meet the scholars from last year

2009 Entrepreneurship Scholars


speakers from january 2009

Stephen Baer ‘98 - Managing Partner, The Game Agency

Jane Comfort - Owner, Jane Comfort and Company

Eric Epstein ‘71 - Owner, Epstein Design

John Farber ‘77 - Managing Director, Product Development Workshop LLC

Anders Ferguson ‘75 - Partner, Veris Wealth Partners

Mark Finkel ‘76 - Emerging Growth Group

Stephen Holt - Owner, Yak Pak

Thomas Kutzen ‘76 - President, Managing Member, Founder, AlphaBridge Capital Management

Ray Leach - CEO, Jumpstart, Inc

Chesley Maddox-Dorsey ‘81 - President and CEO, Access 1 Communications Corp

Daniel Monti ‘71 - Professor of Sociology at Boston University

Jacqueline Novogratz - Founder and CEO, Acumen Fund

James Petras ’74 - Managing Director, Early Stage Partners LP, and Managing Director, Capital One Partners LLC

Daniel Rosenblum '82 - VP, Director, Corporate & Public Policy, Japan Society

Michael Santoro '76 - Associate Professor, Rutgers Business School

Bιla Szigethy ’77 - Co-CEO, The Riverside Company

Joshua Treuhaft ‘06 - Strategic Consultant at The Futures Company

Leanne Wagner '76 - VP Commercial Portfolio Strategy, Wyeth Pharmaceuticals Ellen Waldinger ‘77 President, Waldinger Group Inc.

Selected bios from january 2009

Emmanuel Magara ‘11
Born and raised in Gweru, Zimbabwe, Emmanuel came to the US through the United States Student Achievers' Program (USAP) - a highly selective program that affords talented students in developing world an opportunity to study at top US colleges. As a member of the Zimbabwean Youth Parliament, Emmanuel organized the first HIV/AIDS awareness march that involved over three thousand students in his community. Later in life, Emmanuel plans to return to Zimbabwe and start a pharmaceutical drug distribution company that will provide the latest and most effective drugs to the Zimbabwean people at the lowest possible cost. Emmanuel hopes to assist US and Indian pharmaceutical companies effectively infiltrate African markets by establishing an effective local distribution network that will also clamp down on counterfeit drugs. He also plans to initiate a work-study program for Zimbabwean medical students to research the latest drugs and establish a system to share that information with medical practitioners in the country. Emmanuel is a 2008 CRC Chemistry Excellence Award recipient, a Bonner Scholar and also a Senior/Lead Resident Assistant Director for three residence-halls. He is currently majoring in Biochemistry with an East Asian Studies (Chinese-Mandarin) minor. Emmanuel enjoys dancing, cooking, baking and making things happen.

Sara Krugman ‘09
Sara is 22 and originally from outside Boston Massachusetts. She is an artist and activist; a facilitator and collaborator; an organizer and communicator. After taking a year off to travel and work in Mexico and New Zealand she came to Oberlin College. She is currently doing a thesis in Studio Art and Cinema Studies Production and will graduate in May 2009. In the past year she and three skilled Obie collaborators have been working on building a community based silkscreen studio that supports and archives local activist print media in New York City. This project combines her skills in communication, production and creativity. The studio is envisioned as a space that values process and product equally, for this balance is crucial to community and meaningful living. Sara’s practice as an artist is based around process; she deals with personal experience as a diabetic directly and build a visual language to communicate. As an activist she strives to maintain open lines of communication within communities. This dual skill set enables her to act as a facilitator and collaborator in process and an organizer for production.

David Midler ‘09
David is dedicated to pursuing his dreams and paying his rent with his passions. In May 2009 he will graduate from Oberlin College with a major in religion and a minor in computer science. Currently, he is starting an apparel company called Spin It In designed to serve street cred to tennis. He has a website for the company and also has various other web pages on topics like sports and technology. He came from a business-oriented background in Flint, Michigan where his family has owned and run an auto-salvage yard for over twenty years.