Chicago Booth School of Business recently recognized five outstanding MBA students who have demonstrated leadership in the fields of entrepreneurship, venture capital and private equity during their time at the school.
The annual Student Entrepreneurship Awards have various eligibility requirements and monetary prizes. For most awards, Booth College Entrepreneurship faculty and staff at the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation nominate students and vote on the winners.
The 2024 Student Entrepreneur Award winners are:
Kristin Stepany // Madison Dearborn Partners Private Equity Award // $2,000
The award is presented to a graduating student who has demonstrated leadership in Chicago Booth’s athletics program.
Christine Kristin grew up in Austria, Albania, and Canada, and moved to Houston, Texas, when she was in high school. After earning a bachelor’s degree in economics and a master’s degree in international economic development from Texas A&M University, she began her career in investment banking at JP Morgan. Prior to joining Booth, she worked at Sterling Group, a mid-market private equity fund based in Houston. During her time at Booth, Kristin served as co-chair of the Private Equity Group, primarily responsible for career and recruiting programs. She was also part of the winning team that represented Booth at the Oxford Global PE Challenge, which led to Booth’s victory. During her time at Booth, Kristin was actively involved in the Private Equity program, completing an internship in the Private Equity Lab and serving as a TA for the PE Lab and financial management cases in her second year. Following graduation, she will be a Vice President in the Investment Team at Water Street Healthcare Partners.
Michelle Kao // Hyde Park Angels Venture Capital Award // $2,000
The award recognizes alumni who have demonstrated leadership in venture capital through courses they have taken and participated in VC programming.
Michelle is originally from the Detroit metropolitan area and grew up in Shanghai for nine years. She attended Northwestern University for college, majoring in Economics and minoring in Computer Science. She joined Deloitte as a consultant in the Chicago office and found her niche serving healthcare provider and payer clients on technology strategy projects, including designing data analytics dashboards, prototyping AI/ML use cases, and developing business cases for major IT investments. After four years in consulting, she gained work experience with a product marketing internship at Verily Life Sciences before moving to Booth in Chicago to further explore the role of healthcare innovation from an investor perspective. At Booth, Michelle was involved with the Polsky Center as a George Shultz Innovation Fund Associate, mentored/coached as a venture capital career advisor, organized wellness programs for student organizations as a Wellness Fellow, and also completed venture capital internships at Sands Capital and OCA Ventures. Michelle is majoring in Finance, Entrepreneurship, and Accounting and will be joining the Healthcare team at OCA Ventures after graduation. Outside of work and school, she likes rock climbing, yoga, and teaching her mini goldendoodle new tricks.
Mittur Patel // Ratan L. Khosa, ’79, Against All Odds Prize // $2,500
The award is given annually to a graduating student who has overcome great challenges and demonstrated an entrepreneurial spirit to start a business.
Mitul Although born in India, Mittur grew up across the US, including Michigan, Mississippi, Kentucky, Philadelphia, and most recently, Los Angeles. He studied Biology and Philosophy at the University of Kentucky before earning his Master of Medical Science from Drexel University. Growing up in an immigrant small business entrepreneurial family, Mittur was always drawn to starting his own business. So after graduation, he launched a media agency in Philadelphia and ran it for over three years. The rewarding and fulfilling experience he gained from these experiences convinced him that the entrepreneurial path was right for him. Mittur came to Booth to further build his business toolkit and launch a startup while still in school. Outside of the classroom, he has found numerous opportunities to learn, engage, and contribute at Booth, including becoming an EVC Co-Chair, Boxing Club Co-Chair, and an NVC Finalist. Along the way, the Ratan Khosa funded program and staff support from Polsky were integral to his experience.
“When most people think of entrepreneurship, they only think of the solo founder, but they don’t see the support network behind the entrepreneur’s success,” Patel says. “My experience at Booth was one of support from other students, professors, donors, and colleagues, each helping to provide a program that allows entrepreneurs to pursue what they want to do. This is the type of environment I have always sought, and Booth provided it for me. I owe all of the success I have achieved, and that of the other entrepreneurs here, to this environment.”
Shreya Karba // Mulder Student Entrepreneur Award // $2,000
The award recognises graduates who have successfully launched or grown a venture whilst completing their course.
