2022 Fowler BCC Program

Focused on igniting the entrepreneurial spirit of University of St. Thomas students across campus, the Fowler Business Concept Challenge requires participants to develop a concept with the potential to become a viable, high-growth business

Students from 25 academic programs are participating in this year’s event, making it a truly cross campus competition. Today’s event highlights the top 32 teams in each track (business and social venture) competing in the semifinals, with four teams from each advancing to the finals in the afternoon, where they will compete for a total of $88,500 in scholarships. Each finalist wins a scholarship, with the top team in each track winning $15,000. Students who compete in the semifinals competition but do not advance to the finals competition will be awarded a scholarship of $1,000 per team.

The 2022 edition of the Fowler Business Concept Challenge includes 85 students that submitted 59 new venture concepts. Fifty three local entrepreneurs and business leaders make up this year’s group of judges, including 31 that are St. Thomas alumni.

SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS

The Fowler Business Concept Challenge is made possible through the generosity of Ron Fowler. This year, $88,500 in University of St. Thomas scholarships will be awarded across all teams, including a new special award for social venture track participants. Thank you to Ron Fowler and Alexis Fowler for their generosity in making these scholarships possible

Winner: $15,000 per team

First Runner Up: $7,500 per team

Second Runner Up: $5,000 per team

Third Runner Up: $2,500 per team

Most Effective Presenter: $1,000 per team

Kate Herzog Memorial Award: $2,500

HIGH SCHOOL INNOVATION & ENTREPRENEURSHIP DAY

High School Innovation & Entrepreneurship Day is taking place concurrently with today’s competition. There are 110 students and 14 educators from 12 high schools learning about entrepreneurship and design thinking, observing the finals presentations, and using their new skills to discuss what they have observed at the Fowler. Thank you to the following schools for participating in today's events.

Austin High School Pacelli Catholic Schools Shakopee High School Benilde/St. Margaret DREAM Technical Academy Kennedy High School Mahtomedi High School Minnetonka High School Anoka High School Jefferson High School Brainerd High School Hope Academy, Minneapolis

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9:10-11:30 a.m. | Semifinal Presentations, Deliberations & Feedback Sessions

Anderson Student Center Rooms, 2nd & 3rd Floors

11:30 a.m.-1:00 p.m. | Lunch Woulfe Alumni Hall

12:15 p.m.-1:00 p.m. | Elevator Pitches & Finalist Announcement Woulfe Alumni Hall

1:00-1:15 p.m. | Finals Judge Orientation Anderson Student Center 341

1:15-2:35 p.m. | Final Presentations

Business Concept – Woulfe Alumni Hall North Social Venture – Woulfe Alumni Hall South

2:35-3:30 p.m. | Deliberations & Feedback Sessions

Business Concept Anderson Student Center 341 Social Venture Anderson Student Center 342

3:35-4:05 p.m. | Awards Ceremony Woulfe Alumni Hall

4:05-4:45 p.m. | Reception Woulfe Alumni Hall Atrium

ROOM TIME PRESENTATION JUDGES

ASC 237

ASC 237

ASC 237 ASC 237

9:10 a m 9:30 a.m. 9:50 a.m. 10:10 a.m.

Weed to Feed Drvn EasyPort Adgamz

Richard Andolshek

Jeanine Bassett '87

Phil Ebeling '79 MBA

Frank Klisanich

Andy Michaletz '88 Milena Oliveria

ASC 238 ASC 238 ASC 238 ASC 238

9:10 a.m. 9:30 a.m. 9:50 a.m. 10:10 a.m.

APE, First Response Systems The Venue Visa Rapid Rate Turn Right

ASC 240 ASC 240 ASC 240

ASC 240

9:10 a.m. 9:30 a.m. 9:50 a.m. 10:10 a.m.

Faver Elevate Spark Oasis Properties

Collin Brinkman '91 MBA

Jaime Fischer '11,'13 MSA Michael Heil Shari Mohabir '96 Paul Taylor

Taylor Cox '97 Jack Dempsey

David Igel '92

Jim Putman '97 MBA, 01 MSS

Jennie Weber

Mike Wuollett '11 MBA

ASC 341

ASC 341

ASC 341

ASC 341

9:10 a.m. 9:30 a.m. 9:50 a.m. 10:10 a.m.

