Redefining Entrepreneurship

After more than a decade at Google, Sam Nana-Sinkam ‘10 made a dramatic career shift to focus on more meaningful work. Read about his sustainable agriculture venture here.
Redefining Entrepreneurship title
At Bucknell, entrepreneurship isn’t a profession. It’s a mindset. One that’s resilient, adaptable, creative and solution oriented. It’s an ethos that thrives in every pursuit, in any field. Discover how this dynamic entrepreneurial spirit has thrived — and is now poised to grow — at Bucknell.
by George Spencer

photograph by April Bartholomew

Redefining Entrepreneurship title
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o solve critical problems and spark meaningful change across any industry, you need innovative thinkers and resourceful problem-solvers. You need people who are versatile, who view challenges as opportunities and don’t flinch at risk or adversity. You need the people who, above all, are determined to add value to the world. You need entrepreneurs.

Entrepreneurs are often thought of as business moguls or startup founders. That’s a narrow view by Bucknell standards. At Bucknell, creative thinkers eager to forge new paths forward become equipped to not only launch businesses but also to spark change and advance society (see “Beyond Profits”).

Bucknell has furthered its commitment to entrepreneurship education with the launch of the Perricelli-Gegnas Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, made possible by a founding gift from Scott ’94, P’25 and Susan Gegnas Perricelli ’94, P’25. “We’re excited for the ways this new center will connect Bucknell’s three colleges and ensure that all students have the opportunity to strengthen critical skills,” Sue says. “It will be a hub for entrepreneurship for the entire Bucknell community and a differentiator for Bucknell.”

A cross-college team of faculty and administrators has been championing the effort: William Meek, the Campbell Rutledge Jr. and Eleanor Rutledge Chair in Management and Entrepreneurship; Erin Jablonski, associate dean of engineering; Emily Martin, the Ellen P. Williams Associate Professor in Music; Steven Stumbris, director of Bucknell’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC); and Sabrina Shankar, associate director of campus activities. Their mission is to bring together and expand Bucknell’s entrepreneurial programming to create a cohesive center.

“I believe that 10 years from now, Bucknell will be recognized as a national leader in entrepreneurship,” Meek says. “The University’s interdisciplinary focus will allow the center to provide guidance, mentorship, networking and experiential learning opportunities for an array of student interests. Bucknell is one of the first liberal arts universities to truly integrate entrepreneurship education and experiential offerings into the curriculum. This ensures that the new center will provide resources for all students.”

Scott and Susan Gegnas Perricelli posing side by side
Photo: Douglas Kilpatrick
Scott ’94, P’25 and Susan Gegnas Perricelli ’94, P’25 have provided the initial funding to launch the new Bucknell Perricelli-Gegnas Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation. “We are fortunate that our grandparents and parents were successful entrepreneurs,” Scott says. “Our Bucknell experience was critical in helping us become entrepreneurs and business owners, and we are excited to support the next generation.”
The Perricelli-Gegnas Center isn’t starting from scratch; it has quite the head start. Bucknell’s hallmark entrepreneurial programs include the SBDC’s BizPitch Competition, in which students develop ideas for new products and services and pitch their concepts to innovators and leaders to vie for prize money, and Management 101, in which students manage multi-divisional organizations that conduct service projects funded by selling products they create. Additionally, Bucknell’s arts leadership minor offers opportunities for students to understand how organizations execute and sustain nonprofit endeavors in the arts.

“Bucknell already has a diverse ecosystem for entrepreneurship with established infrastructure, including the SBDC’s community-based business incubators in downtown Lewisburg and nearby Danville,” Stumbris says. “The Perricelli-Gegnas Center will enable us to amplify our existing programs and expand them so we can reach more students and provide a more robust entrepreneurial experience.”

In the College of Engineering, Jablonski says engineers who participate in the long-established Nifty Idea Fund (see “Dream Funding”), which awards up to $500 to students with ideas for new ventures, will benefit from the interdisciplinary collaborations the center will foster. “Engineers constantly design, optimize and rethink how things are done,” says Jablonski. “Under the umbrella of the Perricelli-Gegnas Center, engineers will have the opportunity to co-create with faculty, staff and students from the College of Arts & Sciences, the Freeman College of Management and the greater Bucknell community. The center will bring people together for problem-solving and innovation.”

Martin, who runs a consulting company that works with performing artists to facilitate their communication with the public, sees tremendous opportunities for her students. “Artists are known to be creative and take risks,” she says. “A management major can learn from a music major how to think outside the box. A management major can help a music major think analytically about their creative practice.”

The Freeman College has already taken steps to expand its entrepreneurial offerings. In 2023, the college launched an entrepreneurship minor available to students from all majors plus an entrepreneurship concentration for management & organizations majors. The college will add a fourth entrepreneurial course to its catalog this year, and Meek says additional faculty with entrepreneurial expertise will be hired to support the center’s growth.

