.S., Finance

Selom Agbitor ’19

B.S., Finance

Forbes 30 under 30

Shark Tank

Co-founders of Mad Rabbit in Los Angeles, CA

Elizabeth Szymanski ’01

B.S., Finance

Co-Founder of MyVillage in Denver, CO

Josh Green ’11

B.S., Marketing and Entrepreneurship

Co-founder of Ultimate Toys in Cincinnati, OH

Ultimate luxury vehicles.

Bob Coughlin ’83

B.S., Business

Founder of Paycor in Cincinnati, OH

Paycor’s HR software modernizes every aspect of people management, which saves leaders time and gives them the powerful analytics they need to build winning teams.

SEATTLE

SAN FRANCISCO

PORTLAND AUSTIN

Matt Pyatt ’10

B.S., Marketing and Entrepreneurship

Eric Dunigan ’09

B.S., Marketing

Co-founders of Arrive Logistics in Austin, TX

Arrive is on a relentless pursuit to deliver an unparalleled freight experience by pushing the limits of what is possible. Our partners, team, and technology have made us one of the fastest-growing transportation and technology companies in the United States.

Maria Katris ’00

B.S., Finance

Founder and CEO of BuiltIn in Chicago, IL

Brandon Cruz ’99

B.S., Information Systems and Analytics

Clint P. Jones ’99

B.S., Information Systems and Analytics

Co-founders of GoHealth in Chicago, IL

As a leading health insurance marketplace, GoHealth’s mission is to improve access to healthcare in America. For customers, enrolling in a health insurance plan is confusing and difficult, and seemingly small differences between plans can lead to significant out-of-pocket costs or lack of access to critical medicines and even providers.

Stuart Wall ’05

B.S., French, Finance, Entrepreneurship

Torey Penrod-Cambra ’04

B.A., Chemistry

Co-Founder of HighByte in Portland, ME

Kyle Hoff ’11

B.A., Architecture and Entrepreneurship

Co-Founder of Floyd in Detroit, MI

Ryan Walker

B.S., Zoology '07

M.S., Neuroscience '09

Co-founder of Elevian in Boston, MA

Sean Lane ’02

B.A., Political Science and Government

Founder of Olive and Circulo Health in Columbus, OH

Automation and intelligence for healthcare.

Kevin Kushman ’91

B.A., Economics

Tsavo Knott ’18

B.S., Game and Interactive Media Design and Computer Science

Mack Myers ’16

B.A., Professional Writing and Entrepreneurship

Co-founders of Pieces.app in Cincinnati, OH

We’re a diverse team of developers, designers and dreamers building a first-ofits-kind platform built around file fragments.

Founder of Electrada in Cincinnati, OH

Lance White ’75

B.S., Finance

Co-Founder of Zylo Therapeutics in Greenville, SC

Founder and CEO of SignPost in New York, NY

Donn Davis ’85

B.S., Finance

Co-Founder Professional Fighters League in New York, NY

Dwight Merriman ’89

B.S., Computer Science

Co-Founder of Mongo DB in New York, NY

Co-Founder and CTO of DoubleClick (sold to Google) in New York, NY

Mac Anderson ’14

B.S., Economics

Co-Founder of Cleveland Kitchen in Cleveland, OH

Johnny Sirpilla ’88

B.S., Accounting

Founder of Society Brands in Canton, OH

Jay Harkrider ’03

B.S., Finance and Entrepreneurship

Kevin Jacobson

B.S., Finance

Founders of Foxen in Columbus, OH

Our mission is to develop innovative technology that provides mutually beneficial financial solutions for the advancement of property owners, managers, and their residents.

As a rapidly growing FinTech company, we are disrupting the financial and insurance industries to achieve our greater vision of financial wellness through real estate.

Jay Harkrider is also Co-founder of Coastal Ridge Real Estate Partners Columbus, OH.

