Purdue to host veterans for entrepreneurship program

October 28, 2013  


WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Purdue University will host 29 veterans beginning Friday (Nov. 1) for the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities.

Purdue's Krannert School of Management is one of eight schools at universities around the country that teach the bootcamp, which is aimed at helping post-9/11 veterans with disabilities start their own businesses.

The veterans will begin the program in Indianapolis where Mayor Greg Ballard will welcome them at an opening reception at the Indiana War Memorial.

The EBV students will be on the Purdue campus from Saturday evening through Nov. 9, which is Military Appreciation Day at Purdue. The EBV events will end with a commencement celebration at the Purdue Memorial Union.

Created at Syracuse University's Whitman School of Management in 2007, EBV teaches participants principles of entrepreneurship and small-business management. All expenses are paid.

The program is conducted in three phases: a self-study session in which veterans had access to the Ice House Entrepreneurship Program, a new online learning program; an intensive, on-campus residency session where veterans learn to develop their own business concepts and understand the basic elements of small-business management; and a 12-month mentorship with faculty experts at the participating universities.

Students are accepted into the program based on the quality of their proposals for starting their own businesses.

This year's Krannert class comes from 16 states, including two participants from Indiana: Ryan Bardes, an Army veteran from Indianapolis, and Jason Crook, a Marine veteran from Hebron.

EBV integrates faculty, entrepreneurs, disability experts and business professionals. Veterans receive instruction on topics such as feasibility and market analysis, supply chain management, and financing new ventures.

Among the speakers the veterans will hear are Krannert Dean Christopher Earley; Air Force Col. Tim Cahoon; Michael Haynie, EBV founder and executive director of the Institute for Military Families at Syracuse; 
William and Kathy Scheessele, MBDi Group
; Thomas Spurgeon, Purdue Board of Trustees chairman; 
Jack Ricchiutti, writer and engagement artist;  
Bonnie Harvey and Michael Houlihan, co-founders of Barefoot Winery; 
Les Meade, a judge and Purdue lecturer;  
Josh Lindblom, major league baseball player; 
Jack Plunkett, CEO of Plunkett Research; auto dealer 
Bob Rohrman; 
Jason Levin, partner in DLA Piper global law firm; Purdue football coach Darrell Hazell; Coast Guard Rear Adm. Thomas Ostebo; Dr. Tony Ratliff of Stony Creek Dentistry and MissionKonnect; and Eddie Rivers of Kids' Voice of Indiana.

The EBV participants will present their commercialization plans on Nov. 8 during a Purdue Military and Veterans Affairs Symposium at Krannert. The EBV class will be recognized at the Purdue-University of Iowa football game Nov. 9.

The veterans also will be visited during the week by a therapy cat and dogs from the Lafayette Caring Paws organization.

In addition to Krannert and Syracuse, others in the EBV consortium are the University of California, Los Angeles, Anderson School of Management; the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University; the Florida State University College of Business; the University of Connecticut School of Business; E.J. Ourso College of Business, Louisiana State University; and Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration.

More information on the EBV program can be found at http://www.krannert.purdue.edu/military/ebv/ 

Those wanting to attend the opening reception in Indianapolis can RSVP at that site.             

Writer: Judith Barra Austin, 765-494-2432, jbaustin@purdue.edu  

Source: Melissa Evens, Krannert director of military and veterans affairs, 765-494-4392, mevens@purdue.edu

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