About Us

The BALSA Group was founded in 2011 as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, trainee-run professional consulting organization in the St. Louis region. BALSA consultants include PhD students, PharmD students, and postdoctoral fellows from a wide variety of scientific disciplines, such as neuroscience and biomedical engineering. We work with a wide range of clients from individual faculty members with an innovative idea to small start-ups looking to develop a business strategy, all the way up to multinational corporations. In the last decade, we have completed 300+ projects with over 149 clients both locally and nationally, covering topics such as market research, technology assessment, and business strategy. BALSA aims to help its members gain experience with the business side of science to be better prepared for their next steps, be it in management consulting, industry, or academia. Our alumni have gone on to pursue careers as medical science liaisons, industry scientists at biotechnology companies, and consultants at top management consulting firms.

miLEAD Consulting Group was founded in 2014 as a professional development 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization aiming to develop graduate students and postdoctoral fellows at the University of Michigan into exceptional young professionals through close collaboration with the business community in southeast Michigan and beyond. As a trainee-led organization, miLEAD has partnered with 50+ clients to complete 90+ projects over the past 8 years, with more than 20,000 logged hours of work. Our clients range from bench-top scientist-entrepreneurs to large corporations and we serve a wide range of sectors including life sciences, engineering, automotive, defense, etc. We strive to solve the complex problems facing our partners nationwide, while building students’ professional skill set with practical experience in non-academic industries. Furthermore, we provide essential career development opportunities through speakers, events, recruitment and networking sessions with companies, annual symposia, and professional development grants. miLEAD members continue to go on to secure jobs at top companies including management consulting, medical science liaison, science communication, business development, and industry scientist roles.

Wisolve Consulting Group was founded in 2015 as a nonprofit consulting organization staffed entirely by University of Wisconsin Madison graduate students and postdoctoral fellows which provides actionable yet transformative business insights to our clients in the greater Madison area and beyond. Our organizational aims include empowering our members with vital professional skills, strengthening partnerships between academia and industry, and fostering growth of the local business community. WiSolve has completed 70+ projects with 40+ clients, including startups, mid-sized companies, university institutes, and public agencies in various industries. Our alumni have broken into the top management consulting firms, are leaders in venture capital, and have attained industry or academic scientist positions at prominent organizations. Regardless of career path, the work we do equips our members with the problem-solving frameworks and non-linear thinking which prepares them for any profession.