Donor's Gift Supports College of Business Administration
Alumnus and businessman Michael Entzminger has pledged $50,000 to support the new College of Business Administration complex. In gratitude, a department office will be named the Mach 1 International Business and Marketing Department Suite, after the international freight company Entzminger (’76, marketing management) founded in 1988.
“Cal Poly Pomona was a beautiful fit for me with the class sizes and the opportunities for hands-on learning,” Entzminger says. “Now, I’m trying to give back to the institution that was so wonderful to me.”
As a student, Entzminger tirelessly worked his way through college, never taking a summer off from his studies or his multiple jobs. One of those jobs — advertising manager at The Poly Post — would have a profound impact on Entzminger and help change the trajectory of his career.
While at The Poly Post, Entzminger realized that he excelled in forging relationships and closing deals and that he enjoyed the unpredictability and intensity of working on commission. He especially liked that his earnings could be as high as he wanted them to be, not based on a salary or hourly wage. After witnessing other students shy away from the pressure of a commission-based job, Entzminger discovered that he had the personality of an entrepreneur.
“The Poly Post gave me that entrepreneurial bug,” Entzminger says. “I didn’t want to be limited by what I could create or earn.”
After gaining experience in a corporate job for a dozen years, Entzminger launched Mach 1 in Arizona. What began as a small business operating out of a 1,200-square-foot office morphed into a global company with offices in China, Mexico and India and customers such as General Motors and Honeywell. Although he still monitors the success of Mach 1, he does it from a distance now. He recently retired as chief executive officer to let his daughter, Jamie, run the company.
Despite living in Arizona, Entzminger is still connected to Cal Poly Pomona. He is active in the university’s National Development Council and returns to campus to offer career guidance to business students. Still thinking like a CEO, Entzminger is always searching for talent. In fact, a chance encounter with business major Steven Aguilar during an NDC meeting led to a job offer. Now, Aguilar is an operations agent for Mach 1.
“Mike Entzminger has achieved tremendous success in the freight industry, and it is heartening to know he credits Cal Poly Pomona with giving him the tools to start his own business,” says CBA Dean Richard Lapidus says. “His generosity to the College of Business Administration ensures that we can continue providing a quality education to global business leaders like him.”
Additional naming opportunities are still available. For more information, contact Jeff Cox, the college’s director of development, at (909) 869-2755.
(Photo: Mike Entzminger speaking to a business class.)
Cal Poly Pomona has embarked on a $150 million comprehensive fundraising campaign to ensure that a quality college education is within reach for future generations of students. The campaign will strengthen the university's ability to provide a hands-on education, to prepare students for the changing demands of the workplace, and to increase research and scholarship opportunities. The fundraising campaign relies on the support of the entire campus community -- from alumni to faculty and staff to friends of the university. For more information, visit http://campaign.csupomona.edu/.
