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Contacts: Marisa Morrison, DJC Communications, 212. 907.0072
Jacqueline Dolly, Senior Director, Marketing & Communications, Junior Achievement of New York, Inc, 212. 907.0046 / jdolly@jany.org

JUNIOR ACHIEVEMENT OF NEW YORK HELPS STUDENTS BONE-UP ON THE SECRETS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Brooklyn Tech High School Students Prepare to be the Next Generation of Entrepreneurs and Innovators in the Health Care Field

NEW YORK NY, March 23, 2007 - The first EntrepreneurshipWeek USA event was launched nationwide with hundreds of organizations throughout the country adding their support and resources to a coordinated effort to inspire and encourage young people to consider entrepreneurship as a career choice and to celebrate America’s unique culture of inventiveness.

As part of this celebration to tap the spirit of youth entrepreneurship, Junior Achievement of New York, Inc. (JANY), hosted a seminar on Wednesday, February 28, for aspiring entrepreneurs in the Biomedical Department at Brooklyn Tech high school. The seminar, Building Wealth through Health: Starting a Business in the Health Care Field was a soup-to-nuts overview of what it would take to start and run a successful health related business venture from inception of idea through to raising capital, incorporation and business ethics.

More than one hundred 9th -12th grade Brooklyn Tech high school students attended the seminar presented by Anthony G. Viscogliosi, a successful New York-based entrepreneur, venture capitalist, and a Junior Achievement of New York board member.

Mr. Viscogliosi used colorful anecdotes from his life to emphasize how collaboration and maintaining high ethical standards played a significant role in his own success.

“If you share the food on your plate, you will never go hungry. It’s important to understand that there is always enough to go round and if you learn to share knowledge and information, others will share with you.”

Mr. Viscogliosi was inspired to become an innovator in healthcare as the result of a traumatic, near fatal accident as a teen. Where others would have seen despair, he recognized untapped patient needs and went on to create a highly successful niche in venture capital/private equity and merchant banking dedicated to the musculoskeletal /orthopedics sector of the health care industry.

Mr. Viscogliosi was joined by a distinguished panel of experts who presented a series of case studies focused on essential business and financial principles necessary to start and run a successful healthcare business. Each presentation was followed by a Q&A session with the students present.

Guest panelist presenters included: Jeffery A. Goldstein, MD, Director of Spine Services, NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases; Merrill Kraines, Partner, Fulbright & Jaworski, LLP and Polina Hanin, Associate in Analytics, Musculoskeletal Clinical Regulatory Advisors, LLC.

About Junior Achievement of New York, Inc.
Founded in 1929, Junior Achievement of New York, Inc. (JANY) is the New York based affiliate of Junior Achievement Worldwide (Founded in 1919 in Springfield MA). JA is the world’s largest and fastest-growing organization dedicated to educating young people about financial literacy, entrepreneurship, business, economics, career development and free enterprise. JANY’s mission is to inspire and prepare young people to succeed in a global economy. Last academic year, JANY’s in school and after-school programs serving students K-12, reached nearly 92,000 students in the NYC and Long Island geographic area. Today, 140 individual area operations reach approximately four million students in the United States, with more than 3.5 million students served by operations in 100 countries worldwide. For more information, visit www.jany.org.

About EntrepreneurshipWeek USA
With the theme, “What’s Your Big Idea? Take it On!,” the EntrepreneurshipWeek USA initiative, sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and by government, not-for-profit organizations and businesses, including The New York Times and INC. magazine, is designed to serve as an inspiration for young people to think creatively and to turn their ideas into action – whether that means starting a new business, developing an innovation for an existing company or solving a problem that makes society better. For more information on events and activities across the country please visit: www.EntrepreneurshipWeekUSA.com.

About Viscogliosi Bros., LLC
Established by Marc R. Viscogliosi, John J. Viscogliosi and Anthony G. Viscogliosi in New York City in 1999, Viscogliosi Bros., LLC (VB) was the first venture capital/private equity and merchant banking firm dedicated to the musculoskeletal/orthopedics sector of the health care industry.
 
Today, VB is a leading independent firm with a mission to create, build and finance companies founded on innovations developed by surgeons and uniquely focused on "life changing" musculoskeletal/orthopedic technologies. VB has worldwide surgeon, industry and trade relationships and significant financial expertise in the musculoskeletal/orthopedic sector.

As principals of VB, the Viscogliosi brothers have a combined total of nearly half a century of experience analyzing and investing in the musculoskeletal/orthopedics sector, directing literally billions of dollars through the orthopedics industry.  They have pioneered innovative financial, strategic and management initiatives for nearly 150 companies in the sector, from start-up, seed and development stage all the way to exit, while helping thousands of people lead better lives through the orthopedic and spinal products marketed and sold by the companies they have assisted in developing and financing.

About Brooklyn Technical High School
Brooklyn Technical was instituted by a New York State legislative mandate and is open to all students of the City of New York by competitive examination. Its mission is to inspire and challenge potentially high achievers to maximize their talents for the benefit of society by:

Providing an environment for educational, social and emotional growth in which students with superior scholastic aptitudes can develop their intellectual gifts and become committed to an examination of ethical approaches to solve world problems;

Providing an environment for the research and development of innovative and interdisciplinary approaches in the areas of mathematics, science, engineering, computer science and the liberal arts;

Attracting and challenge outstanding educators to guide students in achieving the highest standard of academic excellence;

Preparing our students for leadership and professional roles at the university level and in our society, with an awareness of social responsibility to the community.

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