Our Zell Fellows Venture Further

Introduced during the 2013-14 academic year and funded by Sam Zell, the Zell Fellows Program at the Kellogg School of Management is designed to be a unique, applied entrepreneurial experience for a select number of MBA candidates. The program includes three new venture tracks: Consumer & Enterprise, for students aspiring to launch a business in the B2B or B2C space, Healthcare, to address the unique regulatory, R&D, intellectual property, strategic partnerships, and other challenges that these startups face, and Emerging Markets & Social Impact, to help students starting ventures located in developing economies or ventures with social impact. The fourth track of the program, Acquisition & Ownership, is for students approaching entrepreneurship through acquiring and/or growing a business.

Zell Fellows are known not only for their intellect, drive and entrepreneurial passion, but also for their humility, collegiality and desire to support other aspiring entrepreneurs. The program provides mentoring, leadership coaching, and guidance that will help each Fellow attain personal as well as professional goals. Whether you’re looking to launch a startup or acquire an existing venture, the Zell Fellows Program offers the tools, resources and community you need to chart your entrepreneurial career.

Kellogg Zell Fellows are also a part of the larger Zell Global Entrepreneur Network, a network of entrepreneurs throughout the world who were also selected to be part of the program. In these few years since the program began, the Zell Fellows program has built a reputation that brings students to Kellogg for the potential of participating in career-changing opportunities.

In 2016, the Kellogg Zell Fellows program received the “Outstanding Contribution to Venture Creation” award from the Greater Consortium of Entrepreneurial Centers.

Read about the program as well as several recent Zell Fellow startups in this Poets & Quants article: Off the 2018 Launchpad: Kellogg’s Hottest MBA Startups.
The deadline for Spring applications is October 7, 2018, 11:59 p.m. Applications will only be accepted electronically, and late applications will not be accepted.

Congratulations to the 2018-19 Zell Fellows!

Expand the accordion for each track to see a complete listing of the newest Zell Fellows.

Consumer & Enterprise Track

The Consumer & Enterprise (originally known as New Venture) track was the original track of the program and is designed for students interested in creating lasting value as they start their own ventures. Businesses that students are working on will be as market-ready and as fundable as possible by graduation, but ultimately, the program aims to launch entrepreneurs.

Program Highlights

Among other experiences, students in the Consumer & Enterprise track of the program benefit from:
  • Weekly speakers willing to share their particular expertise
  • Visits and facility tours to area startups
  • Community building activities such as a Second City improv workshop and a visit to the Greater Chicago Food Depository
  • A full leadership coaching program, including a leadership assessment tool and personalized leadership coaching
  • Mentorship and feedback from the Zell Council
  • An annual trek to Israel to visit entrepreneurs and build community with Fellows from IDC Herzliya
  • Conference attendance

Full Listing of Consumer & Enterprise Fellows

2018-19 Cohort
Sam Abidi '19 / Phelps2020
Kimmie Carey '19 / The Dose Co.
Benjamin Cherrey '19 / Off-Grid
David Costello '19 / Scoots
Alex Eng '19 / SLATE
Daniel Kolb '19 / Commit
Cara Morphew '19 / BeenThere Technologies
Adam Motley '19 / UnChair
Ali Shaikha '19 / RoundTwo

2017-18 Cohort
Nick Anastasiades ’18 / 2ndKitchen
Jennifer Barron ’18 / OutFox
Kathryn Bernell ’18 / reBLEND
Allison Brown ’18 / Cariset
Rei Kawano ’18 / Heed Foods
Chase Michalek ’18 / Hilltop Health
Brittany Phillips ’18 / Carewaye
Milan Raj ’18 / Shaadi Destinations
Adam Swick ’18 / Swick Capital

2016-17 Cohort
Saumya ’17 / Kheyti
Nathan Cooper ’17 / Wise Apple
Rachael Feuerborn ’17 / Finch
Roshni Khurana ’17 / The Right Hook
Jared Scharen ’17 / eRetirements
Tiffany Smith ’17 / Tiltas
Carolyn Snider ’17 / Welltended
Eduardo Uriarte Ruiz ’17 / Kairos
Rachel Xanttopoulos ’17 / Daybreak

