Speakers

Dennis Boyle

Founding member of IDEO, an award-winning global design firm that takes a human-centered, design-based approach to helping organizations in the public and private sectors innovate and grow

Lesa Mitchell

Founder of Network for Scale and former vice president of innovation at the Kauffman Foundation. She designed and implemented initiatives to foster economic growth in life sciences, technology, hardware and energy sectors.

Gary Schoeniger

Author, educator, and entrepreneur Gary Schoeniger is an internationally recognized thought leader in the field of entrepreneurial mindset education. As the founder of the Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative, Schoeniger has influenced a broad audience from higher education and economic development organizations to government, corporate and non-profit clients worldwide, including the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Cisco Entrepreneur Institute and the U.S. State Department. He led the development of the Ice House Entrepreneurship Program, which has been recognized by the Kauffman Foundation as “redefining entrepreneurship education in classrooms and communities around the world”. Schoeniger, along with Pulitzer nominee Clifton Taulbert, is the co-author of Who Owns The Ice House: Eight Life Lessons From An Unlikely Entrepreneur.

Don Wettrick

Don Wettrick is the innovation coordinator at Noblesville High School and is the author of "Pure Genius: Building a Culture of Innovation and Taking 20% Time to the Next Level." Wettrick has worked as a middle school and high school teacher; educational and innovation consultant; and educational speaker. He is passionate about helping students find their educational opportunities and providing them with the digital tools they need to give them a competitive edge. He has lectured across the United States and Europe about collaboration, social media use, and work environments that enable innovation. He was was honored by Centric with the Indiana Innovation Award for his work in innovation and education.

Joe Adams

Joe Adams is a nationally recognized figure in the software industry. He has co-founded several companies with his lifelong friend and business partner Dr. Don Brown. Companies he co-founded have gone public on NASDAQ and been acquired by EDS and IBM. He is Chief Technology Evangelist and Senior Product Manager at Interactive Intelligence, the world’s leading developer of Interaction Management and Communications Systems. Adams serves on several boards: his own foundation, Don Brown’s foundation, Indianapolis Chamber of Commerce, Interactive Academy, Ark of the Woods, and the Dean’s Advisory Council for the IU School of Informatics. He serves as president of the Interactive Intelligence Foundation, whose mission is to foster life improvements for at-risk youth. Adams is president of the Ferrari Club of America, which was founded in Indiana in 1962 and, with 6,000 members, is the world’s largest and oldest Ferrari Club. Adams has previously served on the boards of the Legacy Foundation, Software Artistry, Inc. and the Noblesville Boys and Girls Club.

Dawn Andrus

Dawn Andrus is chief of the Capability and Innovation group in Rolls-Royce Control Systems in Indianapolis. She earned her bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from IUPUI and a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Purdue University in West Lafayette. She has worked for Rolls-Royce Corporation (formerly Allison Engine Company and Allison Gas Turbine division of General Motors) for 31 years, beginning her career as a co-operative education student. Her various assignments have provided experience in diagnostic test, advanced turbomachinery design, aftermarket service support, quality, program management, customer support, turbomachinery component vibration, engine control systems and engineering management

Brandon Boynton

Brandon Boynton was born and raised in central Indiana. A senior at Pendleton Heights High School, he has received numerous accolades in his short career, including recognition at the Consumer Electronics Show, national finalist of the Young Entrepreneurs Academy, winner of a Congressional STEM Award, the youngest person ever nominated for a prestigious TechPoint “Rising Star” Mira Award, and a former member of the Madison County Chamber of Commerce board of directors. Boynton is the founder of MostBeastlyStudios LLC, known for The BullyBøx anti-bullying system currently used in hundreds of schools around the world. The company works with a team of seven developers to build "Apps that make a difference.”

Wil Davis

Wil Davis co-founded Ontario Systems, LLC, in Muncie, Indiana, serving as its CEO until 2008 and as its chairman until the recent sale of the company. He is also currently serving his alma mater, Ball State University, by assisting them with the protection and commercialization of new intellectual property created by the university’s faculty and staff. He has launched Noble Why, LLC, an organizational effectiveness consulting firm dedicated to helping organizations foster passionate, purposeful, and productive cultures where there is both an individual and collective pride in the work being accomplished. Davis is an entrepreneur with both his BS and MBA from Ball State University. He has also been awarded an honorary doctorate in Business Management from Indiana Wesleyan University.

