As Northwestern University continues to position itself as a significant piece to the Chicago entrepreneurial landscape, the college has named a new director of its Farley Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation.
Hayes Ferguson, who has been part of Northwestern’s entrepreneurial ecosystem for five years, began her new role Aug. 3. Ferguson has a background in journalism and entrepreneurship, and was previously the associate director of Northwestern’s Garage, a co-working space of sorts, where students can work on business ideas, network with other students and receive guidance from Northwestern staff. Ferguson also served as an adjunct journalism professor in the early 2000s.
A New Orleans-native, she holds a bachelor’s degree from Vanderbilt University, did graduate work as a Rotary Scholar at the University of Perugia in Italy and was a Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan.
Taking this new role at the Farley Center allows Ferguson to have a bigger impact on the aspiring entrepreneurs coming through Northwestern every year. She will primarily be responsible for overseeing the department’s class curriculum and fostering students’ entrepreneurial skills.
“I felt there was an opportunity to really continue to do a lot of kind of work I’m passionate about at Farley, and do so without necessarily losing that connection to The Garage,” Ferguson said.
Over her tenure at Northwestern, Ferguson helped launch the Medill Garage Media Entrepreneur Fellowship, which supports underrepresented people addressing issues in media. Ferguson was also instrumental in the creation of Northwestern’s Propel Program, which provides networking, mentorship and immersive learning experiences that promote diversity and inclusion in entrepreneurship.
Building on her work with the Propel Program, Ferguson wants to continue to prioritize diversifying the students taking advantage of resources at the Farley Center, The Garage and other entrepreneurial programs at the college. She said she wants Northwestern students of all backgrounds, regardless of race, gender or income, to know there’s opportunity for them, too.
“We actively look for students that might not otherwise come to us,” Ferguson said. “There are students who don’t ever register for a Farley class and don’t ever show up at The Garage because the perception is that’s not for me.”
To help diversify Northwestern’s entrepreneurial programs, Ferguson and her team are reaching out to the college’s department deans, asking them to send business-savvy students their way.
“We truly believe that by having different voices, you do have better innovation,” Ferguson said. “How do you get other people involved? Some of it is really through some one-on-one mentoring and paying attention to everybody.”
Additionally, Ferguson plans to build bridges between the Farley Center and other departments at Northwestern, as well as in Chicago’s entrepreneurship scene more broadly.
“Quite frankly, extraordinary students and startups are coming out of Farley and I want to make sure that our students are well-connected within the university,” Ferguson said. “I want to make sure that we’re also a key part of the Chicago ecosystem.”
Several Northwestern students appeared on Inno's 25 Under 25 list this year.
Ferguson plans to search for opportunities to connect students with Northwestern alums now working in the tech, startup and venture capital industries.
“It’s a way to find jobs for our students and also to keep that talent here in Chicagoland,” Ferguson said. “Being part of the entrepreneurial ecosystem at Northwestern [means] you can network with people that can help you figure out what you want to do.”
Ferguson also has entrepreneurship experience of her own. She helped build Legacy.com, a website founded in 1998 that publishes obituaries, during the height of the dot com boom.
“The vision was to have these really beautifully written editorial obituaries," Ferguson said. "What Legacy was able to do was put full attention to an important category that the newspapers of the time really didn’t have time focus on.”
As the chief operating officer, she helped build the company a network of websites for 1,500 media companies with 35 million monthly visitors. Legacy.com was acquired by Great Hill Partners, a Boston private equity firm, in 2012. Legacy today is based in downtown Chicago.
Once Legacy.com was acquired, Ferguson moved on, and joined Northwestern shortly after.
This fall, Northwestern is conducting classes both in person and virtually, depending on the specific course and professor, Ferguson said. But all freshman and sophomores are required to stay home and take classes virtually.
Working from home, unable to have crucial face-to-face time with students isn’t ideal, but Zoom calls are sufficing for now.
“It’s been fine,” said Ferguson, who has been working from her home in Evanston. “Thanks to technology, we’re able to work pretty successfully.”
