John Surdyk

John Surdyk is the Director of the Initiative for Studies in Transformational Entrepreneurship that encourages entrepreneurship research, curriculum development, and programming at UW-Madison. On campus, he leads the StartUp Learning Community, and he supports several competitions that foster social innovation and entrepreneurial action, including the Arts Business Competition, the Clinton Foundation Global Initiative, and the 100 Hour Challenge. Prior to joining INSITE, Surdyk founded and led Re-Envision Consulting, a firm working with nonprofit organizations pursuing innovative earned-income strategies where novel approaches to social problems and new technologies could be deployed for public benefit. Earlier in his career, Surdyk worked with the consulting arm of the Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park as well as Navigant Consulting in Chicago. He primarily worked with executives and entrepreneurs at a mix of technology and life science companies developing strategic approaches to new markets and valuing damages in disputes. Surdyk received the Mabel W. Chipman Award for Teaching Excellence in 2017 and the Wisconsin School of Business Distinguished Service Award in 2024. He currently serves as the immediate past-Chair on the board of the Overture Center, Wisconsin’s largest nonprofit arts organization. He did his undergraduate work at Stanford University in Earth Systems Science and Economics and earned an M.B.A. at University of Wisconsin–Madison.