advisory board members...
Stacey Earnest
Ace Metal Refinishers, Inc.
CEO, Ace Metal Refinishers, Inc.
Stacey Earnest is CEO and Board Officer of Ace Metal Refinishers, Inc. in Naperville. She holds BA Business and MBA degrees from North Central College, where she has been a lecturer in entrepreneurial business since 2011.
She serves as an Advisory Board member of SEA, an affiliate member of the Chicago Building Owners and Managers Association, a Board member of the Fox Country Players Theatre Arts Academy, and a member of the Collegiate Entrepreneurship Organization.
Gary Ernst (Member, Emeritus)
North Central College, Emeritus
Professor, North Central College
Dr. Ernst is the founder of SEA. He was named Coleman Foundation Professor of Entrepreneurship and Small Business in 1999. He was recognized with a national Freedoms Foundation Leavey Award in Private Enterprise Education in 1995 and became a member of the SIFE Hall of Fame in 1997.
At North Central, Ernst received three Dissinger Teacher of the Year Awards and was recognized with the Harold and Eva White First Citizen of the College Award in 2008. At his retirement, his title was Coleman Foundation Professor of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, professor of international business and marketing, and chair of management and marketing.
Ernst earned his B.S. and M.S. in marketing communications from Roosevelt University and his Ed.D. from Northern Illinois University.
Jerry Gustafson (Member, Emeritus)
Beloit College, Emeritus
Founder, Center for Entrepreneurship in Liberal Education at Beloit (CELEB)
Jerry Gustafson earned his B.A. at Beloit College and his Ph.D. from The Johns Hopkins University. Professor Gustafson joined the faculty in 1967. For twenty years, he taught economic principles and theory, focusing upon his interests in public-choice-making and welfare theory.
As a Fellow of the American Political Science Association in 1973-74, he was aide in House and Senate offices where he worked on energy legislation and budget process reform. In 1987, Professor Gustafson became Coleman Foundation Professor in Entrepreneurship. He began to teach courses in entrepreneurship and business in which he has increasingly specialized.
He is a member of the Coleman Council for Entrepreneurship Awareness, of the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and serves on the board of Self-Employment in the Arts. He is a former member of the Higher Education Entrepreneurship Advisory Committee to the Kauffman Foundation, and the recipient of the Appel Prize, from the Price/Babson Institute, for bringing the entrepreneurial spirit to academe.
In 2004, Professor Gustafson founded and became Director of the Center for Entrepreneurship in Liberal Education at Beloit (CELEB), an incubator for student businesses. He held Fulbright Senior Lectureships at Marmara University, Istanbul (1987–88) and at the Middle-East Technical Institute, Ankara, Turkey (1995-96), and was founder of the Beloit/Turkey Student Exchange Program.
Andy Heise
University of Missouri - Kansas City
Andy Heise became involved with SEA as the Associate Director of Programs and Operations at Millikin University’s Center for Entrepreneurship. He currently is Assistant Director of the Regnier Institute of Entrepreneurship and Innovation and an Instructor in the Department of Global Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Missouri-Kansas City's Henry W. Bloch School of Management. Heise has significant experience in program development, mentoring students and program administration. He has presented on a variety of entrepreneurial topics at the Coleman Fellows Summit, United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) Annual Conference and the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers (GCEC). Andy received his Master of Business Administration from Millikin University in May 2013 and received his Bachelor of Music in Commercial Music from Millikin University in 2008 with honors and distinctions for scholarship, musicianship, contributions, and performance. In his free time, Andy enjoys playing bass in regional orchestras, jazz combos, and bands. He enjoys traveling, cooking, and baking with his wife, Molly.
Mark Hoelscher
Illinois State University
Director, Means Center
Mark Hoelscher is an associate professor of entrepreneurship in the Department of Management and Quantitative Methods in the College of Business at Illinois State University. He graduated from Texas Tech University in May of 2002 with a PhD in Strategy and Entrepreneurship, with an additional emphasis on family businesses. His research interests include the measurement of social capital in family businesses as well as the development of a new construct, family capital.
Hoelscher is also an active researcher in the study of nascent entrepreneurs and their use as proxies in understanding the entrepreneurial personality. Mark Hoelscher comes to us from local government where he has 15 years experience as general manager of ground water conservation districts in the state of Texas.