Menu Market Refero ZooZzz's Inc. Home Helpers

Stephanie Lee '05

Betsy Maus '15 MBA

Bruce Nordin

Ted Robb

Travis Veit '05

ROOM TIME PRESENTATION JUDGES

ASC 202

ASC 202 ASC 202 ASC 202

9:10 a.m. 9:30 a.m. 9:50 a.m. 10:10 a.m.

Soul Shoes Fair Up Chumisa Smart Vent Cover

ASC 233 ASC 233 ASC 233 ASC 233

ASC 234 ASC 234 ASC 234 ASC 234

ASC 236 ASC 236

ASC 236 ASC 236

Bret Busse '97 MBA

Tim Harris Joe Keeley '03 Erica Koenig '06 MBA Jules Porter '18 JD/MBA 9:10 a m 9:30 a m 9:50 a m 10:10 a.m.

BeScene

Remote Power Solutions S&L Children's Therapy Alleviating Rural Women's Burden

Greg Cash '79 Eyo Ekpo '08 Susan Johnson '85, '95 MBA

Local4Local 4U Chemco Greenscapes

9:10 a.m. 9:30 a.m. 9:50 a.m. 10:10 a.m.

Tu Amigo de Finanzas

Conversation Candles

Communities Feeding Seniors Research & Discovery for Me

Joseph Gamer

Jazz Hampton '12, '15 JD JoAnn Hanson '78 MBA

Michael Kujak '08 MBA Thomas Mahoney '77 MBA 9:10 a m 9:30 a m 9:50 a.m. 10:10 a.m.

Julie Peirson '93 Rajiv Tandon

Jeff Campbell

Sean Higgins '12, '14 MBA

Grover Jones Diane Paterson Rick Penn Emily Pritchard '11

Adgamz

Zack Navone, Entrepreneurship Max Karas, Entrepreneurship

APE, First Response System Parker Stromquist, Real Estate Studies

Drvn Biel Wiel, Entrepreneurship

EasyPort

David Shipp, Entrepreneurship, Marketing Management, Business Economics

Elevate

Michael Clements, Entrepreneurship & Music Business Jacob Anderson, Entrepreneurship & Music Business

Faver Jenny Behrens, MBA Ben Taylor, MBA

Home Helpers

Riley Gill, Entrepreneurship & Real Estate Studies

Menu Market

Junior Agbenowossi, Marketing

Oasis Properties

Grace Northamer, Entrepreneurship & Data Analytics

Evan Braaten, Entrepreneurship

Rapid Rate

Ellie Pigott, Entrepreneurship Delila Gonyea, Entrepreneurship

Refero

Cole Heppner, Entrepreneurship Garrett Dwire, Economics

Spark Cameron Hager, Real Estate & Finance

Garrett Smith, Entrepreneurship & Marketing

Cory Kaisersatt, Entrepreneurship & Finance

The Venue Visa Turn Right

Chihiro Gustafson, Entrepreneurship

Weed to Feed Henry Pike, Finance

ZooZzzz's Inc. Selah Bunkers, Entrepreneurship

4U

Leah Schuerkamp, Entrepreneurship Nate Charles, Entrepreneurship

Alleviating Rural Women's Burden by producing Wood Pellet Beamlak Petros, Entrepreneurship

BeScene

Evelyn Perez Mora, Entrepreneurship & Economics Gabrielle Betzold, Biology Laila Franklin, Entrepreneurship

Chemco

Gabriel Riegert, Leadership & Management

Chumisa Justa Heinen Kay, MBA

Communities Feeding Seniors Jill Eide, MBA

Conversation Candles

Fair Up

Regina Talavera, Entrepreneurship & Finance Georges Macheta, Computer Science & Entrepreneurship

Greenscapes

Matt Gendreau, Business Administration

Local4Local Hao Taing, Business

Remote Power Solutions (RPS)

Samuel Roberts, Entrepreneurship & Philosophy

Research & Discovery for Me

Brock Munsterteiger, Marketing Management

S&L Children's Therapy Henry Glennon, Finance

Smart Vent Cover

Carter VanHaren, Mechanical Engineering

Soul Shoes

Noah McDonald, Financial Management

Natalie Larson, Neuroscience

Sophia Huber, Entrepreneurship & Political Science

Tu Amigo de Finanzas

Montserrat Blanco Lopez, Marketing Management & Entrepreneurship

Awardedin ScholarshipstoDate

Richard Andolshek, Chairman/CEO, BRICK, Inc.