Shreya Shreya graduated from the University of Chicago in 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in economics and a minor in gender and sexuality studies. She spent the first five years of her career working in economic consulting at Cornerstone Research and as a consultant to healthcare startups. She joined Booth as a Booth Scholar in 2022 with the goal of diving into the entrepreneurial world. In her first quarter, she eagerly took an Entrepreneurial Discovery class taught by Professor Mark Tebbe. In this class, she met her two co-founders and founded Zaars, a new venture focused on spreading South Asian fashion throughout the U.S. community. The three-person team took Zaars to the 2023 New Venture Challenge (NVC) accelerator program, where they were finalists and received funding from the Polsky Center and Parcel Company. They used the funding to build the Zaars platform and achieve their first sales as a company. Now in her second year, Shreya has been contributing to Booth’s entrepreneurial community as a teaching assistant for Entrepreneurial Discovery and 2024 NVC. She also serves as co-chair of Chicago Women in Business Gender Equity, promoting gender equity in and outside of Booth through various events and Lunch & Learns, building a stronger community for women at Booth.Shreya is excited to continue working full-time at Zaars after graduation and looks forward to bringing this venture to her hometown of New York City.
“I came to the booth try “I am graduating with a strong co-founding team and newly launched business that I grew through Polsky Center classwork and programs,” said Culba. “My journey would not have been possible without Booth and the Polsky Center. I am so grateful for the opportunity to immerse myself so deeply in entrepreneurship these past two years, and especially for how much both Booth and the Polsky Center have shown entrepreneurship as a viable and powerful career option for MBAs.” studentI look forward to joining the company full time after graduation.”
Namrata (Nam) Vakkaragadda and Athena Sardana // Vijay (’77) and Seeta Vasi Promising Entrepreneur Award // $2,500 each
The award recognizes graduates who have demonstrated outstanding leadership in entrepreneurship programs.
Namrata She is a student graduating with a full-time MBA at Booth. Prior to joining Booth, she earned her BA in Psychology and Brain Sciences with a minor in Computer Science from Washington University in St. Louis. She then moved to Chicago and worked in technology consulting at Deloitte, focusing on large-scale technology transformation in the healthcare industry. During her time at Booth, she has focused her professional explorations in the areas of healthcare and entrepreneurship, with a particular focus on women’s health. She is currently a venture partner at Coyote Ventures, a seed-stage VC focused on healthcare for underrepresented populations, and was previously a venture fellow at Samata Capital. She also attended SNVC 2023 with ALEYE, a women’s health startup focused on supporting PCOS patients. She has been a student leader on campus in the area of ​​entrepreneurship, serving as a co-chair and venture capital lab TA for EVC SeedCon. Outside of her professional field, she is deeply involved as a co-chair and performer for AudioBooth. She is the lead singer of the Booth MBA band “Murders & Acquisitions,” which won Booth’s Battle of the Bands competition and played against Kellogg twice in interscholastic competitions. After graduation, she plans to move to the Bay Area (where she grew up) with her tuxedoed cat Bugsy, return to Deloitte’s strategy consulting division, and contribute to the new Health Equity Institute.
“I came to Booth to explore different career paths, and I feel that all the opportunities I was given allowed me to explore that to the extreme, culminating in this award,” Vaccaragada said. “The classes, professors and experiences I’ve had here have allowed me to explore the field of entrepreneurship and ventures more than I ever imagined.”
Athena Athena grew up in the suburbs of Chicago after her family immigrated from Dubai with hopes of achieving the American Dream. After graduating from the Haas School of Business at the University of California, Berkeley, she began her career as a consultant at EY. Most recently, she was a consultant at Oliver Wyman, focusing on technology and operations. After working with teachers and non-profits, Athena came up with the idea for Owler AI, a platform that helps teachers grade student assignments faster and leave feedback, so teachers can focus their time and effort on creating engaging classrooms. She came to Booth with the idea for Owler and used her time spent in business school to find co-founders, conduct customer discovery interviews, design the product, and launch the business. Currently, Owler has 750 teachers using the platform and is piloted with two online schools and a Chicago-based charter high school. Athena looks forward to continuing to help Owler grow.
