Ithaca College

IC Entrepreneurs presents: “Hitting the Wall and Transitions in the Entrepreneurial Company,” a lecture by Michael Preston ’64. He will cover topics including growth in developing firms and why businesses fail. The event will take place on Wednesday, March 30, at 6:00 pm in Williams 225.

Michael Preston has been a member of the faculty at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business since 1998. He has been teaching his course, Managing Growth, to MBAs in the school's entrepreneurship program and is working extensively with middle market companies and student-developed enterprises. His academic focus is on the issues of midsize companies in achieving professional management. Preston has been consulting for 35 years, including 28 years as a management consultant, partner and regional director for Grant Thornton & Company LLP including consulting department head for the New York office, the firm's largest practice.

Preston continues to work as a management consultant advising middle market companies on strategy and organization, change management, and management development. His clientele has been diverse, including service firms, financial services, distribution, manufacturing and retail companies, as well as non-profit organizations. His larger clients have included IBM, AT&T, Motorola, and Lloyds of London.

He coauthored a book: The Road to Success, How to Manage Growth (John Wiley & Sons, 1998 ) and has spoken to various audiences on a broad range of management related topics. He is active on the boards of nonprofit organizations that deal with medical and health issues and social services to immigrants. He has a BA from Ithaca College and an MBA from the Leonard N. Stern Graduate School of Business at NYU.