Nathalie Duval-Couetil

Nathalie Duval-Couetil is the director of the Certificate in Entrepreneurship and Innovation Program, associate director of the Burton D. Morgan Center, and an associate professor in the Department of Technology Leadership and Innovation at Purdue University. She is responsible for the launch and development of the university’s multidisciplinary undergraduate entrepreneurship program, which involves over 1,500 students each year. As director of the undergraduate program, she has established courses and initiatives focused on entrepreneurship fundamentals, venture development, professional development, and women and leadership. At the graduate level, she co-teaches a technology commercialization course for students and faculty called “Life of a Faculty Entrepreneur: Discovery, Development and Translation.” Her research has focused on entrepreneurship pedagogy and assessment; entrepreneurship education and engineering students; student intellectual property policy; and women and entrepreneurship/leadership. She has also worked on entrepreneurship capacity building projects with international partners. Prior to her work in academia, she spent several years in the field of market research and business strategy consulting in Europe and the United States with Booz Allen and Hamilton and Data and Strategies Group.  She received a bachelor’s degree from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, an MBA from Babson College, and master’s and doctoral degrees from Purdue University. She serves on the board of the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE) and is a senior research advisor to the Stanford University Epicenter.

Stuart Easley

Stuart Easley leads Elanco’s Integration Management Office (IMO), which he established in 2009. During his tenure, Elanco established a premier mergers and acquisitions integration capability and consummated more than seven global transactions. Prior to the current role, Easley held positions in business development, global operations, and various technical and leadership roles in research and development portfolio management and product development. Easley holds a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and a master’s degree in analytical chemistry from Indiana University. Additionally, he holds both an MBA and a master’s degree in finance from the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University.

Chris LaMothe

Chris LaMothe serves as the chief executive officer of Elevate Ventures, where he sets the strategy and vision for the organization, oversees all programs and staff, and serves as the primary source for stakeholders, investors, board members, and entrepreneurs. Previously LaMothe served as executive vice president of Element Materials Technologies, specifically leading the global transportation, power generation and industrials sectors of the company. Element acquired LaMothe’s company, Sherry Laboratories Holdings, LLC in 2013 where he served as partner, chairman and CEO. Prior to that, LaMothe served as president and COO of Oxford Financial Group, LTD. LaMothe also served as CEO of the Trust Company of Oxford with nearly $2 billion under management. LaMothe and his team lead Oxford Financial Group and the Trust Company of Oxford to improved operational efficiencies, quality, client satisfaction and new market growth. As the president and CEO of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, LaMothe grew the organization to one of the largest statewide Chambers with significant revenue growth and diversification. He was instrumental in the vision, funding and completion of numerous studies that were used to create a master plan for the direction of the state of Indiana. LaMothe also served in 2010 as Chairman of Indiana Vision 2025, which moved from the previous plan to an aggressive vision for Indiana’s continued growth in business and entrepreneurial leadership. He is a graduated from Ball State University with a Bachelor of Science degree in marketing and from Indiana University with an MBA.

John McDonald

John McDonald is the CEO of CloudOne, Inc. Magazine’s fastest-growing IT company in Indiana two years in a row and winner of the 2015 and 2016 IBM Beacon Award, the highest honor given to a business partner. Formerly a technical sales executive at IBM for over 20 years, he is one of the founding members and on the steering committee of the 450+ member Cloud Customer Standards Council, and a board member of the Venture Club of Indiana and TechPoint. He also serves as a member of the IBM PartnerWorld Global Business Partner Advisory Council and the Industrial Advisory Board for the Department of Computer and Information Technology in the Purdue Polytechnic Institute at Purdue University. McDonald was an original IBM Champion in 2011, an honor he has received every year since. Outside of work, John is a lay minister and author of a book about the Internet of Things and two history books about Indianapolis, where he lives with his wife and family.

