Leonard Lavin to Receive Honorary Doctorate

San Diego State University will award honorary doctorate degrees to two distinguished entrepreneurs, it was announced today. Leonard Lavin and L. Robert Payne will receive the awards during commencement ceremonies May 18-20 at Viejas Arena.

“We are exceedingly pleased to honor Leonard Lavin and Bob Payne,” said SDSU President Elliot Hirshman. “Their vision, work ethic and entrepreneurial spirit provide sterling examples for our students to emulate. We are grateful for their support of our students, faculty and staff and their commitment to advancing San Diego State University as a major public research university.”

Leonard Lavin, founder and former CEO of the beauty supply manufacturing and marketing company Alberto Culver Company, which became an international Fortune 1,000 company, is also credited with developing television’s first 15- and 30-second commercials. Lavin is a frequent guest lecturer at SDSU and often leads mentoring sessions with students in the College of Business Administration. Since 2005, he has been actively involved with SDSU’s Entrepreneurial Management Center.

His gifts to support the center have established Lavin VentureStart — a business plan competition open to students from all SDSU colleges — and the Lavin Entrepreneurs — a program for upper-division students, which provides individual mentoring; site visits to emerging growth companies; and an entrepreneur speaker series among other growth experiences.

Lavin will receive his honorary degree at the College of Business commencement ceremony at 8 a.m. on Saturday, May 19, 2012.

EMC Unites Freshmen Entrepreneurs

The Entrepreneurial Management Center’s Journey into Entrepreneurship Program was recently recognized for uniting freshman entrepreneurs through a year-long Residential Learning Community and a supporting course in entrepreneurship. The Program was awarded the Partnership Award, which was started last year as an annual award that is presented during San Diego State University’s Favorite Faculty Dinner. The EMC’s Journey into Entrepreneurship Program was recognized as a campus partner that has gone above and beyond in helping the Residential Education Office develop and maintain high impact practices and programs in the residence halls.

The Journey into Entrepreneurship course is in its second year and is taught by Alex DeNoble and Bernhard Schroeder (who created the course/program) from the College of Business and the Entrepreneurial Management Center. Through the partnership with the EMC, the Program has allowed students to explore and learn key elements of starting a company including trend spotting, ideation, research and the leadership required to succeed. The students also meet successful SDSU entrepreneur alums and hear their stories. Students gain insight into the world of entrepreneurship through the Program’s interactive learning experience that results from the unique combination of a year-long Entrepreneur Residential Community and the supporting course in entrepreneurship.

SDSU's Entrepreneur Society Meets Mayor of San Diego!

On April 18th, the SDSU Entrepreneur Society met with the Mayor of San Diego, Jerry Sanders. The topic of the discussion was about building a successful career by creating value in the community. Mayor Sanders spoke about how important business and entrepreneurship is to job creation and that San Diego is an innovative community supportive of start-ups. He taught the Entrepreneur Society students about approaches to leadership and how to make difficult decisions, and the lessons he learned in his diverse career. The students proclaimed that meeting a Mayor was an awesome learning experience.

Adam Zuffinetti Named Outstanding Faculty Member

Family Business Management lecturer Adam Zuffinetti was named the Outstanding Faculty Member for 2012 by the SDSU chapter of Alpha Kappa Psi. Zuffinetti was presented with the honor during the organization's Second Annual Faculty Appreciation event, held on April 4, 2012.

Zuffinetti was nominated for the award by Michelle Bailey and Melanie Ishida. Bailey, in her introduction of Zuffinetti noted that she nominated him because he flies into San Diego from Nashville, Tennessee once a week to teach "because he is genuinely passionate about teaching college students."

"I am honored to have been presented such a prestigious award and I am deeply thankful for the support of my students," said Zuffinetti. "I would like to extend my gratitude to the deans, Dr. Cunningham and Dr. Singh, for their support and guidance."

The Family Business course is a critical course in the undergraduate entrepreneurship specialization and supported by the Business Forum, a program supporting family businesses run by the Entrepreneurial Management Center. Founded over a century, ago, Alpha Kappa Psi is the oldest and largest co-ed business fraternity in the United States. The SDSU chapter was formed in 1986 and is open to students of all majors.

Leading BioTech Venture Capitalist at SDSU

The graduate course on Managing the Growing Entrepreneurial Firm offers students the unique opportunity to learn about the growth challenges of young companies. The course is regularly team taught in the spring semester by Dr. Alex DeNoble and Mr. Brian Dovey, a Senior Partner with Domain Associates, L.L.C. Domain Associates is a premier venture capital firm with an exclusive focus on biotechnology, life sciences, and medical devices. The company has a combined 260 person-years of experience across healthcare and venture capital industries, and it has grown over 245 life-sciences companies. Mr. Dovey brings a distinct perspective to the course, providing the MBA students with a venture capitalist’s view on entrepreneurship. Students learn ways to grow valuation through analyzing cases of Mr. Dovey’s previous investments. Near the end of the semester Brian Dovey helps students connect the VC view to entrepreneurship by holding a Domain Venture Partner meeting at SDSU, bringing case exposure to real-time.

