The challenge of offering quality education has been addressed through the entrepreneurial option of charter schools. One of the nation’s leaders in the education reform movement, Nobel Education operates 121 schools, from preschool though middle school, in 14 states. The company is the largest for profit preschool through eighth grade school system in the United States. The controversial establishment of charter schools addresses the needs of the venture developer, parents, students and educators in a unique way.

Clegg joined Nobel Education in early 1992 when he was brought in by the board of directors to bring financial stability to the company and provide leadership into the future. He received the 1995 Entrepreneur of the Year Award in the Delaware Valley for turning around Nobel and growing it.

The session will review the critical nature of finance and backing for the entrepreneurial vision, exploring the art and science of how “deals” are established and venture-capital resources structured. The session will investigate the development of a management team along with the supervision and oversight of invested financial and human capital. Debt, credit, valuation, venture-capital firms, banks and investors also will be reviewed in this session.

Keigwin and his wife, Beverly, of Warwick, R.I., made a $1 million gift to fund a major environmental restoration project, including the Marjorie Burgoyne Lakeside Walk and new granite Keigwin Amphitheater on the Bates College campus, completed in 1998. Keigwin received his master’s in business administration from Harvard University.

Aimed at both students and community members, the Bates Seminar Series in Entrepreneurship is an integrated set of lectures and presentations covering the entrepreneurial process, its history and manifestations from conception to implementation of a new venture. The sessions focus on attributes of entrepreneurs, their search and assessment of opportunities and the identification and obtainment of resources that transform ideas into new ventures. The series exposes the unique ways that the fundamental characteristics of a liberal arts education can be applied in a variety of new ventures.

The seminar series will rely heavily on Bates alumni, parents and Maine entrepreneurs engaged in a variety of ventures, as well as experts and researchers in the field. The next presentation will be Entrepreneurship as Service at 7 p.m. Friday, Jan. 21, in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives. For more information, call the Bates College Office of Career Services at 207-786-6232.