2019 Innovation Showcase

Innovation Showcase Presenters

Introductions and Opening Remarks

Kip Frey

Executive Vice President, New Ventures

The Heritage Group

Before joining THG, Kip Frey was Vice Provost for Innovation & Entrepreneurship and Professor of Law and Public Policy at Duke University. In addition to his duties at Duke, he has served as CEO of seven start-up companies and was a partner at Intersouth Partners—one of the largest and oldest venture capital firms in the Southeast.

A lawyer by training, he practiced intellectual property law before joining Turner Broadcasting System in the early 1990’s. While at Turner, he ran several business units and contributed to the acquisition of Castle Rock Entertainment, the formation of the Cartoon Network, and the construction of the MGM Grand Hotel.

Kip is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Southern California and of Duke Law School, where he served on the Duke Law Journal. He has served as a director of more than a dozen public and private companies.

Organizer and Keynote Speaker

Donald Brown

The Accidental Entrepreneur

Growing up, Don had no interest in becoming an entrepreneur. In fact, after a physics undergrad, he enrolled in an MD/PhD program in biochemistry thinking that he’d become a biomedical researcher. However, life often takes unexpected turns. After launching a startup while finishing medical school, Don was bitten by the entrepreneurial bug and started a series of successful software companies, including two of the first three ever to go public in the state of Indiana. Following the sale of the 2,300-person Interactive Intelligence to Genesys Telecommunications for $1.4B in 2016, Don finally returned to the life sciences with his most recent startup called LifeOmic aimed at bringing badly needed disruption to health care. As an avid pilot, rock climber, and mountaineer, Don has found multiple ways to confront and overcome fear. Come hear Don discuss his entrepreneurial journey, the lessons he learned along the way, and his bold vision for the future of health care.

Dr. Donald F. Kuratko (known as “Dr. K”), is considered a prominent scholar and national leader in the field of entrepreneurship, authoring over 190 articles on aspects of entrepreneurship and corporate innovation in academic journals as well as 30 books, including one of the leading entrepreneurship books in the world, Entrepreneurship: Theory, Process, Practice (11th ed.). He has been named one of the Top 10 Entrepreneurship Scholars in the world and he was the recipient of the Riata Distinguished Entrepreneurship Scholar Award. he was the inaugural recipient of the Karl Vesper Entrepreneurship Pioneer Award for his career dedication to developing the field of entrepreneurship. The National Academy of Management honored Professor Kuratko with the Entrepreneurship Advocate Award and the Entrepreneurship Mentor Award for his contributions to the development and advancement of the discipline of entrepreneurship. Dr. K has been consultant on Corporate Innovation to numerous Fortune 500 corporations. He was honored by his peers as the #1 Entrepreneurship Director in the nation as well as being selected one of the Top Entrepreneurship Professors in the U.S. by Fortune magazine. Under his leadership IU has been ranked the #1 Business School for Entrepreneurship Research as well as the #1 Graduate and Undergraduate Business School for Entrepreneurship Programs (Public Institutions) by U.S. News & World Report and Fortune.

Presenter of the Hall of Fame

Jeff Ready

CEO

Scale Computing

Current CEO and co-founder of Scale Computing, Jeff defines a serial entrepreneur – starting his first company at the age of 11. Jeff has not only proven himself as a pack leader but as a negotiator, fundraiser, technologist, marketer and trusted advisor, having started numerous companies and raising over $150+ million in investment capital. Prior to founding Scale, Jeff was co-founder and CEO of Corvigo, a Linux-based anti-spam appliance, where he oversaw the company from startup through funding to acquisition. After the acquisition, Jeff served as VP of Marketing at Tumbleweed Communications. Prior to Corvigo, Jeff was co-founder, COO and VP of Marketing at Radiate. Jeff holds a degree in Computer Science from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.