Syracuse University Entrepreneurship Thought Leaders Appointed to CNBC Disruptor 50 Advisory Council for Fourth Year in a Row

For the fourth year in a row Michael Haynie, Syracuse University’s vice chancellor for strategic initiatives and innovation, and Alexander McKelvie, associate dean for undergraduate and master’s education, and professor and chair of the Martin J. Whitman School of Management’s entrepreneurship and emerging enterprises department, were selected as members of the CNBC Disruptor 50 Advisory Council. The Council is compiled of 66 industry and academic thought leaders from across the globe, tasked with developing the criteria used to determine the CNBC Disruptor 50, an annual list of private companies most likely to transform and reimagine the world. In addition to determining the selection criteria, members of the Council also helped to evaluate each of the companies competing to earn the coveted title of “CNBC Disruptor.”

To be eligible for nomination, companies had to be private, independently owned start-ups, founded within the last 15 years.

“We determined that the age limit would help keep the list aligned with its ongoing mission to identify the next generation of innovative companies on a path to becoming investable via the public markets,” CNBC said.

One of the most important factors in being considered a disruptor, according to Haynie, is that the company “challenges the status quo, by bringing discontinuous innovation to the marketplace, displacing incumbent firms, and fundamentally transforming the consumer value proposition.”

To both Haynie and McKelvie being selected for the CNBC Disruptor 50 Advisory Council is a high honor, as the council represents some of the most accomplished and well-respected entrepreneurship scholars and business innovators. Haynie and McKelvie were selected for the Council based on their extensive contributions to the field of entrepreneurship, stemming from their innovative research to their work with veterans and numerous outreach programs. In previous years, Syracuse University was the only institution with two representatives on the Council.

“The companies included in the list are among the most innovative companies in the world,” said McKelvie. “They are changing the way we work, study, travel and play. Many of these companies will become household names in the future. Being included on this council is a great honor and a reflection of the important emphasis we are putting on entrepreneurship at Syracuse University.”

More than 1,200 companies were nominated this year for the list. Companies to be named on the CNBC Disruptor 50 list included Airbnb, Indigo Ag and Rent the Runway. The 2019 disruptors have raised $46 billion in venture capital. According to PitchBook data, these companies have an implied Disruptor 50 list market valuation of over than $266 billion. This year nearly 40 disruptors are unicorns “that have already reached or passed the billion-dollar mark,” said CNBC. 

Arielle Spears
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