About Us

The Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative, LLC is an organization dedicated to providing interactive real-world entrepreneurship education programs for individuals and organizations worldwide. Our multi-media online education programs enable participants to learn from the firsthand knowledge and experience drawn from a wide variety of successful real-world entrepreneurs. Our mission is to create inspired learning programs that deliver real-world impact.

We have developed programs for The Cisco Entrepreneur Institute that are currently being distributed throughout Latin America, Eastern Europe and Asia. Our recently released program - Mindset: Tapping Your Entrepreneurial IQ is now being promoted through our partnership with The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. We currently have students enrolled in 24 countries worldwide.

Our Team

Led by co-founders Gary Schoeniger and Mike Sutyak, ELI has assembled a team of educators, entrepreneurs and strategic partners who are dedicated to achieving our mission.

Gary Schoeniger is a lifelong advocate of entrepreneurship education, as well as an entrepreneur and small business owner himself. Mr. Schoeniger founded The Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative after piloting an initial program in NE Ohio. Through a partnership with WVIZ/PBS Mr. Schoeniger created The Entrepreneurial Learning Series, an interactive distance-learning program for students across Ohio. Prior to starting ELI, Mr. Schoeniger was the co-Founder of Woodman-Schoeniger, Inc., a high-end residential construction management firm with development projects in Pittsburgh and Cleveland. 

Mike Sutyak has an extensive background in web development and online marketing as well as entrepreneurship. Prior to joining ELI, Mr. Sutyak  founded Sutyak Marketing and Design to serve small and medium sized businesses. His company focused on helping clients build an online presence. He has experience managing large projects and teams of developers. Mr. Sutyak holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Marine Biology from Bowling Green State University.

Advisory Board

Bill Recker was Chairman of the Board of Gretag Imaging Holding AG from 1998 to 2000 and was President and CEO of Gretag Imaging Group, Inc., a publicly traded Swiss company serving the photofinishing and imaging industry, from 1990 to 1998. He also served on the Board of Amazys Holding AG, a Swiss public company producing products for color control and confirmation in the graphic arts, textile and coatings industry. Mr. Recker currently serves on various boards of small, private high technology start-ups. He has recently been named as a member of the RAND Center for Middle East Public Policy (CMEPP) Advisory Board.  Read full bio >

Sam Gerace is currently the CEO of Veritix, a state-of-the-art digital ticketing, event marketing, and relationship management solutions provider for the sports and live entertainment industries. A successful three-time entrepreneur, Mr. Gerace was the founder of Be Free (Nasdaq: BFRE), a comprehensive Internet marketing information services company processing over $2 billion in annual commerce transactions for leading retail and consumer businesses. He founded the company in 1996, and was CEO, CTO and a Director, heading the company's Operations, Development and Product Strategy. In 2002 the company merged with ValueClick, Inc. (Nasdaq:VCLK), an advertising and marketing information service company for leading retail and consumer businesses, where he served as Executive Vice President, CTO and on the Board of Directors.  Read full bio >

Roy A. Church is currently the President of Lorain County Community College. He has served thirty-six years as a leader in comprehensive community colleges and has led the transformation of Lorain County Community College since 1987. Hallmark initiatives and accomplishments include:

• Creating comprehensive community higher education centers for local communities to access education from the K-12 level through graduate studies.


• Building collaborative initiatives with business, organized labor and government to enhance workforce education and economic development.


• Improving the articulation of programs and the transfer of students between secondary schools, community colleges and universities.

Dr. Church is professionally involved in activities to improve access to education, build collaborative initiatives, and improve articulation and transfer at the state, regional and local level. He serves co-Chairs of the Ohio Board of Regents’ Articulation and Transfer Council and as a member of the Governor’s Workforce Policy Advisory Board, and the State Advisory Committee on Adult Career-Technical Programs. Read full bio >

Christopher Celeste is an entrepreneur and business coach/leader with extensive experience in brand development, advertising, technology marketing, leadership development and internet start-up businesses. He is the founding partner in Hatch, LLC, a management consultancy and investment network whose singular mission is to help entrepreneurs who are either starting or stuck. Currently, he is the founder and president of a consumer technology start-up. Chris twice served as president of large regional marketing firms. Chris was also a founding partner & first president of Findaway World, the creators of Playaway, a digital audio player that provides users with simple and immediate access to digital content.

