51ÁÔÆæ

When Chad Venne talks about 51ÁÔÆæ’s real estate students, there’s no mistaking his enthusiasm. “The excitement this generation brings to the field is unlike what we’ve seen before,” says Venne, director of the Lubar College of Business’ Real Estate Program.

“Most of us found our way into the industry by accident. Today’s students are entering with purpose—and with skills that used to take years to develop,” he said.

That shift is reshaping the way the program prepares students. Instead of focusing only on theory, Venne has emphasized hands-on learning and industry engagement.

“All of our classes mirror real-world projects,” he said. “When students graduate, they can point to the work they’ve done here and show employers exactly what they’re capable of.”

Connections outside the classroom reinforce that approach. Students regularly tour buildings, meet with company leaders, and learn directly from professional organizations such as IREM, NAIOP, and CARW.

“Real estate is all about collaboration,” Venne said. “These partnerships give our students a head start in building their professional networks and understanding the business from the inside out.”

For students preparing to enter a demanding job market, Venne offers a simple framework he calls “the three Gs”: Grit, Great questions, and Get stuff done.

“The industry rewards perseverance,” he said. “And in an AI-driven world, being able to ask the right questions is just as important as knowing the answers. At the end of the day, employers want problem solvers who deliver results.”

Venne is eager to grow the program’s reach and resources. With enrollments climbing and local demand for talent rising, his priorities include building a job placement pipeline, launching a digital job board, and raising funds for a real estate endowment.

“Providing students with the education they need to land jobs will always be our top priority,” he said. “With additional support, we can continue to deliver outstanding talent to Milwaukee’s real estate community.”

Deepak Arora didn’t set out to start a company. When he arrived in the U.S. in 2015, he’d already spent two decades forging a successful career in IT and health care technology in India and Canada. As a senior manager at IBM Watson Health, Arora directed global teams, oversaw projects involving artificial intelligence-integrated products, and had the kind of upward trajectory that made executive leadership seem inevitable.

But then everything changed.

In 2020, Arora and his family experienced a devastating loss: the death of his young daughter, Mahi, who drowned near their home in Hartland, Wisconsin. “We were five minutes too late,” he said. “And the thought just wouldn’t go away: How could we have prevented it?”

The thought became an obsession, and a couple of years later, Arora founded a tech company devoted to answering that question. The executive-turned-entrepreneur’s vision was simple: to develop a wearable, predictive safety device that uses AI to alert caregivers about potential accidents before they happen.

Learning to lead at Lubar

In 2021, Arora enrolled at 51ÁÔÆæ’s Lubar College of Business, drawn to the program’s new Executive MBA concentration in Integrated Health Care Leadership. He was still working at IBM but wanted to better understand finance, marketing and strategy.

For Arora, the curriculum instilled leadership skills that made him feel he could run a company. In 2022, leveraging his health care background and expertise in AI and software development, he launched .

Through 51ÁÔÆæ’s Milwaukee I-Corps program, Arora conducted market research that led to a crucial insight: the biggest opportunity wasn’t in the children’s market, due to parental concerns and other challenges, but with seniors, a growing segment of the population. That discovery prompted a strategic pivot to focus on older adults, for whom the leading cause of injury-related deaths is falls and wandering.

“I wouldn’t have been able to pivot if I hadn’t gone to Lubar,” he said. “At first, it was hard for me personally, but it made sense. The market we’re tapping into has a real need we can solve.”

Engineering a safer future

In 2025, Wearable Technologies was granted its first patent for an all-in-one safety management solution, Wear-Tech Companion, a smart device powered by AI that scans the environment for potential hazards.

The Wear-Tech Companion can learn a person’s daily patterns, detect anomalies and send alerts to caregivers in real time — whether for a fall, a medical concern or someone with dementia wandering.

“Our user is obviously the person wearing it, but the real user is whoever is monitoring and making sense of the data,” Arora said.

Unlike other wearables, the device has no screen, no need for cloud connectivity, and no reliance on apps. The data processing and decision-making happen inside the device itself — an important innovation that makes it both faster, secure and more reliable. According to Arora, the Wear-Tech Companion can respond to critical events five times faster than competing products. And that difference means everything.

Leaving a legacy of care

Since its founding, Wearable Technologies has gained national acclaim. In 2024, the company received first prize in a pitch competition in Las Vegas, along with the People’s Choice Award. Among other accolades, it was named aÌęTop-10 AI companyÌęof the year by CIO Tech World twice in a row, and last year it was also recognized as one of the Top Trailblazing Startups by USA Today.

While the attention is nice, Arora cares about outcomes — the lives his technology can save, the families it can protect from tragedy. In 2025, Wearable Technologies  to deploy devices for remote patient monitoring, allowing health care providers to prioritize high-risk patients and reduce hospital visits.

“If people think of Mahi when they think of safety, that’s the legacy I want to leave,” Arora said. “The next 10-20 years, there will be a huge push in the care economy — child care, elder care, mental and health care. Wear-Tech is positioned to help fulfill those needs.”