Thor Misko

Thor Misko joined the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Program after working for a number of years with longtime Foundation partner Project Lead The Way (PLTW), where he served most recently as vice president of development. As team leader and program director, Misko is responsible for broadening the scope and impact of the Kern Entrepreneurial Engineering Network. Prior to joining PLTW, Misko served as PLTW’s affiliate director for the Milwaukee School of Engineering (MSOE) and worked in various entrepreneurial and engineering fields and markets throughout the United States. As a building systems engineer, he had the opportunity to work on a wide variety of projects in the medical, industrial, hospitality, entertainment, and gaming sectors. Misko earned his bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering from MSOE, with specialties in building electrical systems and building environmental systems. He is pursuing a master’s degree from MSOE in engineering management with a master’s certificate in project management and knowledge management. He is also a Lean Six Sigma Green Belt and a U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Accredited Professional.

Cheryl Mitchell

Cheryl Mitchell’s most recent work has been as an educator – as a first-grade teacher and before that, a training and development director for Northwestern Mutual -- in Mahomet, Illinois. A 25-year veteran of the academic and corporate community, she holds a bachelor’s degree from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and a master’s degree from Concordia University. She specializes in building a vibrant and collaborative relationship between academia and entrepreneurship, networking with and recruiting and training high-level partners. She is a vision-focused individual with the passion and drive to bring Creating Entrepreneurial Opportunities (CEO) to new levels.

Todd Pedersen

Todd Pedersen serves as the vice president of corporate affairs at Interactive Intelligence, Inc., a global provider of contact center automation, unified communications, and business process automation software and services for mid-size to large organizations. He serves as the secretary of the board of directors for the Interactive Intelligence Foundation, a not-for-profit charitable corporation whose mission is to fund life improvements for at-risk youth. Additionally, he serves on the board of advisors for the Eiteljorg Museum of Native American and Western Art. Prior to joining Interactive Intelligence, Pedersen served as the chief development officer of AIT Laboratories, Inc., a bioanalytical chemistry and forensic toxicology laboratory based in Indianapolis. He spent two years serving the State of Indiana as director of life sciences for the Indiana Economic Development Corporation under Governor Mitch Daniels. Pedersen has held positions with Cook, Inc. in Bloomington, Indiana, and IMS Health in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania. Pedersen holds a B.A. in History and an MBA from Indiana University. He is married to Katie Pedersen, a pediatrician, and together they have four young children: Matthew, Thomas, Lauren and Nicholas.

Maureen Weber

Maureen Weber, senior vice president and chief strategy officer for Project Lead The Way, supports the successful growth of the organization, helping to provide the vision, leadership, and management necessary to execute day-to-day operations and implement high-impact company growth strategies. Weber joined PLTW from Indiana University Health, the most comprehensive healthcare system in Indiana, where she served as the vice president of customer experience. In this capacity, she was responsible for building and executing strategies to drive service improvements across the care continuum and enhancing convenience of and access to system services. She also served in a number of operational and policymaking roles for the State of Indiana and was accountable for leading the transformational agenda for several state agencies. Appointed by Governor Mitch Daniels and Superintendent Tony Bennett, Weber chaired the Indiana Charter School Board from 2012 to 2015. She chairs the board of the Purdue Polytechnic Indianapolis High School, is a member of the school commission for Christ the King Catholic School, and serves on a variety of other boards and commissions in the Indianapolis community. Weber earned a juris doctorate from the Georgetown University Law Center, where she served on the Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy, and a bachelor’s degree from the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service, with a concentration in Science and Technology in International Affairs.

John Hanak

John Hanak is the managing director of Purdue Ventures, the seed capital entity within Purdue University’s Foundry, which serves as a pre-incubation accelerator focused on commercializing university-developed technologies through startup companies. Previously, he served as the statewide director of the Purdue Technology Centers, a network of high-tech incubators across the state of Indiana. He has held officer-level positions at a Fortune 500 metals manufacturer, a middle-market machine-building company and a technology product development firm. Additionally, Mr. Hanak co-founded North Riverside Partners, a technology commercialization and consulting firm, and CN Associates, small investment partnership. Hanak previously served as president, CEO and board member of Digital Innovations, a Chicago-based technology product development and marketing firm. Before joining Digital Innovations, he spent over 20 years in the steel industry and was a vice president at Ispat Inland Steel. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Valparaiso University and a law degree, with distinction, from the John Marshall Law School in Chicago. He is a board member and recent past president of the Venture Club of Indiana and is currently the chairman of the board of directors of the International Business Innovation Association.