Jerry Halamuda, Founder of ColorSpot Nursery

Wednesday, February 29th, 2012, CEO and Founder Jerry Halamuda presented ten ways not to kill your business, and how those key tactics can turn a small start-up into a multimillion-dollar business. Mr. Halamuda covered key topics in business and shared both his successes and his failures. Gregg Anderson, Entrepreneur Society President claims "The value of having a CEO in here that started his business from the ground up, from filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy, to building a business with a dominant market share in their industry, is absolutely indispensable."

Over 40 students in attendance asked a lot of difficult questions about not only just the business side of how Mr. Halamuda built his business, bust they asked difficult questions about how that ties into his personal life, and how to obtain a balance between work and life.

EMC Announced 22 Student Internships in Spring 2012

This Spring 2012, the Entrepreneurial Management Center (EMC) announced 24 student internships across its Qualcomm Social Entrepreneur Internship Program, EMC Internship Program, and the WebCompass Program. These internships enhance the students' education through experiential learning and, in addition, are valuable assets for the companies involved.

The EMC's Qualcomm Social Entrepreneur Internship Program placed five MS/MBA students with non-profit agencies, and the EMC Internship Program placed five graduate and undergraduate interns with for-profit organizations. These ten interns serve as consultants for strategic and/or entrepreneurial focused initiatives for some of the following companies:

• Junior Achievement of San Diego & Imperial Counties
• Goodwill Industries of San Diego
• Local Initiative Support Corporation
• Mental Health Systems
• Ocean Discovery Institute
• Nan McKay & Associates
• ShowUHow
• Paradise Found Real Estate San Diego
• Investing House

Additionally, the WebCompass program for Spring 2012 has taken on four clients, one non-profit and three for profit businesses, spanning across the action sports, education, legal, and design industries. Twelve students are involved in these projects that involve strategic branding, website development, and search engine optimization.

Monumental Entrepreneur Meets SDSU Students

Thursday, February 23, 2012 Leonard Lavin, founder of Alberto Culver Company and benefactor of SDSU's Entrepreneurial Management Center's Lavin Programs, joined 20 student leaders from SDSU for lunch. During the luncheon Leonard read excerpts from his book "Winners Make It Happen", shared stories of his successes and his challenges. He also imparted words of wisdom and encouragement to the students.

Qualcomm Partners with EMC, Providing 2012 Social Entrepreneurial Internships

On February 16th, SDSU students, faculty advisors, Qualcomm mentors, and participating non-profit agencies kicked off the spring 2012 Qualcomm EMC Social Entrepreneur Internship Program. The program places MS/MBA students with non-profit agencies to serve as consultants for strategic and/or entrepreneurial focused initiatives.

This Spring 2012, the EMC placed five SDSU MBA intern-consultants for the following non-profit organizations: Junior Achievement of San Diego and Imperial Counties, Goodwill Industries of San Diego, Local Initiative Support Corporation, Mental Health Systems, and Ocean Discovery Institute. The intern projects serve as experiential learning for the student interns and as valuable assets for the non-profit companies.

EMC Business Forum Holds Private Equity Event

Approximately 125 local business people, SDSU business students and faculty gathered at the Hyatt Regency La Jolla at Aventine on February 1, 2012 to listen to a panel of representatives from the private equity and venture capital community to discuss funding strategies and what they look for as potential investments. This event was put on by the Entrepreneurial Management Center at San Diego State University.

Panelists Joel Gragg (Huntington Capital), Craig Dupper (Solis Capital Partners), Lou Caballero (Bison Capital) and Ed Fyfe (Fyfe Group) provided insight to the investment process and mutual investor and investee needs. Mr. Fyfe recounted his experiences as a recipient of venture private equity capital, while the other three panelists described the inner workings of various funding scenarios. Many of those in attendance were entrepreneurs who were seeking information about, or actively pursuing investment funding. The event culminated in a lively question and answer session along with networking among the active participants.

SDG&E Partners with Entrepreneurial Management Center to Offer Strategic Growth Planning for Entrepreneurs

Twenty small company owners from Diverse Business Enterprises in Southern California received guidance and consultation from San Diego State University faculty, staff, and MBA consultants during October – November, 2011 Strategic Growth Planning Program. The Program was supported by SDG&E’s partnership with SDSU’s Entrepreneurial Management Center and offered participants 40 hours of lectures, case discussions, and breakout sessions.

The participating entrepreneurs were exposed to resources to aid in business growth. Through the help of MBA consultants and program staff, each entrepreneur developed a business improvement project to help guide their strategic growth initiatives. Participants gained help with identifying and pursing growth opportunities and learned how to align their businesses to pursue the growth opportunities. The program gave participants strategies for evaluating business improvements and mitigating risks. Participants were prepared to apply new growth initiatives through learning new tactics that gain financial requirements needed to make company growth happen.

