Strengthening the budding UWM innovators and teams within the Milwaukee community.

The ENGAGE Mentors are a group of experienced business leaders and entrepreneurs who volunteer their time, knowledge, and experience to help UWM innovators develop their ideas and start-ups into stronger companies. They provide useful feedback, advice, suggestions, and action items to keep moving forward.

Interested in participating as a UWM Innovator ?

Getting Started

Contact the UWM ENGAGE program manager, Jessica Silvaggi, to learn more and fill out a questionnaire to describe the current state of your idea and your needs. You will be paired with a team of mentors that best fits your topic and needs.

Who qualifies as an Innovator?

Our “innovators” include a variety of stages of exploration of an innovation including researchers, students, new company founders, or entrepreneurs working to grow their businesses. We want to provide guidance at any level of entry.

Interested in mentoring UWM Innovators?

Becoming a Mentor

Contact the UWM ENGAGE program manager, Jessica Silvaggi, to learn more and fill out a questionnaire below to describe your expertise areas, interests, and amount of time you are willing to volunteer per month. You will be matched with innovators based on your answers.

Time Commitment

Each party gets out of the program what they put into it. A goal would be at least a monthly meeting between mentors and innovators to keep the ball rolling. You can stop at any time as an innovator. We prefer mentors commit to at least 6 months to keep continuity for an innovator team. The program is flexible, and we are available to help for a single meeting with innovators as well as long term mentoring.

List of Current Mentors

Mentor / Innovator Questionnaire (please type N/A where applicable)