Certified Business Advisor®

The University of Toledo

Certified Business Advisor® (CBA) graduates receive a certificate from The University of Toledo, College of Business Administration (COBA), and CEUs through the Ohio SBDC, an Authorized Provider of CEUs through the International Association of Continuing Education and Training.

Established in 1930, The University of Toledo's COBA is celebrating its 75th anniversary during the 2005-2006 academic year. COBA is fully accredited by the American Association of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), which makes The University of Toledo (UT) one of the fewer than 20 percent of U.S. business schools accredited by AACSB. COBA offers undergraduate (BBA), masters (MBA, MSA, MSMM), executive masters (EMBA), and doctoral educational (Ph.D. in Manufacturing Management) degrees.

COBA supports the mission of the SBDC program by engaging with its community and business leaders, as well as serving as a resource for economic development. To better serve a diverse population in a global and entrepreneurial environment, COBA has established such outreach programs as its award-winning Center for Family Business, the Executive Center for Global Competitiveness, and The Center for Technological Entrepreneurship and Innovation!

Its Center for Family Business provides family businesses with an environment that encourages the free exchange of ideas among people who share the same experiences. This exchange occurs through Affinity Groups that enable family business leaders to personally counsel one another, forums that feature noteworthy speakers from across the country, onsite tours of other family businesses, workshops at its annual conferences, and a quarterly newsletter published by family businesses for family businesses that includes forum reports and guest columns. This Center allows these businesses to learn, grow and succeed in ways before unattainable.

The College has also implemented an Executive Center for Global Competitiveness (ECGC) to work with businesses and organizations of all sizes to achieve greater strategic success on global objectives associated with increased ROI, process improvement, productivity gains, enhanced customer satisfaction, leadership development, global integration and more.Clients range in size from small companies, such as American Health Corp. and Sophia Lustig (a woman-owned company with fewer than 50 employees), to larger, well-known corporations such as Whirlpool, Campbell's Soup Supply Company, and BP.

The Center for Technological Entrepreneurship and Innovation, William McCreary, director, provides Community Business Assistance for the Toledo area through faculty-directed consulting teams. The Center was established with the vision to develop an international reputation for the College of Business Administration’s educational, research and collaborative service learning and research contributions to entrepreneurship, as well as to foster entrepreneurship and enhance global competitiveness in NW Ohio.

UT’s high-level commitment to the entrepreneurial community has also recently been recognized and rewarded by National City Bank, who awarded COBA a grant to develop an entrepreneurial lab in COBA’s newly renovated business school.

The establishment of such programs exemplifies UT's commitment to build an environment that encourages, supports and promotes all efforts conducive to entrepreneurial growth and success, thereby making UT a valuable partner in nurturing and fostering the mission, goals and objectives of the SBDC program.

© Ohio Small Business Development Centers. All rights reserved. The Certified Business Advisor® certification program is a program owned by the Ohio Small Business Development Centers, and is registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. No part of this guidebook or on-line material may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems without permission in writing from the Ohio Small Business Development Centers.

Funded in part through a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. The Ohio SBDC program is also funded in part by the Ohio Department of Development and select universities, chambers and other ecconomic development agencies. All opinions, conclusions or recommendations expressed are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA. Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities will be made if requested at least two weeks in advance. For arrangements, contact D.G. Hunt through the Ohio SBDC at 614-466-2711 or (800) 848-1300 ex. 6-2711 or via e-mai l.

The Ohio Small Business Development Centers program is recognized as an Authorized Provider of CEUs by the International Association of Continuing Education and Training, and awards 13.0 CEUs for CBA.