Jeanine Bassett '87,VP, Consumer and Market Intelligence, General Mills (retired)

Collin Brinkman '91 MBA, Managing Director, Midwest Technology Leader, Accenture

Taylor Cox '97, President, Cox Insurance

Jack Dempsey, Operating Advisor, Norwest Equity Partners

Phil Ebeling '79 MBA, Chief Operating Officer, Inspire Medical Systems

Jaime Fischer '11, '13 MSA, Finance Services Project Manager, EY

Michael Heil, SVP, Head of Commercial Banking, Fidelity Bank

David Igel '92, Owner, Igel Properties

Frank Klisanich, CEO, FSK Enterprise Consulting LLC

Stephanie Lee '05, Managing Partner, Marabek

Betsy Maus '15 MBA, Director of Digital Strategy, Best Buy

Andy Michaletz '88, Owner, Poly Plastics Inc.

Shari Mohair '96, VP Healthcare, RGP

Bruce Nordin, Executive Director, Schulze Innovation Fund

Milena Oliveira, 3M, SVP & Chief Marketing Officer

Jim Putman '97 MBA, '01 MSS, EVP Risk Analytics (retired)

Ted Robb, President, Call Strategies

Paul Taylor, Founder, Serial Mentors Ltd.

Travis Veit '05, Founder & CCO, Imprint Engine

Jennie Weber, Sr. VP, Customer Experience and Insights, Best Buy

Mike Wuollett '11 MBA, Co Founder, Protege Biomedical

Bret Busse '97 MBA, SVP, Fathom Consulting

Jeff Campbell, SVP Commercial Loans, Fidelity Bank

Greg Cash '79, CEO, Argent International

Eyo Ekpo '08, President and CEO, Partum Prime Partners

Joseph Gamer, Business Development, Partner, Gamer Packaging, INC.

Jazz Hampton '12, '15 JD, CEO, TurnSignl, Inc.

JoAnn Hanson '78 MBA, CEO, Hanson Hotels

Tim Harris, VP & Director of Operations, Ideal Commercial Interiors

Sean Higgins '12, '14 MBA, CEO, BetterYou

Susan Johnson '85, '95 MBA, CEO, Magellan Medical Technology Consultants, Inc.

Grover Jones, Owner, Grover C. Jones & Associates

Joe Keeley '03, CEO & Co Founder, JustiFi

Erica Koenig '06 MBA, CHRO, SPS Commerce

Michael Kujak '08 MBA, CEO & President, Francis Medical

Thomas Mahoney '77 MBA, President, Hilldale Ventures, Inc

Diane Paterson, Director, Small Business Development Center

Julie Peirson '93, Auditor, Former Deloitte

Rick Penn, Board Director, Independent Board Director/Advisor

Jules Porter '18 JD/MBA, CEO & General Counsel, Seraph 7 Studios

Emily Pritchard '11, Founder & CEO, The Social Lights

Rajiv Tandon, President, The Institute for Innovators & Entrepreneurs

RON FOWLER '66, Chairman & CEO, Liquid Investments Inc. Ron Fowler is the Chairman & CEO of Liquid Investments. He is a principal and board member of Columbia Distributing in Oregon and Washington. Recognized as a beverage industry leader, Mr. Fowler has chaired or been a member of numerous corporate and association boards over the past 50 years. Mr. Fowler is the previous owner & Executive Chairman of the San Diego Padres He remains involved with Major League Baseball and is currently a member of the Pension & Benefits Committee and PDL Governance Committee Mr Fowler and his wife, Alexis, have a special interest in higher education, specifically in academics, sports, and at risk youth He is the founding chair of the San Diego State University Campanile Foundation, chairman emeritus of University of San Diego’s Board of Trustees and is chairman emeritus of the San Diego Sports Association Mr Fowler is actively involved with and supportive of his alma mater, the University of St. Thomas, where he served on the Board of Trustees and Athletic Advisory Board. an a y y j various roles including Vice President of , Health Partnerships Sr Director, Category has had over 20 years of strategic and P&L mpanies Her career experiences include ement, business development and product gnificantly involved within the community ational and community boards including the ies, MEDA, The Cowles Center, NAZ and ia has been honored as one of the Top 100 nd Notable Executives in the Twin Cities.

with physician partners Mr Novak is a member/agitator with MOJO Minnesota an innovation co operative comprised of like minded business leaders working to fuel entrepreneurship and reignite Minnesota’s culture of innovation

JILL PUTMAN ‘96, Financial Executive

Jill Putman is a globally experienced financial executive with a full range of financial and leadership expertise. She spent the last eight years as the CFO of Jamf, where she led the company’s finance, human resources, and investor relations functions. Ms. Putman serves on the board of Integral Ad Science (IAS) and Queen’s Gambit Growth CapitalArctic Wolf. Prior to Jamf, she served as CFO at Kroll Ontrack, a private equity owned e discovery firm. She also spent time as Vice President of finance at Secure Computing, and began her career with KPMG, serving in its audit practice.

