Babson professors have taught and mentored entrepreneurs around the world, and they have a proven track record in helping organizations and individuals build entrepreneurial ventures and create value through growing enterprises. The following professors will work in tandem to deliver the program.
Special Guest Speaker
John Esler, CEO - Renewal by Andersen
John Esler has founded several entrepreneurial ventures. His career spans from the purchasing department at RH Macy and Company to franchising and operating five high-volume locations for Subway Sandwiches in Upstate New York.
In John’s next high-growth business, he founded a company that offered New England homeowners the opportunity to add a sunroom to their homes. Betterliving Sunrooms achieved US$13.2 million in sales and had four offices and 100 employees.
The firm was recognized as the “#1 volume dealer’ in a national network of 70 dealers for five consecutive years. After selling Betterliving Sunrooms four years ago, John founded Renewal by Andersen, a well-regarded replacement window and door company that has become the number one volume location in a national dealership network of 100 dealers, netting US$25 million in annual sales with 100+ employees.
John has a Bachelor’s of Art in Finance and Economics and a Master of Business Administration from the F.W. Olin School of Business at Babson College. He frequently contributes as a guest professor at undergraduate and graduate entrepreneurship classes at Babson College.
John will be the sepcial guest speaker during the opening dinner at the start of this executive program.
Professor Edward P. Marram
Director, Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship
B.S., M.S., University of Massachusetts; Ph.D., Tufts University
Dr. Marram is responsible for all administrative activities and programs led by the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship, the hub for entrepreneurial activity at Babson. Dr. Marram oversees the implementation of outreach programs in entrepreneurship, including the Babson College Entrepreneurship Research Conference and the Symposia for Entrepreneurship Educators. He also supervises co-curricular entrepreneurship activities, including the Babson hatcheries and the business plan competitions. In collaboration with the Glavin Center for Global Management, he creates international partnerships for research, teaching and outreach that extend Babson's entrepreneurial brand worldwide.
Dr. Marram has developed a reputation for outstanding academic and technical accomplishments. An adjunct professor at Babson for 20 years, he regularly lectures on entrepreneurship and issues facing high-growth businesses in both graduate-level and executive-education programs. Dr. Marram was an entrepreneur in the high-technology sector for more than 35 years. He was the founder, president and CEO of GEO-CENTERS, INC., a high technology, professional services firm, which he sold in 2005. The company was twice recognized by Inc. Magazine as one of the fastest-growing, privately-held companies in the US.
In 1999 and 2000, Dr. Marram was appointed to the Summer National Defense Science Board. He currently serves on the college advisory council, College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and the chemistry advisory group at Tufts University. He is a member of the National Association of Corporate Directors, the Board of Overseers for Children's Hospital Boston, and he previously served on the Health and Educational Financial Authority (HEFA) of Massachusetts. He also serves on the board of several privately held companies.
Dr. Marram was named a Price-Babson College Fellow and received the Edwin M. Appel Prize for bringing entrepreneurial vitality to academia.
Professor Les Charm
Lecturer, Entrepreneurship
B.S., B.A., Babson College; M.B.A., Harvard University
Professor Charm has taught throughout the world on a variety of topics regarding entrepreneurship. He is on the President's Council at Babson College and is the recipient of the Appel Award for Entrepreneurship.
Professor Charm has been a partner in the firm of Youngman & Charm since 1972. The firm specializes in directorship functions for firms owned and operated by entrepreneurs and assisting companies that are experiencing operating and/or financial problems. Youngman & Charm has operated in a variety of industries and channels of distribution, and has been involved in many successful financings, acquisitions and mergers.
From 1977 to 1990, Professor Charm was chairman and president of a major distributor and specialty retail chain. He has been active in other specialty marketing companies and served as a member of the board of directors of the International Franchise Association from 1983 to 1988. He is currently director of the National Association of Corporate Directors-New England, as well as director of several public and privately held firms.