![\"\"](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/03\/michael_zacchea_in_iraq-235x300.jpg\")
When his tours of duty were over, he continued his service in a civilian capacity by helping his fellow veterans form their own businesses and successfully transition from military to civilian life.<\/p>\n
\u201cMike is a one-of-a-kind hero who towers above us ordinary mortals,\u2019\u2019 said Professor Emeritus Tom O\u2019Brien, the former head of the School of Business\u2019 finance department and an enthusiastic supporter of the EBV.<\/p>\n
The EBV program prepares disabled U.S. veterans with the entrepreneurship and small-business management skills they need to create their own businesses. Zacchea often said that veterans possessed the fortitude, determination, and honor that made them remarkable business leaders.<\/p>\n
The 237 graduates of the program created vastly different businesses, from security firms to custom-gift companies to drone-operating training.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe veterans adored and loved him, and saw him as their savior in a way,\u2019\u2019 said O\u2019Brien, who believed so strongly in Zacchea and his work that he offered a $100,000 matching gift to support the program<\/a>. \u201cIt\u2019s really hard to express how un-ordinary he was.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n Lt. Gov. Susan Susan Bysiewicz knew Zacchea well as the former Secretary of the State and now as Lieutenant Governor. She said his loss will be felt far and wide.<\/p>\n \u201cMike was a very passionate advocate for veterans and veterans who were starting their own businesses,\u2019\u2019 she said. \u201cMike always went above and beyond to help others, and was an inspiration and mentor to those around him.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve had the pleasure of meeting some of the students in his classes who have gone on to start very successful businesses in Connecticut and in other states. As a veteran, he was able to connect with recent combat veterans and engage with them, providing them the tools to become once again engaged in civilian life and employment,\u2019\u2019 she said.<\/p>\n Zacchea, who was active in community organizations in his hometown of Brookfield, was \u201cthe perfect public servant,\u2019\u2019 who served both his country and its people. \u201cHe will be missed, and I extend my deepest sympathies to his friends, family, and former students.\u201d<\/p>\n School of Business Dean John A. Elliott agreed.<\/p>\n \u201c<\/strong>Mike Zacchea was an extraordinary U.S. Marine, entrepreneur, educator, and UConn Husky,\u2019\u2019 Elliott said. \u201cHe was at the center of the veteran community at UConn, in Connecticut, and in the United States. For more than a decade he guided, befriended, and helped hundreds of people though the EBV program.\u00a0 He will be sorely missed.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n A Military Hero<\/strong><\/p>\n Zacchea deployed as the first U.S. military adviser during the war in Iraq. His mission was to build, train, and lead in combat the first Iraqi army battalion trained by the U.S. military. The battalion participated in many battles, including Operation Phantom Fury in Fallujah.<\/p>\n He shared his story in the “The Ragged Edge: A US Marine\u2019s Account of Leading the Iraqi Army Fifth Battalion,” <\/em>published in 2017. The book highlights everything from strategy to the complicated task of uniting soldiers with different religious affiliations, the shortage of basic supplies, and the harrowing and bloody battles that ensued. He also described the friendships he made, which ultimately saved his life from an assassination attempt.<\/p>\n Almost 18 years ago, Zacchea was injured by a rocket-propelled grenade that resulted in a traumatic brain injury that almost ended his life, and forced him to take a medical retirement.<\/p>\n EBV Enormously Successful<\/strong><\/p>\n Zacchea founded the EBV program in 2009. The program\u2019s graduates have launched 187 businesses, producing more than $150 million in gross revenues, and creating 430 jobs.<\/p>\n The program brings aspiring entrepreneurs to campus for 10 days of intense training by UConn professors and other experts in entrepreneurship. After they graduate, they have a year of follow-up advising available.<\/p>\n Management professor David Souder said he has taught in the program for almost a decade and was impressed by Zacchea\u2019s leadership.<\/p>\n \u201cMike always planned the EBV in-residence week to cover an amount of content that would be typical for an entire semester,\u2019\u2019 Souder said. \u201cThe participants would be scrambling to keep up, but also inspired to do so by Mike and each other.\u00a0 He made it work by following up with all the participants, helping them pick and choose the most relevant parts of the curriculum, and finding ways to supplement and reinforce what they learned after they were back home.<\/p>\n \u201cAlthough the in-residence week is the signature activity of the EBV program, I was impressed with all the work Mike did behind the scenes to make it all possible and keep in touch with everyone who ever went through the program,\u2019\u2019 Souder said.