Business & Entrepreneurship
Recognizing Needs, Creating Businesses, and Investing in Them
From Main Street to Wall Street, the business world is both dynamic and exciting. This two-week program will not only open your eyes to some of the intricate dynamics of the field but will also serve as a solid foundation to understanding how businesses function. From daily stock tracking to keynote speakers to stimulating field trips, you will have the opportunity to delve deeper into your comprehension of business while simultaneously applying that knowledge to daily challenges.
Co-facilitated by senior-level staff from the University’s Investment Office and the Gigot Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, you will have access to faculty members from Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business and entrepreneurs from the area. By living on campus, taking classes in Mendoza, engaging in pertinent field work, experiencing a trip to the Grotto, and of course indulging in dining hall food, you will literally live the life of a Notre Dame Business student!
Intriguing lectures on topics including Business Ethics, Communications and Public Speaking, Investing in Stocks, Real Estate, and Business Law will help you gain a broad appreciation for Finance, Investing, and Entrepreneurship. Teams will be formed early in the week to allow ample time to engage in various team building exercises and group work with a strong set of other pre-college students. The week culminates in a formal, final event in which your team will present your project in a simulated business-presentation environment.
Business is one aspect of our society that will continue to reward those who have a broad understanding of their field and can subsequently apply their strengths to specific areas. At the conclusion of this program, you will have begun to lay that foundation and hopefully be on your way to identifying your key area of interest. Furthermore, you should have an improved understanding of how investors and entrepreneurs think, what the college experience at Notre Dame is like, and how your own college experience will ultimately position you to enter the business world!
Academic Directors
Joshua D. Francis is a Program Manager and Facilitator for the Profitable Idea Exchange (PIE). He holds an MBA in Entrepreneurship and Technology from the University of Notre Dame and received his undergraduate degree from Brigham Young University.
Mr. Francis’ professional experience ranges from running a family fireworks stand to leading sales, marketing, and new product development for a .com startup company to performing research and due diligence on medical device startups for the Irish Angels, Notre Dame’s network of venture capitalists and angel investors. While attending the University of Notre Dame, Mr. Francis won the McCloskey business plan competition with a plan for selling event tickets for professional sports teams (currently known as Flash Seats and is used by the Cleveland Cavaliers) and then took a position with the Gigot Center for Entrepreneurial Studies to help redesign the educational content and participant resources associated with the business plan competitions.
The Profitable Idea Exchange (PIE) is a professional services boutique that specializes in spreading best practices among C-level executives from Fortune 500 companies. Mr. Francis works with groups of CFO’s, CIO’s and CPO’s from various industries in order to keep tabs on industry trends and capitalize on key learnings.
Mark C. Krcmaric will direct the investment portion of this program. Mark received his B.S. in Pre-Professional Studies from the University of Notre Dame in 1980, and his M.B.A.-J.D. from Indiana University at Bloomington in 1983. Upon graduation, he joined Barnes & Thornburg, one of Indiana’s largest law firms and became a partner of the firm in 1991. He returned to Notre Dame in November 1998, and serves as Managing Director for Finance and Administration in the University’s Investment Office.
During his years in the legal profession, Mr. Krcmaric practiced in the areas of corporate law and finance, banking, securities offerings and compliance, and tax-exempt debt financings and related capital planning for local governmental entities and non-profit institutions. He was a registered lobbyist, interacting with legislators and drafting statutory provisions and rules, gave speeches about legal and financial matters, including at continuing legal education programs for lawyers, and published articles on topics related to local governmental finance, securities law issues in corporate acquisitions, general corporate law, and interstate banking.
In his current role in the Investment Office, Mr. Krcmaric oversees accounting, performance reporting, and other operational aspects of the University’s investment portfolio, and is also responsible for investment contracts, tax and other regulatory issues, and the investment of the University’s charitable trusts.
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