Mark's dissertation was chosen to receive the best dissertation award for 2002 by the Family Firm Institute, Boston, Massachusetts. Mark also received the Dean's excellence in teaching award at Texas Tech University Rawls College of Business two years running, 1999 & 2000.
Jim Jozwiak
Owner, Band For Today
Jim Jozwiak has been an entrepreneur all his life. Starting young as a professional trumpet player for 25 years, he worked with some of the giants in the entertainment world, including 17-time Grammy Award-winner Tony Bennett, Mel Tome, Ella Fitzgerald, The Temptations, Franke Valli and the Four Seasons and playing at President Clinton's first inaugural in Washington, D.C. In 1984, Jozwiak founded Band For Today which is an outsource company for music education to schools. In 2013 the company went national and is now running in 15 cities in five states. In the 30 years since the company was founded, Band For Today has provided music education for more than 25,000 students. Jozwiak and his wife Leah have three children who are also successful etrepreneurs in the music business. Daughter Brittany was seen by 30 million people on "American Idol" performing behind Diddy, along with backing Nicki Manaj on the American Music Awards. Son Nick recently performed at the Bern Switzerland Jazz Festival and youngest daughter Kelly, who attends Berkelee College of Music, plays professionally in Boston. Last year Jozwiak started Small Business Solutions, a coaching and consulting business dedicated to helping entrepreneurs find balanced success in life and work.
John McDavitt
McDavitt Design Studio
President, McDavitt Design Studio
John McDavitt is an entreprenurial artist and designer. He has worked over the past 20 years as a sculptor, painter, muralist, toy and product designer, brainstormer, consultant to product development companies, video director and professional speaker. McDavitt is president of McDavitt Design Studio.
Brian Morello
Beloit College
Director, Center for Entrepreneurship in Liberal Education (CELEB)
Brian L. Morello is director of Beloit College's Center for Entrepreneurship in Liberal Education in Beloit, otherwise known as CELEB. A successful businessman and 1985 Beloit College graduate, he oversees the directorship of the college's small business incubator, which encourages students to develop the skills necessary for self-employment through actual practice. He is also founder and president of a proprietary beer branding and marketing company that repurposes major out-of-service breweries and is now the nation's largest decicated contract brewer. He is also an investor in TLX Technologies, LLC, a producer of patented high-speed selenoids. Morello earned his B.S. in economics and management at Beloit and has an M.B.A. in finance and business trategy form the University of Chicago's Booth School of Business.
Greta Pope, Ph.D
Award-winning entertainer, author, educator and speaker
Greta Pope is an award-winning entertainer, internationally acclaimed entertainer, author, educator and motivational speaker. She is also known as "The Music Business Expert." Pope holds a Ph.D. in business administration as well as a master of music degree. She is author of a self-help book "Music, Money & You: Managing the Business," which is the selected text for several after-school programs for the Chicago Public Schools. Pope has delighted audiences throughout Euorpe, the Far East, South America, the Caribbean, the United States and Canada. Pope has been touted one of the great voices of our time as she performs with ease all styles from country to opera and from rhytm and blues to Broadway. She has shared the stage with such well-known performers as Wynona Judd, Dick Van Dyke, Stanley Clarke, Ramsey Lewis, Rich Little, Penn and Teller and many others. Her voice is featured on commercials and voice-overs, including those for McDonald's, Whirlpool, Allstate, Lexus, Estee Lauder and others.
Jeffrey Ross
Jeffrey Ross is an award-winning commercial photographer traveling the world extensively for various projects and assignments. Whether he’s working for a corporate client, a non-profit, or a personal narrative project, getting to the heart of the story is always his goal. He regularly blogs about his various travels and adventures, and loves to share his stories with others. Jeffrey’s images can be found in magazines, advertisements, books, and personal collections. He often speaks to college students and others just starting to work in the creative arts fields, helping them make their passion a reality.
Gary Vuaghan
Guident Business Solutions
Lawrence University
Founding Member, Guident Business Solutions
Lawrence University
Gary Vaughan has a passion for helping business owners through his consulting firm where he works with small businesses specializing in financial growth and increasing owner's equity. He serves on several civic committees and nonprofit boards. He has also been a judge for the Wisconsin Governor's Business Plan Contest for the past several years. He is an instructor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Lawrence University where he Coordinates their I&E Interdisciplinary Area..
Millikin University
Millikin University has had a representative on our board since our board was developed. Current representation includes Center for Entrepreneurship Program Coordinator, Bethany Gotts.