Featured Testimonial About Creighton University
The Center for Enterprise Value is a perfect way for the University to capture not only monetary value, but every variety of intrinsic value that makes communities, employers and individuals prosper.
By Micah Mertes
The Diabetes Care Foundation has committed $4 million to support Creighton University’s 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, programming and seed funding to support student and faculty entrepreneurs as they develop and launch their own ventures. Though housed in the Heider College of Business, the Greisch Center for Enterprise Value will partner with innovators throughout every school and college at Creighton.
“We are deeply grateful for the Diabates Care Foundation’s gift and the many opportunities their investment will create for our students, faculty and staff campus-wide,” said the Rev. Daniel S. Hendrickson, SJ, PhD, Creighton president. “The Greisch Center for Enterprise Value will take a uniquely Jesuit approach to entrepreneurship and innovation that builds on our core strengths, exploring not only how ventures can be profitable but also beneficial to the communities we serve.”
The Greisch Center for Enterprise Value will put Creighton “on the map as the entrepreneurship hub of higher ed,” said Nathan Preheim, BA’96, the center’s director. “We are building something that doesn’t exist at any other college in the country: a nationally renowned program with innovative curriculum, resources and opportunities for practical application that will attract the most out-of-the-box thinkers and doers to 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.
The foundation has previously invested in Creighton, funding the Cura Project, a program that seeks to improve the quality of life for diabetes patients through a deeper understanding of how financial literacy, disease management and patient education intersect to improve patient health.
“We are proud to support the Center for Enterprise Value because it’s both a unique opportunity to create value and another exciting new way for Creighton to be Creighton,” said Greisch, retired Nebraska market managing partner and North American leader for Financial Services for RSM, a global professional services firm. Greisch, along with Tim Wahl, MD, was one of the founding partners of the Diabetes Education Center and the Diabetes Supply Company, predecessors to the Diabetes Care Foundation. Greisch was the Heider College of Business Alumni Merit Award recipient in 2023.
“As a Jesuit university,” Greisch said, “Creighton is particularly good at translating mission into real-world application and creating value for the communities it serves. The Center for Enterprise Value is a perfect way for the University — through student, faculty and alumni innovation — to capture not only monetary value, but every variety of intrinsic value that makes communities, employers and individuals prosper.”
With the foundation’s support, the center will enhance and expand its entrepreneurship minor, create new minor tracks, and develop courses on intrapreneurship (entrepreneurial thinking applied to innovating within an organization). It will support research University-wide, helping to secure publishing and commercialization opportunities while enabling faculty members and the University to reap the benefits of intellectual property being created across campus.
The Center will continue expanding opportunities for practical application and hosting signature events open to all students, including speaker series and problem-solving sprints. It will also support JayTank—an annual, student-led Entrepreneurship Club competition where students pitch their ideas for thousands of dollars in donor-funded awards.
Greisch Center for Enterprise Value initiatives will include a role- and skills-based app that assembles strong entrepreneurial teams, a research-backed assessment tool that enhances venture building and talent development, and Flight School, a 12-month, post-graduate accelerator for venture creation and bringing research to market.
Anthony Hendrickson, PhD, dean of the Heider College of Business, said that students across all disciplines, schools and colleges want more opportunities for applied entrepreneurship curriculum and programming.
“Creighton is well-situated to provide them because of the faculty’s depth of real-world experience and their continued connection to the business community, particularly in Omaha,” he said. “Omaha is the ideal incubator for everything that Creighton, the Heider College of Business and the Greisch Center for Enterprise Value are looking to achieve. The partnerships between the city and the University make both stronger, and the center will only deepen those ties.”
The Greisch Center for Enterprise Value accelerates the momentum of the student-led Creighton Entrepreneurship Club in the Heider College of Business.
Since its founding in 2024, the club has grown to more than 150 members, many of whom have launched their own ventures. Creighton-assisted student startups include a mobile barbershop, a firm that helps student-athletes secure Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) sponsorships, and businesses that make smoothie bowls, AI automation solutions, eco-friendly fishing tackle, indestructible dog beds and more.
Pre-med sophomore Jack O’Neill started his own energy drink company. Before coming to Creighton, Entrepreneurship Club co-founder and head of operations Mary Margaret Mellen started her own cake-making nonprofit, with all sales supporting children by funding meals, medical research and life-changing surgeries.
“We’re excited that Creighton is now rolling out even more resources for entrepreneurship,” said Mellen, a business junior. “Everything is rooted in the school of thought that drew me to Creighton in the first place: innovation and creative thinking that looks to solve problems in ways that truly matter.
“At Creighton, we not only have the opportunity to learn but to build.”
