About the McNeely Center for Entrepreneurship

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About the Center

Vision

“Positioning CSB + SJU to Empower Ethical Entrepreneurs and Innovators for a Changing World”

Mission

“To develop creative, ethical, and adaptable students who apply entrepreneurial thinking and embrace the liberal arts to lead meaningful change—while deepening our institutional impact through storytelling, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and intentional engagement with an ecosystem of alumnae, alumni, and the broader community.”

In the News
Programs
faculty
memorials

McNeely Center for Entrepreneurship – Faculty

A man with short dark hair is looking off to the side with a serious expression. He is wearing a brown jacket and has a light stubble on his face. The background is blurred but appears to be an outdoor setting, possibly with some water and greenery.

Paul Marsnik ’81
McNeely Center Director and Professor

Paul Marsnik is a professor of entrepreneurship and global business at the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University. He has a masters degree in Management from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln (1991) and a Ph.D in Organizational Behavior from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln (1997). In 2004, Paul launched the Entrepreneur Scholars (E-Scholars) Program at CSB/SJU. Since its launch, the E-Scholars program has graduated over 150 students and those students have launched more than 35 successful ventures. Paul’s passions include creativity, entrepreneurship education, and China. Paul has travelled to China 15 times, to visit factories, businesses, entrepreneurs, and rural farmers. In his spare time Paul enjoys gardening, playing golf and watching baseball. Paul’s family includes his wife Jamie, sons Sam and Bert, daughters-in-law Ivy and Jasmin, and grandsons Keysam and Leonardo.

Professor Steve Schwarz is an alum of the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John’s University. His teaching and research interests are Sustainability, Marketing, Entrepreneurship and Experiential Learning. He coordinates the summer internship program in GBUS with 70+ interns each summer. He is the advisor for the Society of the Advancement of Management (SAM), these student teams have won first place seven times in SAM international case study competition.

Steve lives in St. Joseph and enjoys spending time with his family traveling and exploring the outdoors. He is an avid fly fisherman, golfer, kayaker, and camp chef.

Steve helps teach the Entrepreneur Scholars ENTR 302 course, and co teaches the Practicum class with Paul Marsnik. Steve enjoys golfing, fly fishing, cross country skiing, cooking and most importantly spending time with his wife and three children.

A man with short hair is standing outside on a sunny day, wearing a white collared shirt with a faint checkered pattern. There is greenery and a blurred landscape in the background.

Steve Schwarz ’01
Global Business Leadership, and Entrepreneur Scholars Faculty

A man with short dark hair and a beard, wearing a pink collared shirt and a navy blazer, smiles while standing outdoors with blurred greenery and lights in the background.

Bardia Bijani Aval ’20
Visiting Assistant Professor

Beyond being a professor at CSB+SJU, Bardia runs the FuzeQube Group – an innovation firm and ecosystem builder, focused on early-stage innovation, research commercialization, and purposeful adoption of emerging technologies. In that role, he works with universities, tech transfer offices, and forward-thinking corporations to design the strategic ecosystems and innovation architectures of the future. He is also a Guest Lecturer in Digital Innovation and Ecosystems at the London School of Economics (LSE), and the Executive in Residence for the McNeely Center for Entrepreneurship on campus. 

In a personal capacity, Bardia loves advising and getting involved with startups and scaleups to supply his expertise in product development, partnership building, digital/data management and deep technologies. When he was a Johnnie, he ran a fun student venture called Triink through the Entrepreneurs Scholars Program on campus – he loves getting asked about it. He is also an avid fútbol fan, and rarely misses a Real Madrid or Notts County FC game. 

McNeely Center for Entrepreneurship – Memorials

Forever in our Hearts

David Forster – Entrepreneur Scholar, 1988-2016

Dave was part of our sixth Entrepreneur Scholars cohort. He was part of a group that created Campus2Canvas, a photograph to canvas business. Dave was also on the management team for the T-Spot, ran cross country at SJU, and was very well loved by his fellow E’s. Dave went to work for his mother’s company shortly after graduation, and was a Center Mentor for the McNeely Center. Dave will be missed by all who had the pleasure of knowing him.

Eric Rego – Entrepreneur Scholar, 1983-2008

Eric Rego was one of the first cohort of students in the Entrepreneurial Studies Program (Entrepreneur Scholars). He was part of a selected group of 12 students studied, traveled and worked together for two years, 2004-2006. Eric was actively involved in the creation of one of the first student run ventures called Collegeville Carpeting. He also completed a detailed plan for a new venture he intended to start later in his life.

Eric graduated in 2006 with a BA in Biology and joined the staff of Coordinated Business Systems in their St. Cloud office. He had been recently promoted to a leadership position when a sudden illness took his life in December of 2008. The Eric Rego Student Venture Idea Competition was started this spring, named in honor of Eric.

Donald McNeely, Inspirational Founder, 1914-2009

Donald McNeely, aged 94, passed away March 9th, 2009. He was the inspirational founder of the Donald McNeely Center for Entrepreneurship and a frequent advisor for staff and students. Mr. McNeely was a savvy entrepreneur and a forward thinker.

He joined his father’s St. Paul warehouse business after active duty in the Navy in World War II and turned it into a national company called Space Center, Inc. He also was co-founder of Control Data Corporation. He was an active civic and business leader in his life sitting on a large number of corporate boards.

He was actively engaged in St. John’s University as a Regent during the 70’s and 80’s and as a major donor to the Warner Paleastra and the McNeely Spectrum. He was a generous man, not only with his resources and his time, but also with his heart.

Br. Dietrich Reinhart, 1949-2008

Br. Dietrich Reinhart was president of Saint John’s University from 1991 to 2008. He passed away in December 2008. During his tenure as president, enrollment and the academic profile of entering students rose dramatically, the university’s endowment grew from $36 million to just over $145 million and Saint John successfully completed the largest capital campaign in its history. He was instrumental in the significant physical transformation of the campus that occurred during his presidency.

Br. Dietrich worked to frame the creation of campus based academic centers, and was active in bringing to life the first one on CSB/SJU campuses, The Donald McNeely Center for Entrepreneurship.

McNeely Center for Entrepreneurship – In The News