Panasci-Winning MBA Graduates Sell Business for $40 Million

By Jacqueline Molik Ghosen

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A business founded by two UB School of Management MBA graduates and launched through the school’s Henry A. Panasci Jr. Technology Entrepreneurship Competition (Panasci TEC) has sold for more than $40 million.

Campus Labs (formerly Student Voice) was the very first winner of the Panasci TEC in 2001. The company, which provides comprehensive assessment programs to colleges, was acquired by Higher One Holdings, a Connecticut-based company that helps college business offices manage operations.

Eric Reich, JD/MBA ’02, and Michael Weisman, MBA ’01, founded Student Voice with two other initial partners while still students in the School of Management. Now known as Campus Labs, the company has more than 650 clients and does more than $10 million in annual sales. The Buffalo News calls Campus Labs “one of the Buffalo Niagara region’s most successful start-ups since the turn of the century.”

To read more about Campus Lab’s acquisition, visit the Buffalo News article.

An editorial about the company's success appeared in Sunday's Buffalo News, along with a question/answer feature with Reich and Weisman.

Panasci TEC awards seed money and business services to the team that presents the best plan for launch of a viable new business. The competition was created by the University at Buffalo School of Management and the UB Office of Science, Technology Transfer and Economic Outreach, and is funded with a $1 million endowment from the late Henry A. Panasci Jr. to facilitate and promote the commercialization of UB-generated technologies.

The UB School of Management is recognized for its emphasis on real-world learning, community and economic impact, and the global perspective of its faculty, students and alumni. The school has been ranked by Bloomberg Businessweek, the Financial Times, Forbes, U.S. News & World Report and The Wall Street Journal for the quality of its programs and the return on investment it provides its graduates. For more information about the UB School of Management, visit mgt.buffalo.edu.

The University at Buffalo is a premier research-intensive public university, a flagship institution in the State University of New York system and its largest and most comprehensive campus. UB’s more than 28,000 students pursue their academic interests through more than 300 undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs. Founded in 1846, the University at Buffalo is a member of the Association of American Universities.