The Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship is excited to welcome Ross Freedman to the WAVE Advisory Board. Ross is a graduate of the Wisconsin School of Business from the class of 1997, where he got his BBA degree in Information Systems with a minor in Computer Science. During his time at the UW Ross made many connections, including meeting his future business partner Brad Schneider, through an awkward handshake during move-in freshman year. The two have since founded two companies together, Wired Matrix and Rightpoint.
After graduation, Ross worked within Arthur Andersen’s Business Consulting practice providing technology consulting service to various Fortune 500 companies and government agencies. After three years at Andersen he took the lessons and experience he gained to co-found Wired Matrix with his college friend Brad Schneider. They launched Wired Matrix from Ross’ apartment, but eventually grew and moved into an office in Chicago’s West Loop. After three years, Wired Matrix merged with West Monroe Partners, a spin-off of Andersen. Ross continued his work with the company as the VP of Customer Solutions.
After five years, Ross once again journeyed out to solve a need that he and Brad had seen in the market: the need for a stronger focus on helping organizations improve their customer experience. In 2007, to address this need in the market, Ross and Brad co-founded Rightpoint. Rightpoint was built on the fundamental idea that “Every company is either an experience company today or will need to reinvent themselves as one.” The company has grown exponentially the last 15 years, under Ross and Brad’s care. Rightpoint now boasts over 800 employees around the world who work tirelessly to build great customer experiences for iconic brands. Rightpoint has won several awards for the company’s unique workplace culture, hyper business growth, and the impact it has on its client’s business results.
Ross has a long history of supporting the Wisconsin School of Business community and has been a longtime contributor of the Wisconsin Forward Partners Fund. The Board membership is just Ross’ latest method of giving back to the badger community and with countless awards and unique experiences, he will certainly be an invaluable board member. Ross is also a mentor through UW’s Creative Destruction Lab’s (CDL), a collaboration with the Rotman School of Management and an innovative partnership between the Wisconsin School of Business, the School of Computing, Data and Information Sciences (CDIS) and American Family Insurance. The program leverages UW’s highly ranked programs in Risk & Insurance, Computer Science and Entrepreneurship and helps create massively scalable, seed-stage, science- and technology-based companies. As a WAVE advisory board member, Ross hopes to be able to connect with and advise students and provide feedback on the strategic direction of the Center and the curriculum.
Please join me in welcoming Ross Freedman to the WAVE Advisory Board!
Welcome home, Ross and On Wisconsin!
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