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Founders and Faculty

The Consulting and Business Development Center was founded in 1995 by Dean and Professor Emeritus William D. Bradford, Professor Emeritus Thaddeus H. Spratlen, and MBA student and now Center Director, Michael Verchot with a mission to solve real-world problems and capture emerging opportunities for small businesses owned by people of color or those located in under-served communities. Today that work continues to transform business education and grow wealth-creating businesses with a dedicated team of staff, faculty, students, alumni and business leaders.

Thaddeus H. Spratlen

Professor Emeritus Thaddeus H. Spratlen is the founding Faculty Director for the Consulting and Business Development Center. The Center’s core endowment fund that supports undergraduate student consulting teams is named for and endowed by him. Over 2,000 UW students have consulted with 500 businesses since the Center’s inception in 1995. Spratlen is also the lead author for the Multicultural Marketing and Business Consulting textbook (2012).

William D. Bradford

Dean and Professor Emeritus William D. Bradford was Dean of the Foster School of Business during which time he worked to launch the Consulting and Business Development Center. In 1999, he stepped down as Dean and assumed the role of the Endowed Professorship of Business and Economic Development (now named the William D. Bradford Endowed Professorship) for more than a decade when he also served at the Center’s Faculty Director.

Michael Verchot

Michael Verchot is the founding director of the University of Washington’s Consulting and Business Development Center and a Lecturer in the Marketing Department at the Michael G. Foster School of Business. He is also the National Lead for Ascend – a nation’s largest ecosystem network focused on the growth of businesses owned by people of color, women, and veterans.