Meek says he aims to dispel the myth that entrepreneurs are born, not taught. He emphasizes that a robust education combining rigorous coursework and mentorship equips aspiring leaders with essential skills for success. And it offers them a competitive edge over those without formal training.

“At Bucknell, we are being intentional in our efforts to teach students to be thoughtful, systematic and persistent,” Meek says. “Our world is full of problems. It’s the people who see those problems as opportunities who achieve great things.”

group of people holding a large check from Hope Scholar
Photo: Courtesy of Hope Chicago

Beyond Profits

Entrepreneurs, no matter what field they’re in, share a common trait — a proactive, ‘I-can-make-things-better’ mindset. Meet five alumni who are driving positive change in an array of fields.

Seizing Every Opportunity

Pete Kadens ’00

Pete Kadens hugging a student that's wearing a graduation cap and gown
Photo: Courtesy of Hope Chicago
Through Hope Chicago, Pete Kadens ’00 funds scholarships for Chicago Public Schools graduates and adult family members eager to return to school and update their skills.
Pete Kadens ’00 believes his entrepreneurial spirit got a boost from his mild dyslexia. “My brain works differently,” says Kadens, who majored in political science. “I have this nonlinear thought process and an insatiable curiosity.”

These traits propelled him through a host of entrepreneurial ventures. In 2008, Kadens founded SoCore Energy, one of the nation’s largest solar companies. Six years later, he launched Green Thumb Industries, a cannabis operator valued at $3.5 billion today.

Kadens is driven by market demands, seeking opportunities where demand surpasses supply. His vision is reflected in his diverse array of ventures: He owns an engineering company in Pennsylvania, several funeral homes around the country and an acclaimed Honey Butter Fried Chicken restaurant in Chicago.

Kadens caught the entrepreneurial bug in Bucknell’s Management 101. “I loved everything about leading a company,” he says. “Making money, coming up with new ideas, innovating and making an impact in the community.”

This ethos led him in 2021 to establish Hope Chicago, a $1 billion nonprofit that gives scholarships to economically disadvantaged Chicago teens. He also chairs The Kadens Family Foundation, which provides paths out of poverty through education access.

His advice to future entrepreneurs is to embrace the uncertainty. “Entrepreneurship is never straight up,” he says. “The peaks and valleys make it challenging — but also exciting.”

Joya Dass at a dinner table with other women
Photo: Courtesy of Joya Dass ‘95

Empowering Leaders

Joya Dass ’95

Joya Dass giving a speech on camera
Photo: Courtesy of Joya Dass ‘95
Joya Dass ’95 developed a coaching business to help women build confidence to thrive professionally and realize their career ambitions.
Joya Dass ’95 learned an important lesson at Bucknell: She needed to be responsible for her own success. In her sophomore year, she was informed that her tuition bill had not been paid by her parents. Dass hustled and worked with the finance office to obtain loans to fund her education.

“That ended up being an empowering experience. It taught me to set the vision for my life and not be dependent on others,” says Dass, who double-majored in English and psychology. “I think that’s why I’m an entrepreneur. I like having control.”

Dass runs the Women’s Leadership Lab, in which she helps executive-level workers advance their careers. Her flagship coaching initiative, the Samita Lab Mastermind, is a yearlong program focused on helping women with professional growth and public speaking. The experience culminates with each participant presenting a TEDx-style talk on a New York City stage.

Prior to launching her lab, Dass spent two decades as a broadcast journalist. The skills she honed — how to tell a compelling story, communicate succinctly and project confidence — now inform her coaching. “I help women develop the tools to become powerful leaders, realize their goals and command a room.”

Planting Seeds for the Future

Sam Nana-Sinkam ’10

Sam Nana-Sinkam with animals on a farm
Photo: April Bartholomew
At Bloom Farm in Oley, Pa., Sam Nana-Sinkam ’10 is involved in all operations, including caring for alpacas and llamas.
Sam Nana-Sinkam ’10 says studying management at Bucknell “rewired” his brain, teaching him to demand the best from himself while also being true to himself — lessons he says took years to bear fruit.

Nana-Sinkam worked at Target as a business analyst and then at Google, where he led teams specializing in analytics, telecommunications and sporting goods before realizing that career success didn’t equate to career satisfaction.

So in 2022, he veered into an entirely new venture: agriculture. He runs a firm called Third Place (meaning not home and not work, but a place that gives additional value to your life), which practices and promotes sustainable farming. By investing in operations that are environmentally responsible, socially equitable and economically viable, he aims to increase access to nutritious food while ensuring future generations have a healthy environment. Third Place’s first offshoot is Bloom Farm, a 40-acre property in Oley, Pa., named for his wife, Sara Bloom ’10. There, Nana-Sinkam is developing an agroforestry system that integrates trees, crops, flowers and livestock in a mutually beneficial manner. By offering food experiences and wellness events, the farm will double as a retreat center.

He relishes being responsible for every facet of his business. “It’s working with the county on easements and zoning; it’s painting, hiring, marketing and fixing septic systems,” he says. “But more than anything, it’s building something I’ll be proud to leave behind.”

