Alumni Spotlight: Fred Sklenar (MDI '24)

Fred Sklenar (MDI ’24) wasn’t your typical Technological Leadership Institute (TLI) student. As an MBA-wielding business professional who helped propel a packaging company’s corporate growth from $250 million to $500 million, built a successful design firm from the ground up (eventually merging it with another company), and even dabbled in the doggy daycare business (10 dogs a day to 40 dogs a day — woof!), another academic distinction might have seemed unnecessary.

But after his 10-year tenure at the packaging company left him with a sense of accomplishment and an eye toward a new chapter, he opened a design firm in St. Paul. Focused on industrial design, mechanical engineering and human factors engineering, the firm struggled to gain ground. Despite experience, success and knowledge, Sklenar was missing a crucial component — connections.

“I didn’t go to undergrad engineering school with 1,600 people who are working at Medtronic right now,” Sklenar said. “I was still unknown and didn’t know anyone. So how do I resolve that?”

The answer came in the form of a Google search. While exploring the University of Minnesota’s various medical-focused programs, he discovered TLI’s Medical Device Innovation (MDI) program.

“I said, ‘Oh, that sounds great,’” he recalled. “So I checked it out, met Mark Wehde, learned a little bit more about it, and that’s how I came to be here.”

As Sklenar settled into the MDI program, faculty members quickly recognized his potent mix of academic and business acumen.

“Fred had an incredible amount of life experience doing medical device design and development before he came to the program,” said Joseph Hale, a member of the TLI MDI faculty. “He very well could have been teaching the program as opposed to being in it.”

Hale, who teaches Medical Device Innovation Practicum I, II and III, recalled Sklenar’s positive, team-focused approach to the curriculum. Sklenar, he said, was able to set aside preconceptions and prior experience while remaining open to the new information, skills and ideas each class introduced. Even with an MBA, an engineering degree and previous teaching experience (teaching marketing and strategic management as an adjunct professor at Pratt), Sklenar still learned crucial aspects of medical device innovation, such as needs finding and navigating complex FDA approval processes.

“Gaining foresight to understand how to analyze burgeoning technologies, to compare and contrast them with the current marketplace, and to evaluate what potential markets bear in terms of total addressable market were some of the key, rubber-meeting-the-road things that I found great in the program,” Sklenar said.

So yes, Sklenar possibly could’ve been in front of the MDI students rather than among them. And yes, he still learned valuable medical device and business development skills despite his extensive experience. But what about the network issue preventing his design firm from booming?

As it turns out, Hale brought in Tom KraMer, then CEO of Kablooe Design, as a guest lecturer during one of his classes. That introduction, combined with Sklenar’s growing exposure to the Minnesota medical device landscape through organizations such as Medical Alley, paved the road to an exciting opportunity.

While attending a Kablooe Design open house, Sklenar marched right up to KraMer and invited the CEO to lunch. At that lunch, KraMer asked an unexpected question.

“Tom said to me, ‘So how are you at managing people?’” Sklenar recalled. “And I’m going, I don’t know what that has to do with drawing, sketching and design — but OK! I’ll answer it.”

That answer led to an 18-month baton pass, culminating in the official announcement of KraMer’s retirement and Sklenar’s new role as CEO of Kablooe Design.

“This network all kind of came together, and I feel very, very lucky,” Sklenar said.

No, Fred Sklenar isn’t your typical TLI student, and that’s exactly what made him so perfect for the program. By channeling his academic and professional experience into a new pursuit — sharing ideas, shaking hands and keeping an open mind throughout it all — he explored new concepts, learned new skills and came out with a pretty sweet gig on the other end. And while there’s sadly no guaranteed CEO position upon graduation, that experience of exploration is something Hale sees as a major strength of TLI’s programs.

“[TLI students] have access to clinical observation, they have access to clinicians and a lot of other resources at the university that they don’t when they’re working full time,” Hale said. “If they have any thoughts about doing something entrepreneurial on their own, or changing fields, or just getting a kick-start within the company they’re in, it’s a great opportunity.”

As for Sklenar? He’s got his hands full leading Kablooe Design into the company’s next stage of growth. That means juggling more than 20 projects at any given time, seeking out and promoting new leaders internally, and much more. But even amid that business whirlwind, he still sees the importance of taking time to enjoy the ride.

“Once a week, I go back into the design area where all the people are, and I take a minute to pause, look around and just absorb and be present in the idea that, wow, this is a great thing going on here,” he said. “I’m really proud to be part of it.”