2015-16 Cohort
Tushar Garg ’16 / FlyHomes
Jordan Hollander ’16 / Citykey
Nidheesh Patel ’16 / Carvnient
Blair Pircon ’16 / The Graide Network
Bobby Powers ’16 / SharEd
Justin Saeheng ’16 / IFM Technologies 
Beth Santos ’16 / Wanderful
Asaf Segev ’16 / Syteful 
Rebecca Sholiton ’16 / Wise Apple

2014-15 Cohort
Lorena Arathoon ’15 / Snackerie
Jeremy Bolian ’15 /Acentive
Jesse Chang ’16 / MDAR Technologies, Inc.
Michael Jung ’15 / UroProx
Stephen Lane ’16 / FlyHomes
Priya Mathew ’15 / Practico
Luciana Silva De Oliveira ’15 / New Hope Ecotech
Kieren Patel ’16 / Opticent Health
Gaurav Shenai ’15 / Touchtrail
Tyler Wanke ’15 / Innoblative

2013-14 Cohort
Ty Benefiel ’14 / MeterGenius
Christopher Chon ’14 / Leonard & Church
Mathew Elenjickal ’14 / Four Kites
Vaibhov Goel ’14 / Tuplee 
Travis Granger ’14 / Arbyl
April (Yong Kyung) Kim ’14 / Chatting Cat
Daniel Klein ’15 / REPP
Jeremy O’Briant ’14 / License Buddy
Jason Sandler ’15 / Innoblative

Acquisition & Ownership Track

The Acquisition & Ownership track is designed for students wanting to prepare for acquiring a company sometime in the future. Students interested in this track may be interested in the search fund model, working as an entrepreneur in residence at a PE firm, becoming involved in their family business, or another of the many paths to owning a company.

Program Highlights

Among other experiences, students in the Acquisition & Ownership track of the program benefit from:
  • Professionals discussing the various paths to entrepreneurship for those not starting a new venture
  • Subject matter experts discussing the how-to’s of acquiring and running a business
  • Visits and facility tours to growth ventures in the area
  • Community building activities such as a Second City improv workshop and a visit to the Greater Chicago Food Depository
  • A full leadership coaching program, including a leadership assessment tool and personalized leadership coaching
  • Professional sales coaching
  • Mentorship and feedback from the Zell Council
  • An annual trek to visit growth companies and build community within the cohort
  • Conference attendance

Full Listing of Acquisition & Ownership Fellows

2018-19 Cohort
Maggie Bouscaren '19
Ian Goldberg '19
Dan Kish '19
Isauro Reyna Valenciana '19
Fernando Ribeiro '19
Andro Rodriguez '19
Nick Seger '19
Robbie Sutkay '19
Blake Toll '19
Mayank Vijayvergia '19

2017-18 Cohort
Jose Anguis Horno ’18
Nate Barajas ’18
Anthony Cardona ’18
Lauren Davis ’18
Russell Johnston ’18
Carr Lanphier ’18
Marcella Lobo ’18
Timothy Novick ’18
Charlie Pratt ’18
Richard Roman ’18

2016-17 Cohort
Ayu Djaputra ’17
Blair Kessler ’17
Matthew Dellen ’17
Matthew McGarry ’17
Stanley Rodos ’17
Ashish Rohil ’17
Jay Shah ’17

2015-16 Cohort
Shaun Currie ’16
Ray Fan ’16
John Griffin ’16
Tommy Jackson ’16
Elise Krieger ’16
Will Wright ’16
Margaret Yeager ’17

Healthcare Track

In 2016-17, a Healthcare track was added to the program. Students starting healthcare ventures face special challenges that are materially different than students in the other tracks of the program, including regulatory and FDA issues, advanced R&D, intellectual property, strategic partnerships, licensing, etc. The Healthcare track aims to support the needs of students starting these ventures.

Program Highlights

In addition to the program benefits afforded all of the Fellows, students in the Healthcare track of the program receive:
  • Membership at MATTER, a community of entrepreneurs working on tech-enabled healthcare innovation
  • A personalized mentorship and education program individually developed for each Fellow by the team at MATTER
  • Regulatory guidance from domain experts

Full Listing of Healthcare Fellows

2018-19 Cohort
Jonathan Bateman '19 / CocoHealth
Kyle Metz '19 / Jabiru Medical LLC
Tim Taxter '19

2017-18 Cohort Ben Beidler ’18 / Novosight
Andrew Cabodi ’18 / BackWave Technologies
Dianna He ’18 / Sit the Moon Health
David Nguyen ’18 / okam health
Kyle Wildnauer Haigney ’18 / ScriptPass

2016-17 Cohort
Barath Anandakumar ’17 / ActiWit
Gal Ben Dor ’17 / Getoo
Todd Cruikshank ’17 / Surgical Innovation Associates
Smit Naik ’17 / Actualize Therapy
Eloy Vinuales ’17 / PrediCare

Emerging Markets & Social Impact Track

In 2017-18, an Emerging Markets track was added to the program. Students starting ventures in developing economies face special challenges that are materially different than students in the other tracks of the program. For 2018-19, this track will be expanded to include students starting ventures with Social Impact.

