Entrepreneurial GSB Alumni

Below is a sampling of Chicago GSB alumni entreprenuers who have succeeded in building their own companies or who work as investors in venture capital and private equity. Some include companies founded by students through the Edward L. Kaplan New Venture Challenge (NVC).

Collin Anderson, '96
President, Neuros Technology International
Neuros Technology is an open-source portable media device company.

Miguel Ascencios, '01
CEO and Founder, 12 Threads Custom Clothiers
12 Threads is a franchise-based, custom-tailored clothing company where customers are measured in their home or office.

Stopher Bartol, '93, and John Bikus, '97
Legacy.com
Legacy.com enhances obituaries with guest books, funeral home information, and florist links, providing a community-oriented, content-rich solution for more than 300 newspapers.

Brian Carpizo, '00
CEO and Founder, Junction Solutions
Junction Solutions is an enterprise software company that builds its solutions on the Microsoft platform.

Margaret Castrovillari, '00
CEO and CFO, Soulistic Studio and Spa
Soulistic Studio and Spa provides innovative fitness programming and holistic spa treatments that focus on mind and body harmony.

Karan Goel, ’06
Cofounder, PrepMe Corporation
First place winner of the 2005 NVC, PrepMe offers online tutoring to high school students studying for the SAT.

Theodore “Ted” Greene, '93
CEO, Akoya Inc.
Akoya offers software through its cost management analytics for companies that want to determine their direct materials spend.

Scott Griffith, '90
CEO, Zipcar
Zipcar provides reliable and convenient access to on-demand transportation through a membership-based model.

Blake Harper, '02
Cofounder, Raceline Motorworks
Raceline Motorworks is a concept store where children can design, build, and race their own remote-controlled car. The idea originated from a team that competed in the NVC, although Harper and his cofounders are not part of the original team.

Daniel Kenary, '85
Cofounder, Harpoon Brewery
Kenary and his partner created Harpoon to produce local brews. They draw on the brewing tradition to make the beers but add their own vision of how that style can be improved.

Roopa, '96, and Subhash Makhija, '96
Cofounders, Global eProcure
Global eProcure is a global supply chain technology and consulting firm specializing in cost reduction through spend management, strategic sourcing, procurement, and outsourcing.

Drew Massie, '04
TixNix
Tied for second place in the 2004 NVC, lawyers and ticketed drivers come together via TixNix, the web-based business that helps people fight traffic tickets.

Jon Morris, ’05
Internet Marketing Institute (IMI)
Tied for second place in the 2004 NVC, IMI teaches small and medium-sized businesses how to acquire new customers via the Internet.

Andrew Morrison, '92
Former CEO and Cofounder, Cognitve Concepts
A leader in literacy learning solutions, Cognitive Concepts develops and markets educational software, teaching materials and online resources, and provides customized staff development to teachers and language and learning professionals. Its award-winning Earobics' products and services are being used to help students achieve success in approximately 8,000 schools and in more than 50 countries.

Michael Moyer, '04
Vicarious
First-place winner of the 2003 NVC, Vicarious offered an automated marketing program to small businesses.

Louise O'Sullivan, '80
President, Prime Advantage, LLC
Prime Advantage is a private buying group that combines the purchasing power of industrial manufacturers to negotiate rebates and discounts on raw materials, components, supplies, and services for its clients. O'Sullivan also is a member of the Polsky Center Advisory Board.

Rita Rivindra, '04
StrongMail
A finalist in the 2003 NVC, StrongMail is a high-tech email application server. Rivindra consults to StrongMail and helped secure a $6 million Series A round of funding.

Dhiraj Rajaram, '03
MuSigma Inc.
MuSigma helps clients institutionalize analytics in their organizations using global delivery. The company is headquartered in Chicago with a delivery center in Bangalore, India.

John Rodkin, '05
Cofounder and CEO, ClickShift
Second-place winner in the 2005 NVC, ClickShift began as F2 and was acquired by Webtrends in 2006. The company is an online advertising optimization tool that helps other companies manage their advertising campaigns. Previously, Rodkin founded Flyswat, also part of the New Venture Challenge, that was subsequently acquired by NBCi.

John Rutledge, '94
President, Oxford Capital Group
Oxford Capital Group is a real estate and private equity investment firm and investment holding company that focuses on the hospitality sector. Rutledge, a member of the Polsky Center Advisory Board, started this company in his second year at Chicago GSB.

Pratik Shah, SM '93, PhD '96, MBA '99
Cofounder and former CBO, Kalypsys
Kalypsys is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company that is advancing the way drugs are discovered and developed. The company seamlessly integrates its capabilities in drug discovery, medicinal chemistry, and translational medicine with proprietary automated technologies to discover and develop high quality, small molecule drugs.

Barry Tartar, '03, and Courtney Hall, '03
EXACT Sports
EXACT Sports measures and predicts the abilities of individual athletes. Evaluations assist in both training and recruiting. EXACT Sports was a finalist in the 2003 NVC.

Jeff Wilcoxon, '04, and Chris Hill, '04
Bobtail Ice Cream Company
One of the finalists in the 2003 NVC, Bobtail is a chain of Chicago-based ice cream retail stores.