Mike Deniszczuk, who earned his BSBA from UMSL in 1977 and went on to a nearly 40-year career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, has made a philanthropic gift to support the renovation of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center. (Photo courtesy of Michael Deniszczuk)

By Melissa Landry

There are many ways to describe Mike Deniszczuk: cattle rancher, musician, grandfather, successful businessman, retiree, pickleball enthusiast, philanthropist and proud alum of the University of Missouri–St. Louis.

Deniszczuk earned a BSBA from UMSL’s College of Business Administration in 1977 before going on to join PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP for a career that spanned nearly 40 years. It was his success in business, in part, that inspired him to make a transformational gift in support of the university’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Center.

The EIC brings forward-thinking students, entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial rising stars, faculty, alumni and subject matter experts from the community and beyond together to inspire thought leadership and innovation through education and experiential learning.

Deniszczuk’s generosity will help bring a reimagined EIC to life. Renovations to the EIC’s facilities on UMSL’s North Campus will increase the space’s functionality while making it better suited for collaboration, offering a new workspace and gathering place with hy-flex (hybrid, flexible) rooms to host classes, workshops and gatherings. Construction work is expected to begin this winter with completion estimated in late summer 2025.

Deniszczuk hopes the space will provide students with the experience and education to enter the business world with strong financial literacy and knowledge of entrepreneurship and the free enterprise system.

“A lot of the foundation of our country is small businesses and people who start businesses,” he said. “Even big businesses like Amazon and Apple started in garages and basements. So, I think it’s extraordinarily important to make sure that our youth understand that if they have that ability to start a business or have phenomenal ideas that can make life easier for people, that they can start businesses and those businesses can be successful.”

He is optimistic his investment will help students find success like his own. Deniszczuk was a strong student in high school, earning a university scholarship. The first in his family to go to college, he wasn’t certain what he wanted to study, but he knew he wanted to stay in St. Louis. UMSL’s reputation made it feel like the right fit.

He enjoyed math and science and followed a friend’s recommendation to sign up for an accounting class. The class not only helped him find a passion for business, it also introduced him to professor Dave Ganz, a lifelong friend.

He remembers fondly getting to know Ganz and his other professors at UMSL, sharing that they were accessible, easy to talk to and invested in helping their students succeed. Recognizing the part that his professors and that UMSL played in the success later in his life, he felt it important to make a difference, not just for the university, but for the future generations of students that will benefit from an UMSL degree.

“Education is the foundation for where you end up in your career, and just the same as building a house, you can’t build without a strong foundation,” Deniszczuk said. “The educational foundation from UMSL is the basis of the launch of my career and without that foundation I would not have been as successful.”

His success has led way to a joyful retirement. When he isn’t playing pickleball or working on his ranch, he is spending time with his four grandsons. Some evenings, he can also be found reuniting with members of his former college classic rock band to play guitar.

He is generous with his time, serving on the board of directors for Junior Achievement of Greater St. Louis. The organization introduces kids to financial literacy, career readiness and entrepreneurship with the goal of preparing them to succeed in a global economy by helping young people understand how debt works, how loans work, how business works and giving them important tools to strengthen their own possibilities for the future.

“I feel like now that I’m much older and out of the workforce, the world has to keep going,” Deniszczuk said. “We have to make sure that our students get the appropriate education so that when they get into the business world, they have the ability to be as successful as I was 49 years ago.”

As the transformation of campus continues, Deniszczuk knows that between UMSL’s commitment to student success and the grit and determination of those students, we can expect to see great things in St. Louis and beyond.

He hopes other alumni see the value of their own time at UMSL and decide to make an impact in the way that works for them.

“I think particularly those who have gone to UMSL need to think back and ask, ‘What role did your education play in your not only getting a job but your success in your career?’” Deniszczuk said. “I think you should reward that to the extent that it did play a role.”