Collegiate Entrepreneurs' Organization

In 1983, a meeting was held in a restaurant to discuss developing an entrepreneurship organization for students who wanted to one day become an entrepreneur. Dr, Gerry Hills, a professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), called and facilitated the meeting of 12 Chicago-area university students. John Hughes and Jean Thorne of the Coleman Foundation contributed and, additionally, Verne Harnish, who was working with Dr. Fran Jabara to create the Association of Collegiate Entrepreneurs (ACE), was in attendance.From this innovative meeting stemmed the origins of the Collegiate Entrepreneurs of Illinois Conference. The first Collegiate Entrepreneurs of Illinois Conference was hosted by UIC's Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies with the faculty and students of DePaul, Loyola, Illinois Institute of Technology and Northwestern University assisting in the planning and implementation of the Conference. The Coleman Foundation generously contributed as the conference sponsor and continues that generous support of CEO today. In 1985, the conference’s name was changed to the Collegiate Entrepreneurs of the Midwest Conference.

Collegiate Org