Home » Executive Stories
Category Archives: Executive Stories
Vision to Execution: EMBA Alumnus Mike Knoelke
Mike Knoelke (Class of 2013), Managing Director of Spyre Group, graduated from Marquette University in 1981 and enjoyed a successful career as a civil engineer for Amoco Pipeline, progressing into sale management with companies such as: USG, Terex, and Altec Industries. In 2010, Mike partnered with his son, Patrick (also a graduate of Marquette), to launch a new venture: Spyre Group.
Mike joined the Bloch Executive MBA within the first year of launching this new venture and credits his experience in the program with the development path that their venture has taken. Class discussions exploring the challenges companies face in translating their vision into strategy, and their strategy into specific sales and marketing activities uncovered a need that many organizations have for expertise that can help them do this in a cost-effective manner. This awareness led Mike and Patrick to focus Spyre group on filling a need for small and medium sized businesses.
Spyre Group provides outsourced marketing services for small to medium sized companies along three pillars: direction and execution; design and development; and cloud collaboration and productivity. The company got its start in brochure and collateral design, but by 2013, they had transformed Spyre Group into a strategic marketing company that collaborates with clients to bridge the gap between “Vision and Execution.”
As they considered options for how to proceed in this new direction, the classes, discussions, and projects in the Executive MBA program provided the perfect environment for Mike to incubate ideas for their venture and test concepts within a community of peers. Mike says this “brought the learning to life” and helped him keep the entrepreneurial energy flowing.
Today, they’ve launched several cloud solutions that support the dynamic nature of sales and provide the sales teams with everything they need to sell efficiently regardless of where they are in the office or in the field. With a solid framework of services and solutions, Mike and Patrick are looking forward to focusing on growth, as well as giving back through guest speaking in Executive MBA classes to share their entrepreneurial experience and insights with others.
Bloch Executive MBA Alumni Feature: Lisa Freidel
Lisa Freidel (Class of 2014) came into the Executive MBA with years of operations experience accumulated through her work at E. & J. Gallo Winery, SBC Telecom, AT&T, and the U.S. Army. Despite a successful career and a solid resume, Lisa felt that something was missing…but wasn’t able to pinpoint exactly what that something might be. An assessment administered during the program by Executive Coach, Dr. Sandra Kruse-Smith, identified Lisa’s career anchor (the value most important to her) as: lifestyle.
Reflecting on this, Lisa was able to pinpoint the discomfort she felt in her career and realized that she needed to make a change. Over the past decade, she had contemplated starting a business, but wasn’t sure what form it might take. After researching a number of potential options, Lisa and her husband, Mark, settled on a franchise that would allow them to start small, work close to home, and enjoy a schedule that would allow them to embrace all that life has to offer.
In October, Lisa and Mark, opened their Signarama store in Liberty, MO. From their store, they can design, produce and install all types of signs and graphics including (but not limited to) outdoor illuminated signs, window and wall graphics, vehicle graphics, banners, and yard signs. When asked about her feelings venturing into entrepreneurship, Lisa admits to being a “hopeless optimist” and described the process as more thrilling than frightening. Her upbringing, undergraduate study at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and subsequent career experience have made her fearless.
She credits the Executive MBA with helping her develop a broader business perspective that balanced her operations experience and served her well throughout the process of evaluating franchises and opening her business. Returning for graduate study twenty years into her career also reinforced her confidence to try new things. She acknowledges that she doesn’t know everything, but is comfortable jumping in and learning along the way.
It all comes back to that moment a few years ago when she realized how important lifestyle was to her career satisfaction. Curiously, the only other student in her class to share the same career anchor was Dr. Abid Bhat, who also launched a venture this year. Lisa believes that the work with the Executive Coach is so valuable because people don’t take enough time for personal evaluation and reflection, but when we do – it can take us in a new and rewarding direction.
Bloch Executive MBA Alumni Feature: Abid Bhat, MD, MBA
Dr. Abid Bhat (Class of 2014) is saving lives in several roles: as a Professor of Medicine, a Medical Director of the Center for Sleep Health, Program Director of the Sleep Medicine Fellowship Program, a Pulmonologist, an Intensivist and now…as an entrepreneur.
When educating the public on the importance of sleep health Dr. Bhat explains that, “Sleep is like food. It’s as important as diet and exercise for our health.” Sleep disorders can lead to depression, anxiety, poor performance at work, high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, diabetes, memory problems, and weight gain. Unfortunately, sleep disorders are exceedingly common but undiagnosed, a circumstance that led Dr. Bhat to dedicate his career to sleep health education and treatment.
Dr. Bhat never thought he would start his own venture, but the spark was lit during his time in the Executive MBA program. Specifically, in the Innovation and Entrepreneurship elective with Instructor Phil Needles, where he competed in the Venture Challenge. During the class, Dr. Bhat and his team took the opportunity to explore how the current healthcare system was failing his patients and worked to design a solution. Though their venture didn’t win, their pitch made it to the semifinals and received valuable feedback that helped him refine the concept and build the connections that made it possible to launch his venture.
Dr. Bhat and his partners opened the Sweet Sleep Studio, LLC this year in Leawood and Shawnee, Kansas to approach sleep health from an entirely new perspective. Their model places the patient at the center of care with access to both Western and Holistic medicine, with the ultimate goal of reversing sleep disorders by identifying the causes rather than simply treating the symptoms. The people served at the Sweet Sleep Studio have access to a physician, a psychologist, a massage therapist, an acupuncturist, and nutrition and exercise support as needed to address their individual needs. His latest interest is working with innovators to design a wireless device for monitoring sleep pattern and related sleep disorders. This will replace the existing intrusive and cumbersome monitoring system.
Dr. Bhat is hopeful that this approach will bring long-term relief to his patients with the added benefits of being both convenient and cost-effective. A patient who had recovered from years of suffering from a sleep disorder once told him, “I didn’t imagine life was so beautiful!” It is moments like these that drive Dr. Bhat forward to continue to improve sleep medicine, and he is excited to have the opportunity to help even more people through the Sweet Sleep Studio in the years to come.