The Culture Creator

Mike Maiolo ’89, P’26

Mike Maiolo headshot
Photo: Courtesy of Mike Maiolo ’89, P’26
Plato kept Mike Maiolo ’89, P’26 awake at night at Bucknell. The philosophy major took to heart the advice of the ancient master: Lead a virtuous life, one guided by wisdom, justice and courage.

Though Maiolo’s intention had been to attend law school, his inner compass was guiding him in a different direction. After graduation, he entered a management training program at a paper company. Although it was a less prestigious move, Maiolo saw it as “an opportunity to be a leader, not one of the masses,” he says. That training became the foundation for his role in launching two successful software services companies, GenesisSolutions and Rizing.

Today, Maiolo is a leader at Wipro, an $11 billion software management systems company. As the global head of Wipro’s SAP practice (systems, applications and products), Maiolo integrates philosophical principles into his leadership, emphasizing the importance of contributing to others’ well-being. It’s a value he lives through Wipro Cares, the company’s charitable fund. Wipro donates two-thirds of its profits to global charities.

Maiolo takes pride in shaping both business and culture, applying a human-centric leadership approach that prioritizes employees and the betterment of society. “I’m family oriented, and that extends to my co-workers,” he says. “The family I’ve built here is one of my biggest accomplishments.”

medical care and education in under-resourced communities in Africa and India
Photos: Hologic, Inc.; Faces of Hope Project
Kathy Boselli Vizas ’79 fought to increase funding for medical care and education in under-resourced communities in Africa (far left and center) and India (far right).
medical care and education in under-resourced communities in Africa
medical care and education in under-resourced communities in Africa
medical care and education in under-resourced communities in India
Photos: Hologic, Inc.; Faces of Hope Project
Kathy Boselli Vizas ’79 fought to increase funding for medical care and education in under-resourced communities in Africa (top and middle) and India (bottom).

Compelled to Act

Kathy Boselli Vizas ’79

Kathy Boselli Vizas sitting at a table
Photo: Faces of Hope Project
Kathy Boselli Vizas ’79 never intended to be an entrepreneur. After studying biology at Bucknell, she went to law school and then spent the next 20 years as a corporate attorney. She had always wanted to give back, but her demanding career left little time for much else.

Her priorities shifted in 2015. While serving as associate general counsel for a software company, Vizas visited Myanmar with Population Services International, an organization that helps impoverished communities access health care. While there, she witnessed a woman dying of cervical cancer. “She was suffering terribly, and all I could think was how unnecessary it was,” Vizas says. “I learned how little medical support there is to treat the disease worldwide. I was so frustrated by what I saw. I felt compelled to do something.”

In 2017, she co-founded the nonprofit TogetHER for Health, which advocates for cervical health in under-resourced communities. Vizas learned that many nonprofits work within silos. Drawing from her corporate experience, she focused on establishing a coordinated approach. TogetHER advocates with policy makers for political support and mobilizes on-the-ground partners to expand funding and education for women in low-resource communities, from rural Alabama to Nairobi, Kenya. “Simple, inexpensive care should be available to every woman,” she says, “no matter who she is or where she lives.”

More to Offer

Bucknell’s Small Business Development Center has been empowering local entrepreneurs for decades — and there’s expansion on the horizon
Since its launch nearly 45 years ago, Bucknell’s Small Business Development Center (SBDC) has successfully supported local entrepreneurs in making their dream businesses a reality. A hub for innovation, the center provides no-cost consulting, educational workshops, product development resources and more. What had been a single incubator steps from campus has steadily grown into a force for economic development in the Susquehanna Valley. Here’s a look at the impact the SBDC has made and what’s coming next.

StartUp Lewisburg

The SBDC’s first-established incubator is a fixture of downtown Lewisburg, where consultants — both career professionals and Bucknell students alike — assist with financial management, marketing, capital acquisition and engineering product development. In recent years, StartUp Lewisburg has collaborated with hometown shops like Comics Metropolis and industry giants such as Gilson, a leader in snowboard and ski manufacturing.

StartUp Danville

A second entrepreneurship incubator opened in nearby Danville in 2020, expanding the SBDC’s services during the pandemic. With initial backing from Merck and a partnership with economic development entity DRIVE, Startup Danville is focused on healthcare and technology innovations. The incubator’s first year saw four new membership startups. In 2023, Startup Danville boasted 11 startup members and $440,100 in capital acquired by these businesses.

StartUp Milton

Building on its success, the SBDC is now partnering with The Improved Milton Experience nonprofit to develop a new incubator in Northumberland County. “Startup Milton will build toward a vision of incubators in rural communities of the Susquehanna River Valley that inclusively connect entrepreneurs with resources — and each other,” says Denny Hummer, the SBDC’s assistant director of business incubation. The project also aims to enhance the existing incubators via programming that intentionally links together members across the three locations.