2021 ENTREPRENEURS IN RESIDENCE

Nick Jackson

Owner: Nick Jackson Speaks and Speakers of Love

Certified Coach: Five Capitals

John McIlwraith

Co-Founder and Managing Director: Allos Ventures

Board of Directors: Meridian Bioscience

Aimee Minnich

Chief Impact Officer and General Counsel: Impact Foundation

Board Trustee: Praxis Mutual Funds

Holly

Founder and CEO: Ampersand Innovation

Innovation Strategist and Facilitator: Lenora Polansky and Associates

Consultant: Xavier Leadership Center

Rod Robinson

Senior Vice President: Insight

Sourcing Group

Board of Trustees: Miami University

Contributor: Forbes Business Council

Board Member: Cintrifuse

Bill

Founder: ImpactCincy

Leadership Council: The Womens Fund of Greater Cincinnati Foundation

Board Member: Queen City Book Bank

Board Member: Women’s Business Center of Ohio

Eric

Executive Director: NEXT upstate

David Willbrand

Chief Legal Officer: Picasso

Author

Professor of Law: University of Michigan

Charter Member: Tech GC

O’Driscoll

Weissmann

Tucker

2021-22 FACULTY AND STAFF

Tim Holcomb

Professor and Chair, Department of Entrepreneurship

Director, John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship

April Adams

Administrative Assistant

Kerri Cissna

Visiting Assistant Professor

Michael Conger

Associate Professor of Entrepreneurship

Dan Docherty

Richard Forsythe Professor of Entrepreneurship

David Eyman

Associate Lecturer

Jim Friedman

White Family Clinical Professor of Creativity and Entrepreneurship

Thomas Heuer

Richard Forsythe Professor of Entrepreneurship

Molly Holinger

Visiting Assistant Professor

Natalie Holzaepfel

Assistant Director

Brenda Homan Instructor

Tara Hoppe

Assistant Director

Jim Johnson Instructor

Daniel Jones

Visiting Professor

Mark Lacker

John W. Altman Clinical Professor of Entrepreneurship

Amanda Lawson

Assistant Director of Research

Timberly Revelee

Administrative Assistant

Bethany Schwan

Assistant Director

Theresa Sedlack

Visiting Assistant Professor

Brett Smith

Cintas Endowed Professor of Entrepreneurship

Founding Director of L.I.F.E. Research Lab

Michelle Stecker Assistant Professor

Chris Sutter

David and Vicki Herche Endowed Associate Professor

Beth Troy Instructor

Geoff Zoeckler

Assistant Lecturer

Congratulations to Michael Conger, Jim Friedman, Tom Heuer, Mark Lacker and Beth Troy and who are ranked among the “Top 100 Most-Commended Faculty” for 2020 by the Center for Teaching Excellence at Miami.

2021-22 BOARD MEMBERS

Amy Altman

Executive Vice President of Clinical Affairs and Diagnostics: SAFE Health

President: John W. Altman Charitable Foundation

Cameron Cummins

Co-Founder and CEO: Pivotal Growth Partners

Founder and CEO: inHOUSE Marketing

Lisa Dallmer

Former COO of Global Technology/ Operations: BlackRock

COO, Head of European Market Services and Cash Markets: NYSE Euronext

Stuart Frankel

Vice President: Salesforce

Strategic Advisor: Energy Capital Ventures

Co-Founder and CEO: Narrative Science (sold to Salesforce)

David Herche

Chairman: Enerfab

Executive Chairman: West Chester Protective Gear

Board Chair: Cincinnati Works

Jason Holland

President, Chief Business Officer: Firework

Jeffrey Kadlic

Co-Founder and Managing Partner: Evolution Capital Partners

Chairman: Miami University's Cleveland Development Board

Maria Katris

Founder and CEO: Built In

Sean Lane

CEO: Olive

Founder and Chairman: Circulo Health

Wendy Lea

CEO: Energize Colorado

Advisory Council Member: National Advisory Council for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE)

Board Member: Center for American Entrepreneurship (CAE)

Rod Robinson

Senior Vice President, Supplier Diversity Practice Lead, and Center of Excellence: Insight Sourcing Group

Member, Board of Directors: Cintrifuse

David Schwab

Executive Vice President: Octagon

Sports and Entertainment Network

Founder: Octagon First Call

Creator/Host: Beyond High Street

Todd Schwarzinger

Partner: Cleveland Clinic Ventures

Tim Spence

President and CEO: Fifth Third Bank

Board Member, Executive Committee: Cintrifuse

Brian Tome

Founder and Senior Pastor: Crossroads Church

Greg Van Kirk

Founder and CEO: Project X, Social Entrepreneur Corps, Community Empowerment Solutions, and Columbia Business School's Venture for All

RedHawk Venture Pitch Competition

WANT TO MAKE AN IMPACT?

We invite you to join our journey as a speaker, mentor, or donor. Together, we will prepare tomorrow’s entrepreneurial leaders today.

Discover how you can support new ventures and initiatives at the John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship by reaching out to us at entrepreneurship@miamioh.edu.

MIAMIOH.EDU/ENTREPRENEURSHIP

CONNECT WITH US:

John W. Altman Institute for Entrepreneurship

@miamientrepreneurship

@MiamiU_Ent

@miamioh_entrepreneurship