The Mind Trust, an Indianapolis-based education reform nonprofit, runs the Education Entrepreneur Fellowship, a nationally unique incubator designed to empower the nation’s most promising education entrepreneurs.

Press Release

Chicago, IL – Teams of MBA students from top business schools across the country will compete this weekend to address start-up challenges faced by education entrepreneurs committed to transforming the nation’s public education system. Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management has partnered with The Mind Trust to create this event to engage America’s future leaders in education reform around The Mind Trust’s Education Entrepreneur Fellowship.

The Mind Trust, an Indianapolis-based education reform nonprofit, runs the Education Entrepreneur Fellowship, a nationally unique incubator designed to empower the nation’s most promising education entrepreneurs to develop, build and launch transformational education enterprises. Through the Fellowship, The Mind Trust brings exceptionally talented people into public education to dramatically improve education outcomes in underserved communities.

This year’s competition focuses on Education Entrepreneur Fellow, Earl Martin Phalen and his recently launched summer learning program, Summer Advantage USA. Mr. Phalen piloted his Summer Advantage program in Indianapolis this summer serving nearly 800 students, mostly from low-income families. Summer Advantage scholars showed approximately 3 months of academic gains during the 5-week learning and enrichment program. At the case competition, the teams will present recommendations for a growth strategy for Summer Advantage as it scales in Indianapolis and nationally to serve even more students in need.

Ten teams of four students each hail from the following schools: Yale University's School of Management, The University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business, Stanford University's Graduate School of Business, Duke University's Fuqua School of Business, The University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business, and Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management.

The case was researched and written by a group of Kellogg students and distributed to the competing teams two-weeks before the event for their review. The winning team will receive a cash prize of $2,000. Presentations will be evaluated by a panel of well-respected judges from the private, non-profit, academic and education sectors including:

· Julayne Austin, Managing Director, Education Pioneers-Chicago

· David Harris, President and Chief Executive Officer, The Mind Trust

· Liz Howard, Assoc. Dir. of the Center for Nonprofit Management, Kellogg School of Management

· Janet Knupp, President and CEO, Chicago Public Education Fund

· Pranav Kothari, Managing Director, Mission Measurement

· Bruno Manno, Senior Program Associate for Education, Annie E. Casey Foundation

· Mark Medema, Education Consultant

· Earl Phalen, Founder, Summer Advantage USA

· Jarvis Sanford, Managing Director, Academy for Urban School Leadership

· Walter Scott, Clinical Professor of Management, Kellogg School of Management

Team presentations will be held from 9:15 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 24 in Wieboldt Hall located at 339 E. Chicago Avenue on Kellogg’s downtown Chicago campus. Finalist presentations will begin at 1:00 p.m. and an awards ceremony will take place at 2:30 p.m.

For more information, please contact Jamie Jones, Kellogg School of Management at (847) 467-0849 or

jamie-jones@kellogg.northwestern.edu.

About Kellogg School of Management

The Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University was founded in 1908 and is widely recognized as a global leader in management education. The school, located just outside of Chicago, is home to a renowned, research-based faculty and MBA students from around the globe. The Kellogg School’s academic portfolio includes the Full-Time, Part-Time and Executive MBA Programs, the Ph.D. Program, and the non-degree Executive Education Program. The school offers three joint-degree programs: the JD-MBA, MD-MBA and the MMM (MBA-MEM). Additionally, the Kellogg School of Management offers an Executive MBA Program in Miami and has alliances with business schools in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Canada. To learn more, visit www.kellogg.northwestern.edu.

Source: The Mind Trust