The Carlson School hires a pair of savvy vets to head up key programs.

by Michael Weinbeck

The Carlson School Enterprises are among the nation’s largest collection of MBA student-run businesses. These programs give students the opportunity to manage and participate in real businesses, and work with professional staff who come to the Carlson School with industry-leading experience.

Two examples of the latter are David Hopkins (at right), the new managing director of the Carlson Brand Enterprise, and Laura TerWisscha (’96 MBA), new managing director of the Carlson Consulting Enterprise. Both came to the Carlson School from industry-shaping positions.

“The Enterprises offered me an interesting blend of teaching and working with business,” says Hopkins. Prior to coming to the school, he was the regional managing director for U.S. operations at MRM Partners, a New York City-based relationship marketing firm.

The Carlson Brand Enterprise, the newest addition to the Enterprise Program, needed a managing director with the experience required to build and expand the program. It also offered Hopkins the opportunity to build a unique consulting entity and also to be an instructor.

“The Enterprises are driving alignment in the school,” says Hopkins. “They align with the school’s strategy for business connections and hands-on learning opportunities. It’s good to be part of creating that alignment.”

TerWisscha’s work for the Carlson Consulting Enterprise also meshes well with her experience. During her seven years with Deloitte Consulting, she helped drive significant projects with some of the firm’s largest clients. She also maintained close ties as Deloitte’s coordinator for its relationship with the Carlson School (where she received her MBA). In that position, she was intimately familiar with what Deloitte was looking for in the school’s MBA graduates.

“The Carlson Consulting Enterprise places some of the same demands on students that they’d expect to encounter in the workplace,” she says. “After every project, we provide students with performance feedback. We also teach our students how to break down complex business challenges and communicate solutions to leadership. We help prepare our students to be more ‘job-ready’ when they leave here.”