UW Stout: Business owner, executives to speak at UW-Stout black entrepreneurship event

Menomonie, Wis. — The Black Entrepreneurship program at University of Wisconsin-Stout
will feature a business founder and two panelists with extensive industry experience.The event, free and open to the public, will be held from 4:30 to 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 15, in Sorensen Hall, room 205, with a meet and greet at 4 p.m. in building’s atrium. A livestream of the program also will be available.

The panelists are:

  • Tamisha Butler, of Eau Claire, a doula and lactation counselor who founded Mesha&Co, with a mission to help women keep their power and beauty during the birth experience.
  • Keenan Grenell, CEO of Global Capital Group, an entrepreneurship and economic development consulting firm based in Wauwatosa. He has taught at Colgate, Marquette and Auburn universities. Grenell believes Booker T. Washington’s ideas regarding entrepreneurial leadership are the keys to Black success in the 21st century.
  • Charles Ross, CEO of InBIA, a global nonprofit that supports entrepreneurship in 30 countries. Ross, who has mentored founders and CEOs at more than 30 high-growth companies, previously was director of Ameritech’s venture capital division and has held leadership positions at the Georgia Institute of Technology and Kennesaw State University.

The event is sponsored by UW-Stout’s Menard Center for the Study of Institutions and
Innovation, the Entrepreneurship Club and the School of Management.


The Menard Center facilitates civil and rational debate and research in the state and beyond on important civil liberty issues and how these liberties relate to institutions and innovation in government, civic, business, social, scientific and religious settings.
UW-Stout’s undergraduate programs include business administration, and arts
administration and entrepreneurship. The university also offers a minor in entrepreneurship and innovation.


UW-Stout is Wisconsin’s Polytechnic University, with a focus on applied learning, collaboration with business and industry, and career outcomes. Learn more via the FOCUS2030 strategic plan.