Daniel A. Matre (Executive MBA ’08) was awarded the $7,500 grand prize in the New Venture Business Plan Competition at UWM’s Lubar School of Business. Matre presented his plan for WatercoolerTM to a panel of independent judges, besting six other plans in the final competition.

WatercoolerTM will manufacture, market and distribute devices that replace prime locations of existing wall mounted water drinking foundations with H2_OpstationsTM. These stations will provide clean, cold, filtered water dispensed into customer provided re-usable water bottles as a substitute for bottled water. A wall-mounted HD flat screen monitor is included to facilitate advertising revenues in addition to cash flows from direct purchase of water.

The New Venture competition is designed to foster entrepreneurial spirit among UWM students and alumni, promote practical business skills, and encourage the creation of new, for-profit ventures. It is made possible by private support from La Macchia Enterprises, the parent company of Mark Travel and Trisept Solutions.

Judges included Robert De Vita of Common Ground Health Care Co-o, Alan Katz, retired of Katz Bagels, Joe Kirgues of 94Labs.com, Bostrom Professor V. Kanti Prasad, and Paul Stewart of PS Capital Partners.

Earning the second place award was Spork, a location-based social networking, local search, and business advertising service that focuses on connecting customers to restaurants through a website and mobile applications.Carlton Reeves (Doctoral Student, Mechanical Engineering) and Austen Scudder (Mechanical Engineering, MSE ‘11) presented the plan.

Two plans tied for third place.Dwayne M. Wilson (Marketing student) was recognized for his plan Ear Bud Buddys, an ear budget attachment that allows users to custom fit theiri ear buds to their ear shape and size. Shawn Conaway (MBA student) was awarded for his plan Jellyfish Publishing, a vanity press that provides services for self-publishing authors.