Joseph Pekny

Joseph F. Pekny is a professor of chemical engineering at Purdue University and director of Deliberate Innovation in Discovery Park. He was a founding director of Discovery Park and the Regenstrief Center for Healthcare Engineering. He leads the Cancer Care Engineering Project with Marietta Harrison and Pat Loehrer of IU School of Medicine and is the principal investigator on a National Institutes of Health project to improve the manufacturing of biologics processes. He founded and advises Advanced Process Combinatorics, Inc., a Purdue Research Park company. His research interests are in algorithm engineering for combinatorial optimization applications and in devising the best possible system for translating research into practical impact. His work includes applications in energy systems modeling, research pipeline management, manufacturing, and planning and scheduling. Pekny served as the head of Purdue’s School of Industrial Engineering from 2008 to 2010. He received his undergraduate degree in chemical engineering from Princeton University and his Ph.D. in chemical engineering from Carnegie Mellon University.

Matthew Lynall

Matthew Lynall, clinical associate professor of management at Purdue University, is the director of experiential learning and management consulting at Krannert School of Management and a founding director of Purdue's Deliberate Innovation for Faculty (DIFF) program in Discovery Park. Prior to joining the faculty at Purdue, he taught strategy, organizational behavior, and entrepreneurship at the Richard Ivey Business School, University of Western Ontario, and has also led corporate executive programs in business transformation and change management in England, France, Germany, Canada, and the United States. As a DIFF director, Lynall coordinates the school of management's support for entrepreneurship and technology commercialization activities across Purdue's science, engineering, and technology areas. Before returning to academia, he was a partner and senior vice president in the entrepreneurial consulting practice of Ernst & Young. His research is focused at the intersection of strategic management and organizational behavior and includes innovation and problem solving processes, corporate governance in early stage companies; and conflict and cooperation between venture capitalists and the management of their portfolio companies.

Gary Bertoline

Gary R. Bertoline is the dean of the Purdue Polytechnic Institute and a Distinguished Professor of Computer Graphics Technology and Computer & Information Technology at Purdue University. Since his appointment as dean in 2011, he has led the college in a transformation that incorporates innovative learning environments, integrates humanities with technical studies in a learn-by-doing atmosphere, and offers news options for majors and for earning a degree. He earned his PhD at The Ohio State University and was on the faculty in the College of Engineering for three years before coming to Purdue University in 1990. From 1995 through 2002, he served as head of the Department of Computer Graphics Technology at Purdue University. He also served five years as the associate dean for graduate programs before becoming dean of the college. He led the development of the Envision Center for Data Perceptualization at Purdue and served as its director for five years. Bertoline also had a major role in the build-out of Purdue’s campus cyberinfrastructure while serving as associate vice president and director of the Rosen Center for Advanced Computing (RCAC), which he co-founded. He recently co-founded the Indiana Next Generation Manufacturing Competitiveness Center (IN-MaC).

Mitch Daniels

Mitch Daniels became the 12th president of Purdue University in January 2013, at the conclusion of his second term as Governor of the State of Indiana. President Daniels has launched a series of initiatives called Purdue Moves that provide bold answers to some of the greatest challenges facing higher education today. The four pillars of Purdue Moves — affordability and accessibility, transformative education, world-changing research, and STEM leadership — leverage Purdue’s historic strengths and promote investment in new ideas, guiding the university in its mission to deliver higher education at the highest proven value. Daniels came to Purdue University at the conclusion of his term as the 49th Governor of Indiana. He was elected Governor in 2004, in his first bid for any elected office. He was re-elected in 2008, receiving more votes than any candidate for any public office in the state's history. Daniels first became interested in public service while serving as chief of staff to Senator Richard Lugar. He has also served as a senior advisor to President Ronald Reagan and Director of the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush. On his first day in office as Governor, Daniels created Indiana’s first Office of Management and Budget.

Dan Hasler

Dan Hasler was named president and chief entrepreneurial officer of Purdue Research Foundation in February 2013. His responsibilities include supervising Purdue University's entrepreneurial and technology transfer activities to drive the life-changing innovations of Purdue's many researchers through commercialization and to the benefit of the public. Previously, Hasler served as the secretary of commerce for the State of Indiana and chief executive officer of the Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC). He has an extensive 31-year career at Eli Lilly and Company, a Fortune 500 global pharmaceutical company headquartered in Indianapolis. While at Eli Lilly, Hasler served in a number of leadership positions, most recently as vice president for global marketing, responsible for the commercial strategy and market performance of Lilly’s pharmaceutical portfolio. He also was the chief marketing officer for Eli Lilly USA. Prior to that, he led the commercial operations of Eli Lilly’s largest European group for three years and was general manager and president of Eli Lilly of Brazil LTD. In 2010, Hasler was the recipient of the Lilly Lifetime Achievement Award.