Antony Sloan is the Director of Marketing Communications for medical device manufacturer, STERIS. He oversees integrated marketing, communications and branding initiatives for the company’s Healthcare & Life Sciences businesses. Prior to joining STERIS, Mr. Sloan served in a variety of marketing and communications roles for Avery Dennison, including the company’s RFID “start-up” division. Mr. Sloan has also held client services and business development roles with leading Cleveland ad agencies, as well as a strategic marketing role with punch card and smart card manufacturer, US Card Corporation.  Read full bio >

Kevin D. Freese has a diverse career as an executive leader in the medical, toy, defense, aerospace, virtual reality, and real estate industry. His professional concentration has been in the formation, optimization, and revitalization of organizations to deliver exceptional growth, efficiency and effectiveness. His early career being formative as a US Air Force officer leading multi-billion dollar aircraft and aerospace acquisitions.

His professional accomplishments include President and Chief Operating Officer of Raydon Corporation, a world leader in ground warfare virtual reality training products to assorted commercial and government organizations.  Mr. Freese served as Vice President of Worldwide Government Programs for TUG Technologies Corporation, a leader in aircraft ground support equipment. As a Vice President for ADAC Laboratories, the world market share leader in nuclear medicine, Mr. Freese led one-fifth of the company’s service operations and sales. He also served as Director of Global Strategic Markets for Codonics, Inc., a medical imaging equipment company, where he directed marketing and sales for OEM customers worldwide.  Read full bio >

Blake Squires is the founder and Chief Strategy Officer at Playaway. Mr. Squires is an experienced entrepreneur who has founded and managed several successful ventures in the digital media and consumer product industries. Early in his career as an event producer and artist manager, Squires noticed the effects of technology on the music business and was inspired to experiment with various products and solutions.

His successful ventures co-founding Everstream, a company that develops streaming media and emerging digital cable technologies, and founding Adcoda, which focused on promotional downloads, led Squires to be a founder of Findaway World. Findaway is the creator of Playaway, the first self-playing digital audio book.

Since starting Findaway, Playaway has grown into a nationally recognized brand utilized by the United States Military and in over 20,000 libraries and schools.  As Chief Strategy Officer of Findaway, Mr. Squires oversees Playaway’s growth strategy, which includes product and new market development. Based in Solon, Ohio, the company now employs over 120 associates and continues impressive growth.  Findaway was named one of the fastest growing companies in 2009 by Inc. Magazine and the company won numerous regional awards such as the NorthCoast 99 Best Places to Work and the Smart Business rising star for most innovative company.  

Mr. Squires graduated from The Ohio State University’s School of Journalism with a bachelor’s degree in advertising and a minor in telecommunications. He enjoys meeting new people, learning about the latest technologies and sharing ideas.  He resides in Akron, Ohio with his wife and 3 kids.

Frank S. Wilson, Ph.D. is an Instructional Designer and Multimedia Producer. Mr. Wilson earned his doctorate in Instructional Design from Penn State’s College of Education, and has been actively creating award-winning, technology-based learning materials for education and business since the 1970s. He has held positions as Director of Educational Multimedia and Executive Producer for WVIZ/PBS IdeaStream serving the educational needs of Cleveland and Northeast Ohio; Director of Media Solutions and Executive Producer for Penn State Public Broadcasting, serving Central Pennsylvania; and has taught on the faculty of the World Campus, Penn State’s division for e-Learning. Mr. Wilson is now an entrepreneur, developing an instructional design and production business in Ohio and Pennsylvania.