Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship

We are a dedicated institute for student entrepreneurs across campus and beyond. We aim to maximize your success by fostering your entrepreneurial mindset, promote inter-disciplinary collaboration and provide support for the creation and development of your new ventures. Jumpstart your ideas and get involved today!

Tune in for excitement!

Passion. Potential. Pitches. Don't miss any of the 2025 New Venture Challenge excitement.

Tune in Friday, April 11 at 1 p.m. for great ideas and fierce competition. Then, join the judges, mentors, spectators and teams as they see who is going home with thousands of dollars in venture financing. The awards broadcast begins at 6:30 p.m. and one team will walk away as the overall best venture.

2025 NVC Competition Live Stream

2025 NVC Awards Live Stream

Start your entrepreneurial journey

Central Michigan University’s College of Business Administration is the home of the Isabella Bank Institute for Entrepreneurship and the first Department of Entrepreneurship in the state of Michigan. We are a student-centric hub where experiential, curricular, and external entrepreneurial opportunities intersect.

Our mission is to maximize student success by fostering a campus-wide entrepreneurial mindset that promotes inter-disciplinary collaboration and the creation of new ventures.

We aim to create innovative programming, boost cross-campus and ecosystem collaboration and provide a comprehensive mentoring program.

Our institute provides extracurricular opportunities and is open to all undergraduate and graduate CMU students.

Student opportunities

Meet experienced alumni, faculty, entrepreneurs, investors, and other business and political leaders.
Learn practical skills, innovative thinking, and connect with mentors and entrepreneurial resources.
Attend skill-building workshops and compete in pitch competitions and Hackathons.
Take part in special scholarship programs and travel experiences.
Pitch your venture at our signature New Venture Challenge event and compete for up to $20,000 in cash awards.

Find your path

Are you interested in becoming an entrepreneur?

Every journey is unique. Explore the opportunities that interest you.

A student standing with a faculty member holding big winning checks from the New Venture Challenge 2024.

Start up

Build up your venture idea.

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A student smiling and standing in front of his venture display at the 2024 New Venture Challenge.

Family business

Explore the Alternative Entrepreneurial Pathways category at NVC.

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A close-up of the Prusa i3 MK3 printer in the entrepreneurship makerspace, the IDEA Den in Grawn Hall 166.

Product and prototype design

Create and patent your ideas.

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Innovation

Explore your ideas and build your skills.

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CMU alumnus named Head of Global Channel Sales at Ermetic

by Mackenzie Miller

Cloud infrastructure security company, Ermetic, recently hired Central Michigan University alumnus, Scott Hoard (BS ’91), as the company’s new Head of Global Channel Sales.

Hoard joins Ermetic from Fortanix where he served as Area Vice President of Americas Channels and developed and led the company’s Fortanix Partners First program. Prior to Fortanix, Scott was Head of Global Channels for Corelight. He has also held senior channel positions with Kenna Security, A10 Networks, Barracuda Networks and Imperva. He is a 1991 graduate of CMU, earning a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration.

Hoard describes how his degree from CMU helped him build an extensive career in business:

Q. What brought you to CMU?

Hoard: “CMU was well known as the top school for teachers in the state and also had a fantastic college of business. Like many young people, I was undecided about choosing a lifelong career path. I was interested in pursuing either a career as an educator or in business. CMU was the obvious choice in Michigan to achieve either goal.”

Q. How was your CMU experience?

Hoard: “Academically, CMU was challenging if you were to be accepted into the College of Business Administration. The professors were extremely helpful in fostering a successful environment. Dr. Thomas Anthony (business law) still stands out today as a great influence on real-world experience. Socially, CMU offered everything a student could want. Mount Pleasant was a great setting for fun, and the sports programs were well-followed at CMU.

Q. How did CMU help get you to where you are today?

Hoard: “Attending CMU was great preparation for the ‘real world.’ Passionate professors and social interaction fostered the keys to everyone’s development to succeed after graduation.”

About Ermetic helps prevent breaches by reducing the attack surface of cloud infrastructure and enforcing the least privilege at scale in the most complex environments. The Ermetic SaaS platform provides comprehensive cloud security for AWS, Azure and GCP that spans both cloud infrastructure entitlements management (CIEM) and cloud security posture management (CSPM). Ermetic has received funding from Accel, Forgepoint, Glilot Capital Partners, Norwest Venture Partners, Qumra and Target Global.