The faculty and staff of the Lubar College extend their wishes to Shel Lubar as he celebrates his 96^th birthday. Shel and his wife, Marianne, have shaped the identity and impact of the college through dedication and generosity. Shel’s leadership is deeply woven into the college’s growth and reputation.

In 2006, the Lubars made a historic $10 million gift, endowing business student scholarships and professorships. This landmark donation led the Universities of Wisconsin system’s Board of Regents to rename the School of Business Administration as the Sheldon B. Lubar School of Business, which is housed in Lubar Hall. The name shifted to the Lubar College of Business in 2023.

As evidence of their belief in students’ potential, half of their $10 million gift goes to student merit scholarships – reflecting a deep desire to see Lubar students succeed – in studies and in life.

Shel has also been actively involved in shaping the direction of the college, serving on the Business Advisory Council for decades. He has elevated the College into a driving force for business leadership and innovation in Milwaukee, the region and state.

To celebrate Shel’s 96^th birthday and impact, 51ÁÔÆæ opened the Sheldon B. Lubar Study & Conference Room in the Golda Meir Library in May. The space features an exhibit of the Lubars contributions to business education.

At the Lubar College of Business’ April Bradley Distinguished Lecture, Dr. James Poterba, Mitsui Professor of Economics at MIT and President of the National Bureau of Economic Research, offered a clear and compelling analysis of the United States’ growing fiscal challenges. His talk, titled Debt, Deficits, and Sustainability: The U.S. Fiscal Challenge, outlined the history of federal debt, its economic implications and the difficult decisions ahead.

Dr. Poterba warned that the U.S. is on a path to unprecedented levels of national debt, driven by structural deficits, rising entitlement costs and increasing interest payments. “We’ve moved from a period of historically low interest rates into one where the burden of our debt is growing, and growing fast,” he said. “The debt-to-GDP ratio could reach 190% by 2050 if we continue on our current path.”

His lecture included a stark reminder: interest payments on the debt are now one of the fastest-growing parts of the federal budget. “We’re approaching a point where our interest payments may rival or exceed defense spending,” Dr. Poterba said. “That’s a signal of fiscal strain.”

He explained that the rising debt doesn’t just weigh on the federal budget; it impacts the entire economy. “Every extra 10% of debt-to-GDP raises long-term interest rates by about 20 basis points. That means higher borrowing costs for households, businesses, and governments—slowing investment and growth.”

Though the topic was serious, Poterba also offered some optimism. “We’ve tackled deficits before. In the 1990s, a combination of tax increases, spending restraint, and economic growth turned deficits into surpluses. But it took political will.”

Poterba closed by urging action. “This is not an unsolvable problem. But waiting only makes it harder. The longer we delay, the more difficult it becomes to restore fiscal sustainability.”

His clear-eyed and accessible explanation of complex financial issues resonated with the audience of alumni, business leaders, and faculty. His message: Understanding the fiscal landscape is essential—not just for policymakers, but for every American who cares about the country’s economic future.

In a compelling and timely lecture, Dr. John H. Cochrane—Rose-Marie and Jack Anderson Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University—offered a clear and direct analysis of today’s inflationary challenges, connecting government spending, fiscal policy, and long-term growth in a way that resonated with both economists and engaged citizens.

Speaking to a packed audience as part of the Lubar College of Business’ Bradley Distinguished Lecture Series, Cochrane focused on how massive federal spending during the COVID-19 pandemic—and a lack of planning for repayment—was the key driver of recent inflation. “We printed up $3 trillion, borrowed $2 trillion, and sent people checks. Duh—they went out and spent it. And you get inflation,” he said, distilling a complex issue with clarity and wit.

Cochrane challenged the idea that inflation was caused mainly by supply shocks or corporate greed. Instead, he pointed to what he calls the “fiscal theory of the price level”: the idea that inflation results when people lose confidence that the government will cover its debt through future taxes or spending reductions. “In the end, what counts is the government’s ability to soak up extra money through extra taxes in excess of spending—either now or in the future,” he explained.

While the Federal Reserve eventually responded with interest rate hikes, Cochrane argued that the delay made the economic pain worse. “The Fed should have done this much quicker than it did,” he said. “We would have had a small, steady inflation—at least until fiscal policy came to its senses.”

Looking ahead, Cochrane cautioned that the U.S. cannot continue to rely on unsustainable borrowing to address crises. He warned of the risks to long-term fiscal credibility if future economic shocks, such as geopolitical conflicts or financial instability, are again met with unchecked spending. “Our government solves every economic problem with a river of borrowed money. Sorry—that’s got to end.”

Beyond inflation, Cochrane urged policymakers to prioritize long-term economic growth through productivity and innovation. “The most important economic issue is growth,” he said. “Almost all public policy slows it down. But if we focus on fixing the incentives—even modestly—we can unlock real progress.”

The Bradley Distinguished Lecture Series brings leading voices in economics and public policy to Milwaukee to foster dialogue on the nation’s most pressing issues. Dr. Cochrane’s presentation offered a thoughtful, data-driven perspective on inflation—and a reminder that sound policy requires both understanding and discipline.