CEI

Alumni

Laurel Djoukeng MBA ’20 and Patrick Pierson-Prah MBA ’21 awarded CEI entrepreneurship grants

Patrick Pierson-Prah

The Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI) has awarded Fuqua alumni Laurel Djoukeng MBA ’20 and Patrick Pierson-Prah MBA ’21, student loan assistance from the Fuqua Entrepreneurial Grants to support these alumni in their roles as founders. Djoukeng is founder and CEO of Sparc, which connects people who have similar interests and arranges live engagements […]

Industry expertise leads to innovation and a growing business

David Hailey, the founder and CEO of Countalytics, doesn’t come from the traditional background of the founder of a tech company. David’s background is in auditing and consulting, as reinforced by his nearly two decades spent working as a risk manager at EY and a General Manager at Delta Airlines in their Corporate Audit department. […]

Entrepreneurial Mindset: the common thread from consulting to startup to Google

Tim Sestrich MBA '16

Tim Sestrich loves to tinker and fills his time creating side projects. This has always been true, even as an undergraduate where he devoted his senior project to building and launching an apartment search website that would compete with Craigslist for the University of Pittsburgh’s student body. Tim drew inspiration from the first post-dotcom bubble […]

Building a health and wellness franchising powerhouse

Wayne Cavanaugh, the founder and current CEO of Ninja Nation, had his first experience as an entrepreneur as an undergraduate at DePaul University. Along with a few friends, Cavanaugh briefly ran a valet service for local restaurants before joining the workforce in the finance and private equity industry. This mix of entrepreneurial spirit and financial […]

Alan Ma, Daytime MBA ’20, awarded CEI Entrepreneurship Grant

The Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (CEI) has awarded Alan Ma, Daytime MBA ’20, student loan assistance from the Fuqua Entrepreneurship Grants to support him in his role as Co-Founder and VP of Business Operations at CasTag Biosciences in Durham. CasTag Biosciences has developed a novel CRISPR gene editing technology to allow functional studies of […]

Fuqua Entrepreneurs’ Thoughts on what else entrepreneurs and the business community should be considering

Profiles of eight Fuqua alumni entrepreneurs

5th in our five-part special series, Fuqua Entrepreneurs’ Insights on the Road Ahead Shankar Musunuri: Leaders need to stay positive and continue to motivate your teams.  Life won’t be the same for next 1-2 years.  However, this pandemic will pass eventually.  You need to be strong and compassionate as a leader.  You have to make […]

Fuqua Entrepreneurs’ Thoughts on the relationship between business and society

Profiles of eight Fuqua alumni entrepreneurs

3rd in our five-part special series, Fuqua Entrepreneurs’ Insights on the Road Ahead Shankar Musunuri: Many businesses are contributing to society in this crisis including manufacture of PPEs (personal protection equipment). In our Pharma Industry, if they have ability to contribute to development of new vaccines, therapeutics or diagnostics, they are jumping in to contribute […]

Fuqua Entrepreneurs’ Thoughts on what’s going to stick

Profiles of eight Fuqua alumni entrepreneurs

2nd in our five-part special series, Fuqua Entrepreneurs’ Insights on the Road Ahead Working from home… Shankar Musunuri: Most businesses moved to virtual meetings instead of face-face and they are functioning fine. Once restrictions are lifted, this will result in reduced travel budgets and airlines will continue to struggle for a while.  Employers may be […]