Serial entrepreneur Art Zimmer to be first guest in ‘Talking Business: A Conversation With…’ series

Serial entrepreneur Art Zimmer to be first guest in ‘Talking Business: A Conversation With…’ seriesApril 14, 2008Sara Millersemortim@syr.edu

Restaurateur, publisher, marketer, salesman and serial entrepreneur Art Zimmer will be the first guest of the “Talking Business: A Conversation With…” series. The event will be held at the Syracuse Technology Garden, 235 Harrison St., Syracuse, on Wednesday, April 23, from 5-6 p.m. Networking and light refreshments will be available before and after the event. A $5 donation per person is requested, with proceeds used to support the series.

It is often the dream of a business person to have not just one but several successful businesses. Zimmer will discuss the personal and business qualities necessary to develop a series of businesses. Over the last 40 years, Zimmer has become one of Central New York’s best-known serial entrepreneurs. He has owned and nurtured many businesses, including hotels, restaurants, a candy company, a weekly newspaper and a luxury car company. His entrepreneurial success has allowed him to follow his dreams and invest in other business ventures. Like other serial entrepreneurs, being successful once is not enough — real success comes from being successful again and again.

This series is part of the Syracuse Campus-Community Entrepreneurship Initiative (Enitiative). Jill Hurst-Wahl is the ePractitioner coordinating “Talking Business: A Conversation With…” Hurst-Wahl is an information consultant with her own business, Hurst Associates Ltd., as well as a Syracuse University faculty member in the School of Information Studies. Her involvement with local business groups led her to develop this series so that successful business people could share valuable lessons learned with small and micro business owners and business students. “We need to learn from those who have already `been around the block,’ so that our businesses do not face the same hurdles,” she says.

Information on upcoming “Talking Business” events, videos of past events and other resources is available at http://www.enitiative.syr.edu/talking_business.html.

This project is made possible, in part, through an Enitiative award. Enitiative is funded by a grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, focusing on entrepreneurship in the arts, technology and our neighborhoods. To learn more about Enitiative, visit http://www.enitiative.syr.edu.