In September, Dell announced the creation of its first Entrepreneur in Residence (EIR) program and brought on Ingrid Vanderveldt, MBA '96, as the first ever EIR.

Vanderveldt, the CEO of Green Girl Energy and creator of the GLASS Forum (Global Leadership and Sustainable Success), has been featured on many TV shows and in publications including USA Today, the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. Vanderveldt has earned a reputation as an expert on efforts to make businesses and corporations more sustainable and environmentally friendly.

As EIR, Vanderveldt is using her media experience to blog on the Dell website and is responsible for helping connect Dell with customers and develop the company's perspective on small and medium business practices. The Dell website says the company is looking to her to help develop solutions for sustainibility, working with women, and entrepreneurship.

In a Nov. 18 blog post, Vanderveldt interviews Gary Cadenhead, director of the master of science in technology commercialization (MSTC) program at McCombs (watch clip below). Cadenhead was also Vanderveldt's mentor when she was a student at McCombs.

MSTC and Cadenhead, Vanderveldt says, encourage the inclusion of new technology ideas in the market, as well as the pursuit of entrepreneurship.