When Bob Burgess earned his degree in packaging from Michigan State in 1966, many job offers awaited him – a common scenario for graduates from the prestigious program.
“I really wasn’t interested in packaging jobs, though,” Burgess said.
Instead, he joined a small manufacturing team at General Electric. He likened the work to running a small business right out of college.
“It allowed me to see all aspects of operations within a large, well-established company,” he said. “It was the best thing I ever did. I had the opportunity to grow my understanding of the business world and expand my learning early in my career.”
That path led to work in consulting, real estate, investing and entrepreneurship. And it led him back to Michigan State, where a grant from his faculty endowment funded the launch of the Burgess Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
“As I talk with students, I tell them, yes, plan your career out, but be sure to take advantage of opportunities that come along,” Burgess said.
His namesake institute is designed to help students of all disciplines – from business and science to music and communications – see themselves as entrepreneurs.
“They all have the opportunity within the entrepreneurship minor to elevate their skills and talents and passion with the tools to market themselves and their work.”
Burgess, who grew up in Rochester, New York, was the first in his family to attend college.
“MSU was the right size for me,” he said. “And I was fortunate enough to be in a fraternity, which gave me a smaller group to connect with in the larger university setting.”
He said involvement in a small, connected group is key to succeeding at a big school. “And the entrepreneurship program is exactly that. The students in the Hatch are talking to each other, learning from each other, supporting each other.”
Burgess said when Sanjay Gupta, dean of the Broad College of Business, approached him about supporting the school, he didn’t imagine the institute.
“I’m so pleased and proud of what has emerged from those initial conversations,” Burgess said. “Paul Jaques and Ken Szymusiak and the institute staff have done a terrific job, not always knowing where they were going. But they’re entrepreneurs too – they pick up the ball and run with it.
“That’s what keeps me excited and wanting to go to the next level with them.”
Burgess said it’s important to him to return to MSU to talk with entrepreneur program students about his career path, but he thinks it’s even more meaningful when recent alumni share their shorter success stories.
“Look, the students come for the pizza and to kind of listen to what the old guy is talking about,” Burgess said. “But when you get three or four recent alumni there who’ve started businesses, they couldn’t care less if they eat the pizza or not. They’re focused on learning from those alumni, they’re congregating around them after the panel discussion, trying to figure out how they can do it too.
“That kind of experiential learning is key to entrepreneurship. It’s exactly what we ought to be doing.”