Alumni: Alumni Impact Award

Ken Manning '85, MBA '90

Managing Partner, Hughes & Company

Ken Manning is a Managing Partner at Hughes & Company where he invests in healthcare technology entrepreneurs and teams to help them build exceptional companies. Ken has been involved in entrepreneurship for most of his career. Ken co-founded a SaaS healthcare technology company, Curaspan Health Group, which he ran for 17 years before selling the business to Cardinal Health. For the last 15 years Ken has served as an investor, board member, and strategic advisor to many early and growth stage technology companies. Ken started his career after Fuqua in management consulting at Deloitte and CSC Index. Ken has devoted time, energy, and resources to helping grow entrepreneurship programs at Fuqua and within the Atlanta community. 

Ken earned a BSEE 1985 and an MBA 1990 from Duke University. Ken lives in Atlanta, GA with his wife, Tina Manning '86. They have three grown children. 

What impact has your Fuqua experience had on your career/life?

My two years at Fuqua left a profound impact on my life. It wasn’t the classes, schoolwork, or academics that changed my life–it was the relationships. I could have attended any number of business schools to learn the fundamentals of business or to land my first job in management consulting. I could never replicate the quality, depth, and impact of the relationships I formed during my time at Fuqua. These dear friends, colleagues, and mentors have shaped, and continue to shape, my personal and professional life. My personal life is still filled and renewed by these Fuqua friends. The career success that I have enjoyed has been facilitated by the connections, advice, support, and generosity of my Fuqua friends. When I started my first business, it was my Fuqua network that opened the doors I needed to have opened. Whenever I have needed help or assistance my Fuqua network was, and still is, there. To this day, many of my projects, organizations and investments are a direct result of my Fuqua relationships and network. 

Professionally or personally, what are you excited about right now?

My guiding motivation at this stage of my career is to help entrepreneurs build exceptional organizations as a mentor, advisor, and investor. I had the benefit of many wise mentors, brilliant advisors, and enthusiastic investors who came alongside me while I was building my business. I know that much of my success was only possible because of the time, energy, and resources these individuals poured into me. I now want to have that type of influence and impact on the next generation of leaders and builders. 

My other great passion is encouraging young men and women to explore how they might use their talents, skills, and abilities in an entrepreneurial way. We desperately need more young leaders that are willing to take risks to bring new ideas, concepts, and innovations to our communities and to our marketplace. Not everyone can or wants to start a new business venture, but everyone can find an entrepreneurial outlet for their skills and abilities within their areas of interest.

What does Team Fuqua mean to you?

I’m really proud to be affiliated with Team Fuqua. The work that Team Fuqua has done over the last several years in the area of entrepreneurship, venture capital, private equity, and ETA is really impressive. The school has made major strides to attract, prepare, and equip students for careers in these fields. This great work led by David Robinson, Jamie Jones, Ben Thomason, and the alumni network has helped to propel many students into these fields. It’s been fun to watch the growth of the new classes, seminars, and clubs in and around these fields. It’s also been very gratifying to see what Team Fuqua has been able to accomplish through the annual Southeastern ETA Conference since its launch in 2018. I feel privileged to have been able to play a supporting role in these efforts, and I look forward to seeing the impact of this work on our students and alumni in the coming years.