By Lexi Palma '13 and Ken Jubie
As Executive Director of the David ’73 and Christine Spicer ’75 Stack Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Michael Hickey ’83 is helping to pave the way for Siena College students who are interested in launching their own businesses.
“What a better way to learn, what a better way to get context of what you can really do in the world than actually starting your own business while you’re going to college,” Hickey said.
Hickey uses his 25 years of experience in the technology industry, including 15 as a software executive, to lead the College’s interdisciplinary program. He has bought and sold more than a dozen companies and served as Chief Operating Officer of MapInfo and President of Pitney Bowes Business Insight before returning to work at his alma mater. Through it all, Hickey always had the entrepreneurial spirit.
“I would call myself an ‘intrepreneur’ in that I was one of those people that would work inside of a company who would drive change and be willing to take risks,” Hickey said.
Along with a team of Siena professors, Hickey guides prospective entrepreneurs in the Stack Center from idea development to commercialization. They help students from all three of Siena’s schools – liberal arts, science and business – generate ideas through competitions and workshops. The professors help students nurture and formalize the business entities and develop business strategies, models and go-to-market plans, all during their college careers.
“I’m excited by the fact that Siena can play a big role in that, the creation of jobs, the creation of companies that can create new revenue streams for society, new revenue streams for the College,” Hickey said. “We’re creating maybe businesses, but if not businesses, we’re creating leaders that can lead in the new, complex world.”
Hickey, who is also Siena’s Executive-in-Residence , is also influencing the world’s economic development. He was among the business leaders who attended last summer’s second annual Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) America Conference in Chicago. The Clinton Global Initiative was established by President Bill Clinton in 2005, in hopes of turning ideas into action. Hickey attended the conference as a representative of the Center for Economic Growth, where he serves as Executive Vice Chair.
Hickey said the CGI was started to address economic and social issues. “CGI America recognizes we have problems of our own,” Hickey said. “In a broad context, the event is focused on finding solutions that promote economic recovery in the United States. Specifically, it brings leaders together from business, government and education.”
During the conference work groups were created to lead to specific and measurable outcomes that would benefit the economy and society. “I participated in the Entrepreneur Workshop, with individuals such as Scott Case from Startup America,” Hickey said.
Whether he is working with established business leaders at a conference or helping Siena College students turn their ideas into viable businesses, Michael Hickey is sparking positive change that could lead to development and improvements in our economy and society as a whole.
