Meet with MIRs: Current students as well as alumni can meet with seasoned entrepreneurs who have started and scaled various types of ventures. They can talk to you about your idea, how to access various resources, how to talk to potential customers, and next steps for growing your venture or innovation.
Chi Nwogu
Chijioge “Chi” Nwogu, MBA is the co-founder and CEO of GameFlo, a Black-owned gaming company building communities by empowering people on their own terms and to their own abilities. He also serves as a Professor of the Practice of Entrepreneurship at Kenan Flagler Business School, where he has coached and mentored more than 200 student entrepreneurs. After obtaining his B.A. in Economics from Brown University in 2010, Chi worked at JPMorgan before making the transition to sports technology as the CFO for Bloomberg Sports (named one of the “Ten Most Innovative Companies in Sports” by Fast Company in 2011). Chi is a 2018 MBA graduate of Kenan-Flagler Business School and was awarded the inaugural Adams Alumni Pioneer Award in 2020 for his work within the UNC community and beyond. Chi is an avid New York sports fan, bass guitarist, and proud uncle of eight.
Frank Pollock
For more than 20 years Frank Pollock, MBA has worked at the intersection of marketing, technology, and innovation. He learned his craft at the McCombs School of Business and honed his craft at Frito-Lay, General Mills, and Colgate Palmolive. Currently he is the CMO of Home Lending Pal and BlueRecruit, two venture-backed technology companies. In addition to teaching classes at 3 local universities, Frank has worked with hundreds of startups through his consultancy as well as with start up accelerator Bunker Labs.
Jill Willett
Jill Willett an entrepreneurial thinker, business coach, die-hard food lover, marketing strategist and teacher. Formerly the owner of a San Francisco-based organic baby food company and having spent ten years as a director of sales and marketing for Hilton Worldwide, Jill combines her corporate marketing background with her desire to support and mentor local startups in the Triangle. She was the founder of Coaching for Cooks, a coaching practice that supported local food companies, and Triangle Food Makers, a community of nearly 1000 food entrepreneurs and their allies in the Raleigh-Durham area. Jill teaches workshops at Wake Tech Small Business Center and various NC community colleges for small business owners. Most recently, she supported UNC students as the assistant director of the Entrepreneurship Center at Kenan-Flagler Business School and was the director of the Adams Apprenticeship, a yearlong program that taught entrepreneurial skills and mindset for undergraduate and graduate students.
Vickie Gibbs, BSE ’91
Vickie Gibbs, MBA is passionate about inspiring and developing the next generation of entrepreneurs, as well as diverse and inclusive spaces where everyone can bring their full selves. She is the founder and CEO of VLG Strategic Growth Practice, where she works with clients to help them grow and scale their businesses. Her services include fractional CxO services, strategic planning, diverse talent pipeline development, and go-to-market planning. Her expertise includes launching new products and businesses and building and leading diverse teams. She has worked at a number of high-tech startups (e.g., OpenSite, Art.com, Motricity), spent three years with Viacom, and launched four businesses, including a clothing store, a SaaS software company, and two consulting practices. Vickie earned a B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering from Duke University and an M.B.A. from Kenan-Flagler at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Vickie has served on the advisory boards of for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.