TOM VOTEL '81, '96 MBA, President & CEO, Ergodyne

Mr Votel became president and CEO of Minnesota based Ergodyne in 1985 just two years after becoming the company’s first full time employee Thirty years in, he remains deeply committed to the safety community and strives daily to develop and market innovative, smartly designed, high quality solutions for the workers in the trenches and on the frontlines to actually make The Workplace a Betterplace™. Erogodyne is intensely committed to the safety community and generating disproportionately positive results for workers, safety professionals and product vendors. Ergodyne accomplishes this through a unique combination of listening, educating, focus and the pursuit of excellence.

DAVE ANDERSON, SVP Portfolio Management, Medtronic Dave Anderson currently serves as the SVP Portfolio Management at Medtronic He is passionate about delivering high quality, evidence based, innovative solutions that improve patient lives As President of the Neuromodulation Operating Unit at Medtronic, he led a $2B business treating pain, movement disorders and epilepsy and new therapies in research. Mr. Anderson previously led the Enabling Technologies business for Medtronic and has held leadership roles in general management, M&A, R&D, operations, and quality for multiple innovative companies in healthcare and medical devices.

KEVIN

BENNETT,

Senior Program Officer, GHR Foundation

Kevin Bennett is the senior program officer and program lead for GHR Foundation’s Twin Cities Racial Equity initiative. He brings a wealth of experience, expertise, compassion, and commitment to develop the program’s initial strategy, oversee a focused grantmaking approach, and provide strategic direction and engagement to community partnerships that address racial wealth and opportunity gaps. Most recently, Mr. Bennett served as chief equity and impact officer for Ascension Catholic Academy and Church of the Minneapolis, St. Paul Archdiocese. He provided leadership in creating and sustaining culture (ways of being living, leading, and serving), anchored in humanity and faith, to provide equitable opportunities and outcomes for those most marginalized and underestimated in our communities

JIM HEMAK, Entrepreneur & Great Clips Franchise Owner (retired) Jim Hemak is a business leader and philanthropist. His love of entrepreneurship began in 1963 after participating in the Junior Achievement Company Program, where his project was to build and sell birdhouses His company went onto win the coveted “Rags to Riches” award that year for showing the most improvement, igniting his entrepreneurial spirit His experience with Junior Achievement would lead to a lifetime of supporting business education for young entrepreneurs, both as a 16 year executive with the organization and as a volunteer and philanthropist Following his tenure at Junior Achievement, Mr Hemak pursued franchise opportunities He significantly helped grow North America’s largest hair salon franchise, Great Clips When the fledgling corporation had only 15 stores, he opened his first, ultimately opening 39 locations serving more than 1 million customers a year, and making him the largest Great Clips franchisee at the time.

RZOG DREWISKE, Founder, ScaleUp Consulting for NPOs zog Drewiske has over 25 years of nonprofit advancement nce. Her expertise also includes good governance practices, capital ns, corporate relations, and communications. She has spent her ith a heart on making the Twin Cities a better place for ALL to live k. Prior to launching ScaleUp, Ms. Herzog Drewiske was the e Director of Social Venture Partners, she also had a successful s director of national advancement for Jeremiah Program, and ment at the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of ment, Minnesota Landscape Arboretum and Twin Cities Public on. Ms. Herzog Drewiske currently serves as Vice Chair of the St Croix oundation Board.

