Featured Testimonial About Creighton University
While the Greisch Center is housed in the Heider College of Business, it will serve the entire University. It will bring together faculty, staff, deans and students from across the University to turn ideas into opportunities.
By Micah Mertes
On Monday, Aug. 17, Creighton leaders, donors, alumni and friends celebrated the new Greisch Center for Enterprise Value at a special dedication in the Harper Center, home of the Heider College of Business.
Speakers included Creighton president the Rev. Daniel S. Hendrickson, SJ, PhD; Anthony Hendrickson, PhD, dean of the Heider College of Business; the center’s director, Nathan Preheim, BA’96; and Mark Huber, BSBA’83, JD’86, Diabetes Care Foundation board chairman.
The Diabetes Care Foundation committed $4 million to support the Greisch Center for Enterprise Value, named in honor of foundation board member Jim Greisch, BSBA'80.
The foundation’s investment in Creighton will establish new staff positions, curriculum and programming, and provide seed funding to support student- and faculty-entrepreneurs.
The Greisch Center for Enterprise Value will serve as Creighton’s cross-campus hub for entrepreneurial thinking — where students learn to launch ventures, lead innovation and create value in any setting. Though housed in the Heider College of Business, the center will partner with innovators throughout every school and college at Creighton.
The Omaha-based Diabetes Care Foundation funds initiatives in healthcare, education and innovation across the U.S. Though diabetes care remains the foundation's priority, it also supports a wide range of organizations that enhance innovations in patient care and community well-being.
Read on to see excerpts from the various speakers and images from the event.
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Below: A family of alumni. Jim and Anne Greisch, BSPHA'81 (center) with their daughters (from left): Lauren Greisch, BSBA'11; Lisa Darwin, BSN'13, DNP'19; Liz Greisch, BSN'06; Sara Greisch, BA'19, MS'23; and Emily Mohs, BSN'07, and her husband, Jeff Mohs, MS'13, MBA'13.
Father Hendrickson: "It is with deep gratitude and tremendous respect that I stand before you as we celebrate this moment on behalf of all of us at the University. The Greisch Center reflects Creighton's Jesuit approach to education rooted in the 450-year tradition of St. Ignatius of Loyola. We prepare leaders who use their talents to contribute meaning and make a difference in the world. It is especially fitting that the center carries your name, Jim. Jim has always demonstrated servant leadership and led with virtue. Through his decades of support for individuals living with diabetes, Jim has shown that the greatest measure of success is the difference that we make in the lives of others around us.”
Mark Huber, chairman of the Diabetes Care Foundation board: “We have been looking forward to doing something to honor Jim, someone who has really given a lot to this University over the last 40 years.
“I hope the center can help students understand that founders don't do it alone. You have to have the people around you, giving the students the support they need and helping them build teams and understand how people work together. That's going to serve them no matter where they go, no matter how they do it. I'm really happy that we at the foundation are able to support this.”
Dean Anthony Hendrickson: “While the Greisch Center is housed in the Heider College of Business, it will serve the entire University. It will bring together faculty, staff, deans and students from across the University to turn ideas into opportunities. All our students are eager to learn by doing, apply their knowledge, collaborate across disciplines and solve meaningful challenges. We'll be able to do that through mentoring by our faculty, staff, alumni and community partners. The Greisch Center will help to strengthen our connections with Creighton and beyond. And whether the idea begins in the classroom or the courtroom or the clinic or the lab, students will have the support that they need.”
Nathan Preheim: "Our mission is simple: The Greisch Center exists to help people create more value than they consume. Surplus value. We believe that entrepreneurship, intrapreneurship and innovation are among the most powerful forces for improving lives, strengthening organizations and advancing society. That might mean launching a startup, improving an existing organization, commercializing University research, leading a nonprofit, creating a new product or building a side hustle. The context changes. The mission never does."
Garrett Fleenor, Class of 2029: "The biggest challenge with entrepreneurship is finding the partners and the resources to help you get your idea off the ground and become something concrete. I'm so excited about the resources and collaborators the Greisch Center for Enterprise Value will provide. This is going to be amazing, having a space to work on your ideas alongside others. It's really going to give us the opportunity to take full advantage of everything Creighton has to offer."
