HR Notices From July 22

UM's Ross School of Business Appoints New Director Of Zell Lurie Institute: The University of Michigan's Ross School of Business announced the appointment of Stewart Thornhill as the executive director of the Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies and the Eugene Appelbaum Professor of Entrepreneurial Studies, pending approval of the University of Michigan Board of Regents. In this role, which he will assume Sept. 1, Thornhill is charged with maintaining the Institute's leadership position as a top destination for entrepreneurially-minded MBA students; evolving its robust portfolio of coursework and programs; and continuing to extend and foster the growth of entrepreneurial initiatives across the university. He is the successor to Tom Kinnear, who has been the executive director of the Institute since its founding in 1999. Thornhill joins the Zell Lurie Institute from Ivey Business School at Western University in London, Ontario, where he served as the executive director of the Pierre L. Morrissette Institute for Entrepreneurship and a member of the faculty, focused on strategy and entrepreneurship. At Ivey, he has championed a number of new initiatives and has sizable experience helping entrepreneurs through his involvement in QuantumShift, an executive development program for high-growth entrepreneurs. Thornhill's extensive background also includes global experience, having held the Karel Steur chair in entrepreneurship at the Universidad de San Andreas, Buenos Aires and various professorial roles at Jacobs University in Bremen, Germany, the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris in France and the Schulich School of Business at York University in Toronto. Kinnear successfully built out a scalable entrepreneurship education model comprised of a comprehensive curriculum and robust portfolio of experiential programs that has engaged more than 5,000 students since the Institute's inception. This includes the creation of the first student-led venture fund, the $5.5 million Wolverine Venture Fund, Dare to Dream grants, which move students through the business creation process, and spearheading efforts to provide students with more than $3 million in the form of grants, internships and funding to pursue entrepreneurial endeavors.  As a result, the Institute has ranked among the nation's top five graduate programs for entrepreneurship by the Princeton Review and Entrepreneur Magazine every year since 2010. In addition to his work at the Zell Lurie Institute, Kinnear supports the UM Office of Tech Transfer and is Chairman of the state-backed Venture Michigan Fund. He also is on the board of the Michigan Venture Capital Association and co-founded several successful Michigan-based companies over the last 20 years. After stepping down as executive director of the Institute, Kinnear will serve as D. Maynard Phelps Collegiate Professor of Business Administration and professor of marketing at the Ross School of Business and will remain an active member of the University's entrepreneurial community.  The Zell Lurie Institute and its Center for Venture Capital and Private Equity Finance bring together knowledge, experience and opportunities from the front lines of entrepreneurship and alternative investments. The student learning experience is further enhanced through internships, entrepreneurial clubs and events that serve to provide viable networks and engage the business community.  The School's three student-led investment funds, with over $6.5 million under management, immerse students in the business assessment and investment process. Founding Board Members include Samuel Zell, chairman of Equity Group Investments and Eugene Applebaum, founder of Arbor Drugs Inc. For more information, visit  www.zli.bus.umich.edu.