An ENTR Alum Brings Entrepreneurial Skills to Consulting
Michael Fouch is a Boilermaker, twice over. In 2016, he earned an undergraduate degree in Management Information Systems, and in 2018 received a master’s degree in Human Resource Management in 2018. Both degrees were from Krannert, now known as the Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business.
Today, Michael works as a Senior Consultant for Deloitte. Deloitte is a leading global provider of audit and assurance, consulting, financial advisory, risk advisory, tax and related services. As a sophomore at Purdue, he was fascinated with the idea of starting a new business, which is what led him to the Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation. He credits the program for shaping his career in a very positive way by challenging him to be creative and innovative, and giving him the opportunity to explore what the ‘maker’ in Boilermaker truly stands for.
In his current role at Deloitte, Michael works with people from all over the world and with different disciplinary backgrounds. He says the ENTR program helped him understand various perspectives when approaching business decisions. For example, for his ENTR 20000 (Introduction to Entrepreneurship and Innovation) course project, his team explored a business venture that minimized rote memorization and made learning more interactive for elementary and middle school students. Through this project, he learned about prototypes, market research, funding, dealing with uncertainty, and the teamwork necessary to overcome barriers. He says that his ENTR education extended far beyond the classroom into actual, on-the-job skills, which he has brought to consulting.
Michael would like to see even more students enroll in Purdue’s Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program, so they are equipped to turn their ideas and dreams into reality. He appreciates the ENTR faculty, who he describes as extremely supportive and approachable. He fondly remembers his instructor, Mike Cassidy, telling him that it is OK not to be perfect. He says that entrepreneurship will involve failing at some point, and it was Mike’s mentorship that continues to motivate him to turn failures into something positive, which does in both his life and career.