Michael Nolan

I'm passionate about entrepreneurship and innovation - leading organizations, giving back to my community, and helping people start and grow great enterprises.

I teach at the University of Minnesota, the University of St. Thomas and Minnesota State University - guiding students through international experiences, corporate innovation, executive leadership and entrepreneurship courses. Previously I taught entrepreneurship at the masters level in Germany for WHU/Kellogg, as well as Marketing, Advertising and Diversity courses at Rasmussen College. In 2009 I traveled to South Africa to teach at Nelson Mandela University’s Eden Campus.

As an Entrepreneur in residence for Optum | UHG, I led amazing teams to innovate new business models at a Fortune 10 company. Over the years I have founded and invested in several successful businesses (and a few failures.) I led multiple successful exits, including our radio stations (KEEZ and KAUS), MinnesotaCars.com and AutoConX Software. I've been part of a few start-ups and have investments in commercial real estate ventures, an artisan cheese company, and Jersey Mike’s franchises.

As Director of the Small Business Development Center at Minnesota State University, Mankato, I led a team dedicated to serving our region's entrepreneurs. Over a six year period we assisted 1,600+ clients, half of who wanted to start a business, and the other half who owned a business that wanted to grow. We helped our clients borrow or raise over $70M in funding. I have also served on the board of several non-profits, including Legal Corps, the United Way, the YMCA and the Salvation Army.

In 2007 I earned an MBA from the Melbourne Business School in Australia. My studies included work at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University in Illinois in the USA, WHU in Koblenz Germany, Ekonomická Univerzita V Bratislave - Slovakia, and Shanghai China. We love travel and adventure, and I am a certified dive master and have a VFR Pilots license.