History of the Forum

Early in 2002, the Graduate Student Association recognized the importance of having a Forum that highlighted and reinforced Babson’s reputation for global leadership in Entrepreneurship. Christian Crews, Havell Rodrigues and Felipe Venegas represented the inaugural leadership team who took the initial idea and built a plan that resulted in the Babson Forum on Entrepreneurship and Innovation.

Their vision was to put Babson College into the event circuit of the Boston area schools by creating an annual event commensurate with those sanctioned by many of the prominent business schools in the area that would attract a diverse group of Babson and non-Babson students and professionals, while continuing to strengthen the Babson brand.

The F.W. Olin Graduate School of Business’s talented student population located on the beautiful Wellesley campus drove the desire for this to be a student run event showcasing Olin Hall. Felipe M. Venegas, M’03 says, “From an academic perspective, the leadership role I played in the Forum on E&I represented the single greatest and most comprehensive learning experience I had during my two years as an MBA student. It was a real life application of all the various classes I had taken. And what was most fulfilling to me is how the Forum is also helping enhance the overall academic experience of each new leadership team while also strengthening the Babson brand.”

Given the College’s rich history in entrepreneurship and tradition of innovation made naming the event easy. Success would come right down to execution, so by leveraging the optimal combination of an ambitious team of students and the core of Babson’s brand, the Forum was well positioned to exceed their lofty vision.

With the support of the college and an incredibly committed and engaged team of twenty full time and evening MBA students, the Forum on Entrepreneurship and Innovation was born on October 25th 2002. The Forum’s content was headlined by Reebok’s founder Paul Fireman and Fidelity’s Teresa Hassara as the keynote speakers and over thirty panelists sitting on six distinct, industry-specific panels ranging in interests from biotech and renewable energy to consumer products marketing and internet strategies.

The Forum not only accomplished its goal but it exceeded initial expectations by attracting a diverse mix of over three hundred graduate students, alumni and professional attendees as well as national media.

Since the beginning, the core leadership team has remained committed to the Forum’s success through structured knowledge transfer, alumni advisory committees and a genuine willingness to help out each year as the new leadership teams took the helm. Christian, Havell and Felipe could not be any prouder of the legacy their team worked so hard to create and the subsequent teams’ success who have worked tirelessly to continually improve the Forum and strengthen the Babson brand.

Past Chairpersons: