Innovation Renovation

New Maverick Innovation Gateway creates VALUE for students, businesses and the community.

By Grace Brandt '13

In any given week, the Maverick Innovation Gateway’s schedule is impressively diverse: classes for business and marketing students, a panel by local business leaders sharing lessons learned throughout their careers, a speaker who explains how artificial intelligence is reshaping the agricultural industry, even financial management talks open to the Mankato community.

Evelyn Marnell, a marketing and psychology student, knows the space well. As president of the Women in Business registered student organization, she uses smaller meeting rooms for leadership meetings, classrooms for general club meetings and larger open areas for social networking events.

“The Gateway has been an incredible resource for Women in Business and for students overall,” Marnell said.

“Having a collaborative environment that feels different from a traditional classroom setting has made a noticeable impact on our engagement.”

According to Lisa Haman, director of the Maverick Innovation Gateway, the space was created as a way to enhance students’ educational experiences while also creating more opportunities for collaboration between Minnesota State University, Mankato and the local business world as well as the Mankato community as a whole. She explained that the University had a similar space, the Maverick Innovation Center, on Riverfront Drive for several years, but its distance from MSU could be difficult for students to reach. The new space is located in what was once a campus bookstore near the University, making it accessible for students and community members alike.

“It’s a great location,” Haman said. “For everyone to see all we have to offer at the Gateway has been really inspiring.”

The Maverick Innovation Gateway officially opened in March 2025 after about a year and a half of planning and many more years of dreaming. Originally envisioned by the late Roger Peters, former owner of U-Square near campus, the idea was to create a space for students to get hands-on, practical learning opportunities. When Peters passed away, his son, David Peters, continued working toward that vision. The result is a state-of-the-art, about 8,000-square-foot interdisciplinary hub that gives students the chance to collaborate with industry leaders and tackle real-world challenges.

One of the biggest contributors to the final reality was the Nidec Corporation, which pledged $2 million over five years to fund the building and future programming. Kevin Newman, former president of Nidec Power Americas and a 1992 alum, was looking for ways to be involved in the local community. He said that Nidec has invested heavily in education in its home company of Japan, but this was the first time the company partnered with a university in the United States.

“It’s about bringing the community and business students together,” Newman said. “The Maverick Innovation Gateway, Powered by Nidec, is a space where people come together—students, the community, businesses—and actually collaborate and move forward. If you go into the environment, when you walk in, you can just sense the level of engagement from everybody in the building.”

The space also allows the College of Business to expand what it can offer students and the local community. One example includes the Charles Schwab Maverick Center for Financial Success, where upper-level students offer financial advice to their peers. Meanwhile, students have a chance to create and manage a business as part of the United Prairie Bank Integrated Business Experience. Many other businesses and corporations also participate in different events, whether they speak on panels or offer more casual mentorship.

“These local businesses do play a very active role with the students,” Haman said. “They’re almost like a mentor. We tap into our local businesses a lot because the students always like to hear about the real-world perspective.”

Additionally, anyone in the community can use one of the center’s meeting spaces or attend industry talks by local experts. Whether it’s a group of high school students or members of the VINE Senior Center, everyone is welcome at the Maverick Innovation Gateway.

“Really, students learn from others, and others learn from students, so if we can bring that collaboration together, I think it’s a unique gateway for learning,” Haman said.

Marnell appreciates what the space offers on a community, classroom and individual level. “It creates a more welcoming and interactive atmosphere, not only between our leadership and members, but also between members and community members,” she said. “Overall, it has become one of my favorite places to work, collaborate and spend time between classes and meetings.”