<\/p>\n Marine Corps veteran Tony Audette, owner of Audette Motorcycles in Canton, credits the EBV program for his business knowledge and steering him away from several costly business mistakes. He said he admired Zacchea.<\/p>\n \u201cMike had the foresight and ability to build a lasting community, one that altered not just the life of veterans in direct contact with him, but also for the families and employees of those veterans, who opened their own businesses or became better intrapreneurs<\/em>,\u2019\u2019 he said, referencing a term used for those who promote innovation with their companies.<\/p>\n \u201cHis legacy of compassion and leadership will be carried on by each of us who have had the pleasure to be a part of his program,\u2019\u2019 Audette said.<\/p>\n The Program Will Continue<\/strong><\/p>\n The EBV program will continue as planned and as Zacchea would have wished, said Jennifer Mathieu, director of the Connecticut Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation at UConn. The School of Business will lean on the alumni and veteran communities, which have been responsive in the past, and continue planning for the next veteran class in August.<\/p>\n \u201cI learned so much from Mike about the veteran community and the ways we can best provide support as they are starting businesses,\u2019\u2019 she said. \u201cI will never forget one of our very last conversations we had about the characteristics of veterans and what we believe makes them successful entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was evident how passionate Mike was about everything he did,\u2019\u2019 she said. \u201cIt is difficult to put into words the lasting impact that Mike has made on the veteran community and within our entrepreneurial ecosystem. He will truly be missed.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n Mehgan Williams, a university specialist who worked for Zacchea, said his compassion was remarkable.<\/p>\n \u201cMichael Zacchea dedicated his life to veterans, and I was fortunate enough to have a front-row seat for seven years,\u2019\u2019 she said. \u201cWhat I most admired was his dedication. He would talk to veterans who were struggling, sometimes for 12 hours, to make sure they were OK. He would talk through the night if he had to. And that didn\u2019t happen just once or twice, it happened many, many times.\u2019\u2019<\/p>\n Zacchea, who earned an MBA at UConn in 2012, was often tapped as an expert in veterans\u2019 issues, whether in Connecticut or for national policy.<\/p>\n He served on a cross-agency working group for the Connecticut Department of Veteran Affairs focusing on veteran reintegration, education, training, and more. He also founded the Connecticut Veterans Chamber of Commerce in 2013, lobbying to pass laws promoting workforce reintegration and access to healthcare.<\/p>\n He was appointed to the Advisory Committee on Veterans Business Affairs for the Small Business Administration in 2015, and three years later became the chairman, advising on policies and issues impacting more than 2.5 million veteran-owned businesses.<\/p>\n He was quoted often, including in national media, and in 2016 he attended President Obama\u2019s State of the Union address as a guest of U.S. Senator Richard Blumenthal.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Visitation hours for Michael J. Zacchea will be held on Monday, May 2, from 4:00-7:00pm at Cornell Funeral Home<\/a> in Danbury, CT. Mike’s obituary<\/a> is also available online.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The decorated Marine Corps veteran founded the entrepreneurship program in 2009, which has since produced 187 businesses <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":123761,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[147,1715,1731,2192,1862,2235,92,2225,2233],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2105],"class_list":["post-185004","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-community-impact","category-entrepreneurship","category-fairfield-county","category-busn","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-hartford","category-uconn-storrs","category-university-news"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 05:41:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185004","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/121"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185004"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185004\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":185138,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185004\/revisions\/185138"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/123761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185004"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=185004"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=185004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/07\/Zacchea120719a037-300x200.jpg\")
![\"Michael](\"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/Picure-EBV-300x169.jpg\")