Costco's CEO Jim Sinegal Featured at Special SDSU Event

On May 2nd, 2011 Costco's CEO Jim Sinegal was featured in the 13th annual L. Robert Payne Lecture Series. The Series began in 1996 with a gift from San Diego State University Alum Bob Payne, who is a successful entrepreneur and long-time supporter of SDSU’s Entrepreneurial Management Center. The EMC annually brings an outstanding entrepreneur to SDSU to speak and interact with students, faculty, and alumni during the Lecture Series. This past year, the EMC brought Costco’s CEO Jim Sinegal to inspire next generation entrepreneurs with Costco’s stories on growth and allegiance to providing the best deals to customers amidst challenging economic times.

The 2011 Lecture Series was a unique opportunity for students to meet and listen to, according to a recent Forbes article, one of the “hero CEO’s” of this generation. Jim Sinegal being the co-founder of Costco helped build the start-up into $76 billion juggernaut that continues to grow. Mr. Sinegal is a person who believes in valuing employees through paying his employees fairly, encouraging de-centralized decision-making, and paying himself a modest salary. Jim Sinegal’s goals for his business endeavors involve long-term thinking, with the hope of building a company that will be here years from now.

Family Business Seminar for Students

The workshop will take place on Saturday, October 30th from 9am until noon at the Entrepreneurial Management Center located in the Gateway Center Building (right next to KPBS) and is being led by Carmen Bianchi, an SDSU lecturer and expert family business consultant.

We encourage you to come with your parents to this workshop as we will go through The Family Enterprise System and teach you how to differentiate between family and the family business. You will learn how to leave your emotions at the door when you walk into the business and not bring the dining room table into the board room and vice versa. You will come away understanding how to create boundaries and structure in a family business. 87% of all the businesses in the USA are family owned or family controlled and we at SDSU are here to help you remain healthy and successful. If you have any questions concerning this seminar, please contact Carmen Bianchi, Director of Family Business Forum, at cbianchi@emc.sdsu.edu. In order to register for the event, please contact Sprigley Allan at sallan@emc.sdsu.edu.

The Future of Action Sports Panel
Featuring Top Executives in the Action Sports Industry

The Future of Action Sports Panel
October, 21st 2010 at 6:00pm
the Aztec Athletic Center Auditorium

On October 21st, a panel of executives from the action sports industry will be visiting the SDSU campus to discuss the future of the industry. The panel will feature the following:

• Jeff Roberts, V.P. of Retail Sales for Volcom
• Tim Garrett, Former President of Lost and Founder of The Action Sports Collective
• Carl Petterson, Founder of H2O Audio
• John Wilson, Former President of Reef and Co-Founder and President of Stance

The panelists will give brief presentations discussing how they became involved in action sports as well as the current state and future of the industry. The audience will then have the opportunity to ask questions and receive answers from the experts. Don’t miss this great opportunity to learn about action sports and see where the industry is headed!

Several students will be randomly selected to receive the V.I.P. Treatment at the Event. These students will receive 2 reserved seats in the front of the auditorium for themselves and a friend and they will have the opportunity to meet the panelists and take pictures with them after the event. To learn more about this opportunity, please contact Janet Noyes at jnoyes@emc.sdsu.edu.

Entrepreneur Society Will Host Todd Durkin at SDSU

The Entrepreneur Society will kick off the fall semester with a motivational talk from Todd Durkin. Todd is a strength, speed, & conditioning coach, personal trainer and motivational speaker/coach. He is the 2005 ACE Personal Trainer of the Year and the 2004 IDEA Personal Trainer of the Year. Men's Journal has named Todd one of the top 100 trainers in the United States and top 5 in Southern California. Todd owns and directs Fitness Quest 10, a premier, cutting-edge center for Health & Human Performance in San Diego, CA that focuses on personal training, strength & conditioning, Pilates, therapeutic massage & bodywork, and yoga. He has authored over a dozen DVDs and videos and is highly sought after as a fitness expert and motivational speaker. As a former professional football quarterback, he works with dozens of elite NFL, MLB, and professional athletes—LaDainian Tomlinson, Drew Brees, Donnie Edwards, Quentin Jammer, and Mark Prior, among others.

The Entrepreneur Society is thrilled to have Todd come speak to SDSU Students. The event will be open to all students on a first come, first serve basis. Space is limited so please make an effort to arrive early on Thursday, September 16th at the Aztec Athletic Center Auditorium.

If you have any questions, please contact Janet Noyes at jnoyes@emc.sdsu.edu.

2010 EMC Entrepreneurs Golf Tournament

The Entrepreneurial Management Center hosted its first annual EMC Entrepreneurs Golf Tournament on Thursday, May 27, 2010 at The Crossings in Carlsbad. The tournament was a fun time for all! Over 90 SDSU alums, entrepreneurs and local senior level executives participated in the tournament. Nine MBA Students had the opportunity to play in foursomes with these local business leaders. Everyone had a great day playing golf and networking.

The Entrepreneurial Management Center would like to extend a special thank you to our sponsors. Without their support, our programs and efforts on the SDSU campus would not be possible.

A Big Thank You to: