Acton School of Business

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The Acton School of Business is a MBA program in Entrepreneurship in Austin, Texas, taught by successful, practicing entrepreneurs. Offering only a full-time program, the school is based on experiential learning. Students analyze over 300 business case studies and participate in simulations, such as building real assembly lines and selling products door to door. The school is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) and the Association of Collegiate Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) through Hardin-Simmons University.^[1] The Acton 10,000 sq ft (930 m²) campus is located on the shores of Lady Bird Lake.^[2]

History

Acton grew out of the curriculum developed by the Acton Foundation for Entrepreneurial Excellence (AFEE). Founded by Jeff Sandefer, an entrepreneur and teacher at the University of Texas, AFEE was created to publish entrepreneurship cases and notes and spread entrepreneurship curriculum to schools across the United States. While at UT, Sandefer was ranked one of the top ten entrepreneurship professors in the country by BusinessWeek.^[3] In 2002, Sandefer and fellow teachers, Phil Siegel, Vaughn Brock and Jack Long left the University of Texas and founded The Acton School of Business. Acton graduated its first class in 2004. The school derives its name from Lord Acton, a 19th century scholar and originator of the famous quote "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Teachers

Acton's teachers are all proven and successful entrepreneurs and have collectively grown their businesses up to $4.5 billion in assets and counting.

Jeff Sandefer
Founded or co-founded five successful companies
Formerly managed Sandefer Capital, an energy investment firm Named by BusinessWeek as one of the top Entrepreneurship professors in the United States
MBA, Harvard Business School; B.S., University of Texas

Steven Tomlinson
Formerly a top-ranked economics and finance professor in the McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas
Designed and directed the McCombs Plus Program; directed the MBA Professional Development at UT
Ph.D.,economics, Stanford University; B.A., with honors, University of Oklahoma

Jack Long
Co-founder of Lone Star Overnight and PeopleAdmin, Inc.
A top-ranked entrepreneurship teacher for the Acton MBA and formerly for the University of Texas
MBA, Vanderbilt University; B.S. University of Richmond

Jeff Serra
Founded ReNEW Energy and Eyes of Texas Partners
Former chairman, president, and CEO of Phibro Energy
MS industrial management, Purdue University; B.S. civil engineering, University of Virginia

Phil Siegel
Founded Newgistics and three other companies
Current managing general partner at Austin Ventures; former partner at the Boston Consulting Group
MBA and B.S., University of Chicago.

Ed Perry
Founder, CEO, or Managing Director of ten successful companies in the industries of oil & gas, electronics, software, consulting and venture capital
General Partner, Murphree Venture Partners
Bachelor's and Master's degrees, Rice University

Jeff Connally
President & CEO, CMIT Solutions, Inc
Founder of Uplink Corporation; co-founded Gener8Biz
Worked for twenty years as a top sales and marketing executive in software, hardware, and information-service companies, including Stratfor/Infraworks, ReCompute, Globalsoft, and IBM
MBA from the University of Texas; B.A., business and humanities, St. Michael's College (Vermont)

Bill Jones
Co-founded and managed Queensland Energy Resources and Shale Tech International
Former Vice President of Energy Development with Ziff Brothers Investments; Principal with Sandefer Capital Partners; Venture Consultant at Austin Ventures
MBA from The University of Texas; B.S. Geosciences, University of Arizona

Joe Fulwiler
Founder, Fulwiler Law
Executive at Coremetrics, Spinner.com, and Booz Allen & Hamilton
MBA, Stanford University; J.D., Columbia University; B.A., Economics, Yale

Kimberly Watson-Hemphill
Founder of Firefly Consulting
Previously, a Partner with Accenture Management Consulting and a Vice President with George Group Consulting
Author of Fast Innovation
Masters of Engineering Mechanics from The University of Texas; BSE in Aerospace Engineering; and B.A. in French from The University of Michigan

Ted Beasley
Co-founder, Gateway Church
Start-up Entrepreneur in the United States, Eastern Europe, and Australia
Strategic and financial consultant for emerging and senior leaders in corporate America
MBA from The University of Texas

Jamie Matthews
Co-founder and mentor for Explore Austin, a non-profit dedicated to mentoring and building leadership skills in young boys through outdoor adventures
Owner and Principal in real estate transactions totaling over $29 million in Texas, Colorado, and California
Co-founder of The Tecumseh Foundation, a Texas-based foundation that supports a wide variety of charities, scholarship programs, and non-profits
MBA, Acton; MBA, National University (California); B.A., psychology, Vanderbilt University

Curriculum

Using the case method, exercises and business simulations, Acton offers a MBA in Entrepreneurship in under a year. Unlike traditional MBA programs, Acton offers only a core curriculum with no additional elective courses. The program's curriculum is divided into three sections, Integrative Courses, Tools Courses and Life of Meaning. Integrative Courses include: Notes on the Case Method, The Entrepreneurial Journey, Opportunity, Launch, Growth and Harvest Courses. Tools courses include: simulation games, Cash and Valuation, Customers, Operations, Raising Money and People Courses. Follow this link for a more detailed look at Acton's experiential learning curriculum: http://www.actonmba.org/our-program/curriculum/

Admissions

The Acton School of Business considers itself to be "highly selective." The school ranks #3 on Princeton Review's list of "Best Classroom Experience." It also ranks #3 on the list of "Most Competitive Students". The average undergrad GPA of an admitted student is 3.2 and the average GMAT score is 648. Most students have 6 years of work experience prior to being admitted, though the school does not require applicants have a certain amount of work experience. Acton's application includes personal essays, letters of recommendation, resume, video essay and class visit. Admissions interviews are scheduled by appointment only. International students must submit an office TOEFL score. The small size of the program allows the admissions committee to take a close look at each applicant. More information regarding the application process can be found here: http://www.actonmba.org/admissions/application-faq/

Tuition

Tuition for The Acton School of Business is $49,500 for the entire program. The cost of tuition includes all fees and course materials. Not included in tuition costs are: housing, utilities, food, personal insurance, or computers. Small student discounts on laptops are available through Hardin Simmons University. Acton students are not eligible for Federal Financial Aid, so many students choose to secure student loans through private lending institutions. A list of lenders that have loaned money to Acton students in the past can be found on the Hardin-Simmons University website. The ability for students to pay is not considered in the admissions process, but once admitted Acton may offer fellowships and need-based loans and occasionally merit based grants, once students have exhausted all other avenues. More information regarding Financial Aid can be found here: http://www.actonmba.org/admissions/tuition/

External links

• The Acton School of Business
• The Acton Foundation for Entrepreneurial Excellence

Citations

Coordinates: 30°14′52″N 97°43′59″W / 30.24778°N 97.73306°W / 30.24778; -97.73306