Some of the country’s biggest businesses have been born in college dorm rooms and garages, from the minds of students.  To help tap into that potential, and to provide help and information to students here at Wheaton looking to enter the business world, Professor of Business and Management Brad Sago created the Business and Management Speaker Series.

The first speaker, Chris Meelia of Meelia Ventures, spoke this past Thursday, Sept. 25, on the topic of investment and startup businesses, primarily in the field of healthcare.  

With Ellison Lecture Hall filled to the brim with a crowd of engaged students, Meelia gave a taste of his experience in business, and talked not only about the basics of what he does, but also of the potential and role of startup businesses.  

Meelia majored in finance at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, and began like many students do upon graduating from college.  

“I was wondering then,” said Meelia, “where was my career going to take me?  What was I going to do with my life?”  

Meelia had a very successful and promising career following graduation, starting as a sales representative in the healthcare field and working his way up to a vice presidential position in sales and marketing, a position that he had hoped to achieve within the field.  However, he did not stop there.  

“Several years ago, I was networking with a lot of startup companies, and that came to the point where I would invest in some of these companies.” That investing evolved into what is now his current company, Meelia Ventures, which focuses on early stage investment within the healthcare field. 

Chris went on to describe the basics of investment, as well as an in-depth look at startup businesses.

Professor Sago described the purpose of this current series, which he hopes will “give our students more exposure to leading business and nonprofit people, predominantly in the greater Boston-Providence area, so that they can make connections, ask questions of them, and really use the experience to their advantage. Also, we want to use this series to help promote the new business program at Wheaton.”

The next speaker in the Business and Management Speaker Series will be Mary Weiss, former General Counsel of Driehaus Capital Management LLC and former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia.  The presentation will be on Oct. 22, from 5 to 6 p.m. in Ellison Lecture Hall.