Don Scifres

Don Scifres is co-founder and managing partner of VisionTech Partners | VisionTech Angels, the largest angel investor community in Indiana. He focuses on angel and venture capital investments in information technology, life science, medical device, agricultural technology, and advanced manufacturing technology firms in the Midwest and beyond. He has served in executive and advisory roles with early stage, mid-size, and Fortune 200 firms, including Indigo BioSystems, Courseload, Inc., ANGEL Learning, Irwin Mortgage Corporation, and Cummins Inc. His broad background includes proven successes in start-ups, fund raising, strategic planning, operations, team building, software engineering, technology infrastructure, business development, and corporate governance. As senior vice president of Courseload, LLC, he was instrumental in moving the firm from concept to market in four months and assisting with the raising of nearly $9 million in seed and Series A funding. As vice president with ANGEL Learning, Scifres helped scale the business, introduce new service offerings, and increase its valuation by 700 percent in less than three years, leading to its $100 million sale to Blackboard, Inc., in 2009.

A graduate of Purdue University with a bachelor’s degree in technology, he completed executive education programs at the University of Virginia Darden Graduate School of Business and the Cornell University Johnson Graduate School of Management. He serves on the boards of Bloomerang, LLC, and SmartFile, LLC, as a board observer for App Press, LLC, and on the advisory boards of SmarterHQ, Inc. and 250ok, LLC.

Lonnie Bentley

Lonnie Bentley is co-founder, board member, and vice president of business development for Broadband Antenna Tracking Systems, Inc (BATS). He has been a professor in the Department of Computer and Information Technology at Purdue University since 1981. For eight years, he served as the department head, leading the department’s growth from $100,000 in total annual research funding to over $7.2 million, establishing its as the country’s first ABET-accredited Information Technology program, and being recognized by the International Telecommunications Education and Research Association (ITERA) as having the nation’s outstanding Network Engineering Technology program. Bentley’s expertise is in the area of information systems development. He has co-authored seven editions of the leading textbook “Systems Analysis and Design Methods” published by McGraw-Hill. He received the 2011-2012 Outstanding Commercialization Award for Purdue University faculty.

Matt McKillip

Matt McKillip is the Statewide director for research and innovation at Purdue University. He works to broaden faculty and student research, innovation, and entrepreneurship opportunities. While at Purdue, he has started Purdue's first on-campus start-up accelerator, served as a National Science Foundation (NSF) Innovation Corps (i-Corps) business mentor, been a Young Entrepreneurs Academy (YEA) investor, mentored for the Midland Institute for Entrepreneurship CEO program, run Purdue’s start-up boot camp, advised all TEDxPurdueU events, and was granted a fellowship with CONNECT Springboard in San Diego. Prior to his roles in academia, McKillip’s experience includes CEO of CMS-Katra Healthcare; mayor of Kokomo, Indiana; founder of Momentum Inc. (USA) and Momentum Lda. (Europe); and a director at Procter & Gamble (P&G) where he helped start Procter & Gamble’s subsidiary in Portugal and built IT systems for P&G’s world headquarters in Cincinnati. He is also a strategy and economic development consultant and serves on the boards of four companies.

Greg Deason

Greg Deason is senior vice president of Purdue Research Foundation, executive director of the Purdue Foundry and Purdue Research Park, and associate director of experiential programs for the Burton D. Morgan Center for Entrepreneurship. He leads the team that is accelerating startup and tech-based company activity at Purdue University. He is in the process of transitioning into a new role as director of innovation and entrepreneurship for the Morgan Center. Deason was instrumental in the creation of Purdue Research Parks in four other locations in Indiana, as well as the creation of the Purdue Technology Centers Complex – the largest university-affiliated business incubator complex in the country. During Deason’s 20-year tenure at the Purdue Research Park, the statewide network has grown to more than 250 companies and over 4,600 jobs; providing an annual impact of $1.3B to the Indiana economy. In 2010, he was named an Outstanding Alumnus of Purdue University and remains active in service to the College of Agriculture.