How One MBA Graduate Balanced Football and Startups
Tim Vestuto, MBA ’26, took advantage of every opportunity he could during his two years at Booth.
- By
- June 22, 2026
- Student Experience
Tim Vestuto, MBA ’26, didn’t end his college football career on his own terms. During his junior season at Butler University, he broke his leg. The running back spent the rest of that season, and all of his senior season, recovering—and never hit the field for Butler again.
“It was something that I really had to make peace with,” Vestuto says. “It was a hard pill to swallow for about two or three years afterward.”
Vestuto shifted focus to his career, graduating with a degree in actuarial science in 2019 and starting a role as an analyst in the Atlanta office of the finance firm Willis Towers Watson. After a few years, he started looking into MBA programs to expand his business skill set. Vestuto had known Chicago Booth’s reputation from growing up in the Chicagoland area; the combination of its quantitative curriculum and entrepreneurial opportunities made the school a top choice for him.
Also alluring: the chance to play football again. Vestuto would be 27 during the 2024 season—several years older than the undergraduates comprising most of the team—but he’d been staying in shape. When he applied to Booth, he reached out to some of UChicago’s coaches to let them know that he had an extra year of eligibility and would be interested in playing. They said they’d welcome him onto the team.
That made Vestuto’s acceptance into Booth so much sweeter. “I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m going to get my MBA,’” he says. “Then my second thought was, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m going to be playing football again.’”
Throughout his two years at Booth, Vestuto was driven by a desire to take advantage of every opportunity he could. It brought him from the classroom to the football field to startup pitch competitions.
“Booth is an amazing chance to try things that you never thought you could, because the risk is so low and the reward is so high,” he says. “Students have more resources, more time, and more opportunity now than they ever will.”
Applying Leadership Lessons on the Football Field
Vestuto went into the 2024 season as one of the older players in college football, not to mention a rare MBA student. He knew he would be looked to as a leader on the UChicago team, and he wanted to ground his approach in behavioral science. He reached out to Linda E. Ginzel, clinical professor of managerial psychology and an expert on leadership capital, to get her insights on maximizing the team’s potential.
Ginzel “was incredibly helpful,” Vestuto says. She gave him a copy of her book Choosing Leadership, which he read during training camp.
The chapter “Being Wiser, Younger” immediately resonated with Vestuto, who recognized that he had life experiences that he could pass along to his teammates. “That summed up the mission that I wanted to accomplish,” he says.
The biggest piece of wisdom Vestuto wanted to share was to appreciate the game—since he’d already experienced how quickly it could be over. He adopted a simple motto for the season: “We’re playing football, baby!” His teammates began chanting it when they broke down huddles, a sign of his positivity boosting team morale.
“Booth is an amazing chance to try things that you never thought you could, because the risk is so low and the reward is so high.”
— Tim Vestuto
As the season progressed, Vestuto wanted to get on the field more, but he wasn’t getting opportunities at running back. So he tried looking at the problem a different way and offered to contribute on special teams during kickoffs and punts.
In the second-to-last game of the season, against Lawrence University, it paid off. Vestuto blocked a punt—the only player to do so all season—securing a good field position for his team. Later, with a few minutes left on the clock, the coaches put him in at running back. On his first play, he saw a perfect gap and ran for a 59-yard touchdown. When UChicago got the ball back, he scored another touchdown, padding the team’s lead for a 64–14 win.
“It was just unbelievable,” Vestuto says. “In a world where I never thought I could play football again, I scored two touchdowns. Coach gave me the game ball that day.”
Building Community Through Entrepreneurship
That fall, during his first quarter at Booth, Vestuto had to balance sports with coursework and recruitment for consulting internships. On a full day, he might be up at 4:30 a.m. for practice, then attend two classes, then go to a company info session, then go to a networking event that could last until 11 p.m. He says it was exhausting, but it paid off when he secured a summer internship in consulting firm Simon-Kucher’s Atlanta office.
Vestuto also started a new journey during his first year at Booth: working on a startup. A friend from orientation, Mahesh Kumar, MBA/MD ’26, reached out to Vestuto in the spring and invited him to work on CoThera, an AI chatbot to help college students with their mental health.
Vestuto, who is passionate about mental health, jumped at the opportunity. He helped Kumar with research by interviewing local college students—including some of his football teammates—about mental wellness and support.
Vestuto also pitched CoThera alongside Kumar in the 2025 John Edwardson, ’72, Social New Venture Challenge. While their team didn’t win, Vestuto appreciated the chance to get hands-on entrepreneurship experience. “I’ve always learned the best by doing,” he says.
Working on CoThera gave Vestuto the confidence to pursue his own startup the next school year. He drew on his passion for connecting others to develop After Hours, which organizes events at affordable, nonalcoholic third spaces—social environments outside of home and work.
A self-described community-oriented person, Vestuto has seen the impact of social connection firsthand, after organizing a successful singles group at his former church in Atlanta. “We are in a loneliness epidemic,” he says. “People crave connection.”
“We are in a loneliness epidemic. People crave connection.”
— Tim Vestuto
After Hours partners with coffee shops around Chicago to host nighttime pop-ups—bringing extra customers to the businesses when they’d normally be closed. The goal is to provide a social outlet that’s more affordable than a restaurant or bar and more accessible to young people who are drinking less.
“People might be like, ‘Well, if I’m trying to hang out with a friend, it’s going to cost me $20 for a drink, so I’m going to just stay in,’” Vestuto says. “Now, you’re only paying $6 for a beverage and you don’t need to have alcohol.”
After Hours has already hosted five pop-ups, at coffee shops in Lakeview, Wicker Park, Uptown, the Loop, and West Loop, drawing between 25–40 guests each. Vestuto continued refining the concept in the course Building the New Venture, which helped him analyze his idea through the perspective of investors.
Since graduating in June, Vestuto is excited to have more time to focus on After Hours, and plans to continue working on the idea “until it doesn’t make sense.” His eventual goal is to use his interest in community help his hometown of Atlanta—whether through After Hours or another future venture.
“The worst-case scenario is I learn a ton of information about how to do business,” he says. “And the best-case scenario is I become a millionaire. I see no wrong move with trying this out.”
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