ELAINE RASMUSSEN, Founder & CEO, Social Impact Strategies Group

Y Elaine Rasmussen is Founder & CEO of Social Impact Strategies Group (SISG) a Black/Native led certified B corp social enterprise. SISG provides consultation on operationalizing social impact and racial equity in the finance and philanthropy sector. Ms. Rasmussen’s clients include Allianz, Frontier Incubators, Beta.MN, Swift Family Foundation, and Greater Twin Cities United Way. She also founded ConnectUP! Institute, a social finance and enterprise development innovation center. The Institute offers education workshops for investors & underestimated entrepreneurs, and produces the annual ConnectUP! MN Summit, which promotes and grows inclusive and equitable entrepreneur ecosystems that drive positive, sustainable impact grounded in economic justice. Ms. Rasmussen was named 2020 Finance and Commerce’s Top Women in Finance, AARP/Pollen’s 50 Over 50, and is currently a Boston Impact Initiative Fund Building fellow. Her board service includes Minnesota Diversified Industries and she serves on the investment committees of Nexus Community Partners and Swift Foundation. Her overarching goal? To move billions of investment dollars in Black/Brown and rural communities. #MovingBillions #MoneyMoves

Y.

KATE HERZOG MEMORIAL AWARD

Kate launched her social enture, House of Talents, o help artisans build the ives they envision for hemselves. This award upports aspiring social entrepreneurs with a passion for poverty lleviation.

A scholarship of $2,500 awarded each year at the Fowler Business Concept Challenge

Open to applicants submitting in the Social Venture track

To be eligible for consideration, students submit an impact statement of up to 1 page describing how the venture addresses social challenges around poverty alleviation, serving under resourced communities and closing opportunity gaps

Thank you to our judges for sharing time, business acumen and insights with our Tommiepreneurs!

Your critiques, advice and mentorship continue to help turn concepts into companies and create unique learning opportunities for our students. Your service helps the university fulfill its mission to educate students to be morally responsible leaders who think critically, act wisely and work skillfully, all for the common good.

Ron Fowler is the Chairman & CEO of Liquid Investments. He is a principal and board member of Columbia Distributing in Oregon and Washington. Recognized as a beverage industry leader, Ron has chaired or been a member of numerous corporate and association boards over the past 50 years.

Ron is the previous owner & Executive Chairman of the San Diego Padres. He remains involved with Major League Baseball and is currently a member of the Pension & Benefits Committee and PDL Governance Committee.

Ron and his wife, Alexis, have a special interest in higher education, specifically in academics, sports, and at risk youth. They have been involved with San Diego State University (SDSU), University of San Diego (USD), and University of St. Thomas (UST) to name a few.

The Fowlers are the namesake behind today’s competition, the Fowler Business Concept Challenge, which they began in 2009 to advance the entrepreneurial mission of the university. They also established an endowment for the Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge (in partnership with the University of San Diego) to increase the scope and scale of the social entrepreneurship ecosystem at both universities and beyond

In addition to higher education, Ron and Alexis are passionate about supporting those in need especially in their local community. They have championed causes at Make A Wish, the San Diego Police Foundation, Computers 2 Kids, San Diego Sports Association, the Brad Fowler Memorial Scholarship Fund, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Monarch School, Ronald McDonald House, Coaching Corps, Pedal for the Cause, and Huntington’s Disease Society of America.

WHAT?

An opportunity to examine your concept with mentors from the Small Business Development Center and LegalCORPS business attorneys.

WHEN AND WHERE?

By appointment via Zoom

WHY?

Get your concept competition ready and move to the next level! We've got three ways to keep the idea alive:

The St Thomas Business Plan Competition

The Schulze Entrepreneurship Challenge

The Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge

Business Plan Competition

Take your business concept to the St. Thomas Business Plan Competition. This event is open to all St. Thomas students who wish to further pursue their ideas and ready them for an actual business launch! Get the mentoring needed to submit a full business plan by February 9, 2023 Then, five finalists will pitch on Match 3, 2023, for a shot at $10,000 cash!

Schulze Entrepreneurship Challenge at e-Fest

Students should also consider submitting a business plan to the Schulze Entrepreneurship Challenge for a chance at the top prize of $50,000 as part of e Fest, April 27 29, 2023! This national competition brings 25 finalist undergraduate business teams together for a weekend of fun and more than $215,000 in cash prizes! Submissions accepted between February 17 March 12, 2023

Fowler Global Social Innovation Challenge

The Fowler GSIC invites students to test drive a social business idea and join a global movement of entrepreneurs passionate about social change. Teams engage with one or more of the UN's Sustainable Development Goals by addressing a social or environmental problem of their choice. The 2023 St. Thomas competition will be held concurrently with the Business Plan competition in March. Round 1 submissions due on February 9, 2023 and the campus finals will be held on March 3. The top two teams from the St. Thomas Finals will represent the University at the Global Finals in June 2023, for a chance a share of $60,000 in seed funding

You rose to the challenge and submitted your idea. Now let’s take this further!