5 Chicago Booth Students Honored with 2025 Student Entrepreneurship Awards

Chicago Booth School of Business recently recognized five outstanding MBA students who demonstrated leadership in entrepreneurship, venture capital, or private equity during their time at school.

The annual Student Entrepreneurship Awards have varying eligibility requirements and monetary prizes. For most awards, Booth entrepreneurship faculty and staff members from the Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation nominate students and vote for the winners.

The 2025 Student Entrepreneurship Award winners are:

Robert Goheen // Madison Dearborn Partners Private Equity Award // $2,000

This award is given to graduating students who have demonstrated leadership in the PE programming at Chicago Booth.

Bobby Goheen ‘25 will be graduating from Chicago Booth’s Full-Time MBA program in June as a Wallman Scholar. He completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Pennsylvania, where he received a BS in Economics with a Concentration in Finance from The Wharton School and a BA in Philosophy from the College of Arts & Sciences. He graduated summa cum laude and as a Benjamin Franklin Scholar.

After college, Goheen spent three years at PJ Solomon, a NYC-based boutique investment bank, and two years in West Palm Beach at Norwest Equity Partners, a middle market private equity firm. Last summer, he worked at Invesco within their Distressed Credit & Special Situations investments team. Goheen will be returning to work for the firm full time in June as a Vice President.

“It is a tremendous honor to be the recipient of this year’s Madison Dearborn Partners Private Equity Award. Not only does it validate my effort in the classroom but also reflects my personal contributions to Booth’s “pay it forward” culture through engagement in the school’s PE-focused programs. It also gives me incredible confidence as I transition into a full-time role post-graduation,” said Goheen. “My personal growth and extracurricular contributions would not have been possible without resources available at both Booth and the Polsky Center. This includes the incredible support of my professors and Booth/Polsky staff members – all of whom empowered me to take ownership of my education and leadership development while serving as valuable resources as I navigated post-school opportunities.”

Ilana Habib // Hyde Park Angels Venture Capital Award // $2,000

This award recognizes a graduating student who has demonstrated leadership in venture capital through the courses he or she has taken by participating in VC programming.

Ilana Habib ’25 will be graduating from Booth this spring with concentrations in Entrepreneurship and Strategic Management. Prior to her MBA, Habib was an early team member at Mainstay (formerly AdmitHub), helping scale the organization to support millions of learners nationwide. She holds a B.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an M.Ed. from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. At Booth, she has served as Program Manager of the Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital Group, Teaching Assistant for both the Venture Capital Lab and the College New Venture Challenge, and worked as an early-stage investor with Impellent Ventures. She has also been actively involved in angel investing throughout her time at Booth. After graduation, Habib will return to her hometown of Cincinnati, Ohio, to join Cintrifuse Capital as a Principal.

“This award is hugely meaningful to me, as the relationships I’ve built with faculty and Polsky Center staff have been one of the highlights of my Booth experience, and I would not be stepping into a full-time role in VC this summer without the support and education I’ve gotten at Booth/Polsky,” said Habib. “The classes and experiences I’ve been able to take advantage of have certainly been incredible, but even better has been the sense of community I’ve enjoyed here. Walking in to the Polsky Center is such a joy: I love catching up with faculty, staff and students, and I always leave with not only a huge smile on my face, but also with new ideas and opportunities to explore. I transitioned from operator to founder to VC in my time at Booth, and the support I received from Polsky as I navigated those changes was transformative.”

Michael Gustafson // Vijay, ’77, and Sita Vashee Promising Entrepreneur Award // $2,500

This award recognizes a graduating student who has demonstrated considerable leadership in the entrepreneurship program.

Mike Gustafson grew up in Severna Park, Maryland, and spent over a decade serving as a Marine Corps aviator, flying the MV-22B Osprey and coordinating aviation missions from aircraft carriers, foreign bases, and unexpected landing zones all over. His service took him across the globe—from California and Bahrain to Saudi Arabia—where he led operations supporting four U.S. warships, managed international air coordination during the Kabul evacuation, and earned recognition for his liaison work with partner nations in the Persian Gulf. Whether in the cockpit, a crisis room, or a desert hangar, Gustafson strived to be someone who could lead under pressure and deliver practical solutions.

Entrepreneurship became his next mission, and Booth gave him the tools to pursue it. At Chicago Booth, Gustafson cofounded reOrbital, a space hardware venture that earned funding through the New Venture Challenge and joined the Duality quantum accelerator. He now leads Three Pillars, a startup that transforms unstructured documents into structured financial models for private market investors. Gustafson asserts that what truly transformed him wasn’t just the programming or pitch stages, it was the support. The Polsky Center wasn’t just a resource; it was a home. In the lonely, uncertain moments that entrepreneurship inevitably brings, he found people in his corner. Being selected for the Vashee Promising Entrepreneur Award was an honor and a reminder of how far he’d come with the right people behind him.

Gustafson continues to serve as a Marine Corps Reservist and enjoys hiking, running, and learning to code. He’s committed to building technology that helps others do their best work—and to mentoring future founders who are just beginning their own journeys.

“This award is really humbling. I’m honored to be among such interesting peers. The support from the Polsky team has meant a ton, at every step of the journey, and I’m especially touched by the award,” said Gustafson. “[During my time at Booth] I learned that I should do as much as I can to get things right about my startup as early as possible. Booth gave me so many tools to look ahead, think strategically, and make sound decisions, that I’m now going about 2-3x as fast as I was when I first started.”

Ritu Sreenivasan // Rattan L. Khosa, ’79, Against All Odds Award // $2,500

This annual award is presented to a graduating student who has overcome significant hurdles and demonstrated a spirit of entrepreneurship in launching his or her business.

Ritu Sreenivasan is the CEO and co-founder of MOOJ Foods, a health foods company that aims to reimagine traditionally unhealthy food staples. Their first product is a high protein, low calorie, and zero-fat paneer. She is a second year at Booth in the Full-Time MBA program and will be graduating next month, after which she’ll be working on MOOJ Foods full time. She attended UCLA for undergrad where she studied economics and psychology and has a background in corporate finance and strategy. 

Since coming to Booth, Sreenivasan has been committed to entrepreneurship and to becoming a founder. Since starting MOOJ Foods in late 2024, the team has been accepted to NVC and is competing this quarter and is gearing up to launch in market this summer. 

Sreenivasan is also extremely passionate about music and has been singing for over 24 years. In her spare time, she sings and writes music that she’s published on streaming platforms and performs around Chicago frequently.

Sakshi Nag // Moulder Student Entrepreneur Award // $2,000

This award recognizes a graduating student who has successfully launched or grown a venture while completing his or her coursework.

Sakshi Nag is a second‑year, Full-Time MBA candidate at Chicago Booth with a background in developing software to control particle accelerators – and unlock discoveries about the universe. She came to Booth with a singular mission: to build a company that solves the everyday challenges scientists face. Now, she is building Rayni with her cofounder Div, which is a startup dedicated to helping researchers operate and troubleshoot the complex instruments essential to their work. Outside of work, Nag is a massive physics nerd with an unending fascination for all things space.