Program Highlights

Students in the year’s Emerging Markets & Social Impact track will benefit from all of the same features of all of the tracks, with additional programming to best support the needs of students starting these ventures.

Full Listing of Emerging Markets & Social Impact Fellows

2018-19 Cohort
Layon Costa '19 / GetNuts
Enrique Evoli '19 / Estudio IDE
Sahar Jamal '19 / Maziwa
Shreya Khandelwal '19 / NutriBliss
Stephane Manuel '19 / TrueFiktion
Don Meier '19 / LineShift
Sam Schiller '19
Julian Sheinbaum '19 / Empowered

2017-18 Cohort
Chioma Aladi ’18 / ENG Women
Nakul Khanna ’18 / Instago
Alejandro Orvananos Obregon ’18 / Qualtrium
Zain Shahzad ’18 / Allif
Patrick Tagny Diesse ’18 / Afiri

Zell Fellows Stats

Venture Startups

Venture Funding Raised

Venture Jobs Created

Acquisition Pursuits

Featured Fellow Successes

Innoblative

Tyler Wanke ’15 MMM

FourKites

Mathew Elenjickal ’14 2YMBA

Kheyti

Saumya ’17 2YMBA
Load More

Application Process

The Zell Fellows Program will include four tracks for 2018-19: three new venture tracks: Consumer & Enterprise, for students aspiring to launch a business in the B2B or B2C space, Healthcare, to address the unique regulatory, R&D, intellectual property, strategic partnerships, and other challenges that these startups face, and Emerging Markets & Social Impact, to help students starting ventures located in developing economies or ventures with social and/or environmental impact, and the Acquisition & Ownership track for students approaching entrepreneurship through one of the many paths to entrepreneurship through acquisition, including a search fund, self-funded search, apprenticeship, family business, or entrepreneur-in-residence program.

The Zell Fellows Program is open to any Kellogg full-time second-year, 1Y, MMM, JDMBA, MDMBA or Evening & Weekend student who can be available for all of the activities.

Key dates for the 2018-2019 program are as follows:

Key Dates - Application Process

Date Time Info
September 28, 2018
12:15 - 1:15 p.m.
Zell Fellows Program Info Session; applications are open
October 7, 2018
11:59 p.m.
Zell Fellows Program Application Deadline
October 10, 2018
2:30 - 5:30 p.m.
Zell Fellows Program Applicant Activity (required)
Weeks of October 15 and 22, 2018
 
Zell Fellows Interviews
October 26, 2018
 
2018-2019 Zell Fellows Invitations Issued

Key Program Dates

Date Info
November 09-10
Fall Trek
December 10-13, exact dates TBD
Individual Track Treks
Spring Break, exact dates TBD
Israel and Individual Track Treks
Visit from IDC in June, exact dates TBD
ZGEN Gathering at Kellogg

Application

The application is available here. Applications will only be accepted electronically and late applications will not be accepted.

About Sam Zell

Sam Zell is a global, opportunistic, often contrarian, investor. He specializes in identifying market anomalies and emerging trends, and has a long track record in turning around troubled companies and assets, leading industry consolidations, and bringing companies to the public markets. Much of his investment portfolio is in energy, logistics, transportation, manufacturing, communications and healthcare, but he is often best known for his pioneering role and stewardship in creating the modern commercial real estate industry.

Sam is the Chairman of Equity Group Investments, his private investment firm. He chairs five companies listed on the NYSE: Equity Residential; Equity LifeStyle Properties; Equity Commonwealth; Covanta Holding Corporation; and Anixter International Inc. He also chairs Equity International, a private equity firm he founded to focus on opportunities outside of the U.S.

Sam is recognized for his advocacy of corporate governance, particularly in real estate and in the emerging markets. He is an active philanthropist with a focus on entrepreneurial education. He holds a JD degree and a BA from the University of Michigan.

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