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stimulate entrepreneurial instincts in students Ithaca, NY, March 20, 2007 � Jim Quest has been appointed Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Cornell Hotel School�s Leland C. and Mary M. Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship. Quest is the first to hold this position at the school and is the second appointee in Cornell University�s Entrepreneur-in-Residence Program. The Hotel School�s EIR program is designed to give students a unique learning experience through active engagement with successful entrepreneurs. Through conversations, lectures, and informal meetings, students develop the knowledge and skills relevant for starting their own enterprises. A visiting lecturer since last fall, Quest is teaching the �Introduction to Hospitality Entrepreneurship� course again this spring. The course is designed to help students learn to think like entrepreneurs and prepare to run their own businesses. �Entrepreneurship is not a career track,� Quest said. �I can�t teach students to be entrepreneurs. I can stimulate their natural entrepreneurial instincts and offer insight into what it�s like to be in business for yourself.� In the course, students work in small teams to conceive an enterprise and prepare a business plan. As the final exam, each team presents its plan to their classmates and a panel of industry leaders made up of entrepreneurs and venture capitalists. In his second course, to be taught in the spring of �08, called �Turning Your Business Plan into a Selling Document for Capital-Raising,� Quest will coach students on how to refine their plans to get them ready for their first real year of operation. Next month, three of Quest�s teams from his fall introductory course will present their plans to alumni and industry leaders at the school�s annual student-run conference, Hotel Ezra Cornell. Quest said that he hopes one or more of these students will attract investors to fund their ventures upon graduation. A self-proclaimed �serial entrepreneur,� Quest has spent most of his career launching and running new ventures. He nurtured his entrepreneurial talents while first working as a brand manager at Procter & Gamble. He then created and ran a highly successful advertising agency specializing in the consumer products sector. Later, he founded Biocide, Inc., to market his invention of Virofree®, a pocketsize disinfectant spray for consumer use outside the home. Today Quest also manages a consulting practice that teaches young executives how to excel in business writing. �As an extraordinarily accomplished entrepreneur and a natural mentor, Jim Quest has the ideal background to serve as the first Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Cornell Hotel School,� said Cathy Enz, associate dean for Industry Research and Affairs. �He has vast experience launching and running successful companies, and he excels at sharing his insights and helping students learn to develop their entrepreneurial ambitions.� A 1956 graduate of the Hotel School, Quest described his return to campus
as, �A dream come true. Entrepreneurship is a natural fit for the Hotel
School and the industry it serves. I hope to be able to help infuse an
entrepreneurial spirit across the school�s curriculum.�
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Cydney Peters
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Also See: | Leland Pillsbury, Co-Founder of Thayer Lodging Group, Donates $15 million to the Cornell Hotel School; Largest Single Gift Ever Made to the School / November 2006 |
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