Feb 5, 2026
Gies Business launches U of I’s first student-led venture capital fund
by Shelby Koehne
Thanks to a generous gift from Illinois alumni Douglas and Deborah Ackerman, Gies College of Business is pleased to announce the launch of a new student-led venture capital investing program – Orange & Blue Ventures.
In Orange & Blue Ventures, Illinois students will invest real money in promising startups and build relationships with startup founders across a wide range of industries. This exciting new program is an extension of the Origin Ventures Office of Entrepreneurship, and it will be led by Department of Finance faculty, in collaboration with several campus and industry partners.
Orange & Blue Ventures will connect students with the extensive cache of expertise throughout Gies Business and the University of Illinois System, giving them early insights into the relationship between entrepreneurship and early-stage investing.
Clinical Professor of Finance Rob Metzger (right), who will lead Orange & Blue Ventures, said he anticipates that students will be investing in startups from campus founders, as well as startups supported by venture capital and angel funds within the university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem.
Under the supervision of faculty, and with mentorship from seasoned private equity professionals, students will identify new investment opportunities, evaluate businesses’ risks and growth potential, complete investment transactions, and manage fund portfolios.
“Orange & Blue Ventures will provide students with real-world investment experience that will be so important for them as they begin their careers, and it also allows them to make a measurable impact with those investments,” said W. Brooke Elliott, Josef and Margot Lakonishok Professor in Business and Dean of Gies College of Business. “That’s really in line with our philosophy at Gies Business – taking learning beyond the classroom and delivering life-changing experiences for our students.”
Importantly, students won’t need prior experience or a lot of background knowledge about venture capital or private equity to participate. As a first step toward participation in the program, they’ll take a foundational course – “Introduction to Early-Stage Investing” – that will equip them with knowledge they need to engage with investing activities. “Introduction to Early-Stage Investing” will be offered each semester starting Fall 2026 and will be taught by Professor Metzger.
Eligibility guidelines and application information for the course may be found here: https://go.gies.illinois.edu/OrangeBlueVentures_Student
The Ackerman Innovation Fund
Doug (ACES ’90) and Debbie Ackerman (FIN ’90) donated $500,000 to Gies Business to establish the Ackerman Innovation Fund, which will serve as the anchor gift for Orange & Blue Ventures capital fund.
Doug and Debbie’s connection to Illinois runs deep: they’re both alumni of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign – in fact, it’s where they first met.
Several of their family members are also Illinois alumni, including one of their daughters, Debbie’s niece and nephew, Doug’s two sisters, and his parents – Owen and Carole Ackerman. Debbie said that giving back to Illinois was a primary motivator for their gift.
“A lot of our family members have participated in and benefited from the strong programs at the University of Illinois, and they've been formative for us in our careers,” Debbie said. “I’m really happy to continue to support the school as it's supported us.”
The mission of Orange & Blue Ventures is also near and dear to Debbie’s heart. She’s passionate about expanding access to education and opportunity: throughout her own career, she’s founded private equity firms that specifically work to empower women in investment careers.
She sees Orange & Blue Ventures not only as a way for top experts to collaborate across disciplines in a unique and impactful way, but for students to learn what they are passionate about.
“In the private equity space in particular, we see so many different companies, so many different industries,” she said. “You have a chance to really see and touch a lot of different things in the world.”
Debbie said with their gift, she and Doug wanted to create a fund that brought together experts across Gies Business, The Grainger College of Engineering, Carle Illinois College of Medicine, and the entire University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus.
“I think tapping into the expertise that we have at the university – that's really head and shoulders above a lot of other universities – has the potential to provide some differentiation in a way that others haven't tapped into before,” she said. “We've got such talented faculty and such talented students, so to find a way to help them collaborate across programs is very exciting.”
Debbie said she believes that Orange & Blue Ventures will be successful not only because of the strength of the faculty and students, but also because of the program’s leadership: “I'm really excited about having Rob at the helm of this.”
She said she is confident that Metzger, who spent decades of his career as an investment banker and high-growth investor, has both industry and academia experience that will be an asset for the fund. For other alumni who’d like to support Orange & Blue Ventures, there are several options to get involved: volunteering as a mentor, partnering as a co-investor, or contributing to the venture capital fund.
“We have an initial fundraising goal of $1 million to build the venture fund,” said Metzger. “We’re so grateful to have received this generous donation from the Ackermans, which has gotten us halfway there, and we’d love to see the fund continue to grow so that we can support several years of investment rounds.”
Along with Debbie Ackerman, other advisors who contributed to the development of Orange & Blue Ventures include Melissa Graebner, associate dean of entrepreneurship at Gies Business; Elias Kourpas, who serves as academic director for Gies Business’ strategy, innovation, and entrepreneurship major and as the academic director for iVenture Accelerator; Carle Illinois College of Medicine Dean Mark S. Cohen; and Illinois Ventures CEO Nancy Sullivan.
Gies Business is leading a nationwide search for a co-director of Orange & Blue Ventures. Once installed, the co-director will help lead all aspects of the program, including teaching the introductory early-stage investing course alongside Metzger.
Get involved with Orange & Blue Ventures
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