Tuesday, May 29, and Wednesday, May 30: NACIE Members Krisztina “Z” Holly and Ray Leach Discuss Innovation and Entrepreneurship

May 24, 2012

By USC Stevens

Next Tuesday, May 29, at 4 p.m. EDT, please join our conference call with Krisztina “Z” Holly, vice provost for innovation, University of Southern California, and executive director for the USC Stevens Institute. Ms. Holly will discuss the story of the Stevens Institute and how it has become a national leader in innovation and entrepreneurship by taking a comprehensive, university-wide approach. She will also discuss her recent report with the Center for American Progress about the role of the university in innovation, entrepreneurship, and economic development. Ms. Holly leads a team of more than 30 professionals who help faculty and students across USC’s 17 professional schools and undergraduate college to make maximum impact with their ideas—whether as startups, nonprofits, or producers and licensors of new products—and to develop skills for lifelong innovation. Named in 2010 by Forbes magazine as one of the year’s “Champions of Free Enterprise,” Ms. Holly is a frequent lecturer and a contributing columnist to BusinessWeek and the Huffington Post.

On Wednesday, May 30, at 4 p.m. EDT, please join our conference call with Ray Leach, CEO of Jumpstart, Inc., a nonprofit that to seeks to increase the economic impact and sustainability of Northeast Ohio’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Jumpstart has been a path-breaking collaboration of universities, nonprofits, local and state governments, and the business community to create a vibrant ecosystem for entrepreneurship. He will discuss the role of non-universities in building an innovation ecosystem. Mr. Leach founded and sold two startup companies and is also involved in the Startup America Partnership. Prior to working with JumpStart, Mr. Leach taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Sloan School of Management while earning his MBA as a Sloan Fellow. He also served as an entrepreneur in residence for CommonAngels, Boston’s largest angel investor organization.

Both Ms. Holly and Mr. Leach are members of the President’s National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship (NACIE). These conference calls are the latest in a series hosted by the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship within the U.S. Commerce Department’s Economic Development Administration (EDA).

Upcoming Conference Calls:

• June 5, 4:00 p.m.: Dr. Curt Carlson, president and CEO, SRI International (call-in number: 888-323-7915; participant passcode: 3818714)
• June 11, 12:25 p.m.: Dr. Holden Thorp, chancellor, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (call-in number: 800-857-5157; participant passcode: 1533481)
• June 19, 4:00 p.m.: Dr. Barron Harvey, dean, Howard University School of Business (call-in number: 800-857-5157; participant passcode: 1533481)
• June 20, 4:00 p.m.: Dr. Claude Canizares, vice president of research and associate provost, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (call-in number: 888-323-7915; participant passcode: 3818714)
• June 27, 4:00 p.m.: Dr. Desh Deshpande, founder Deshpande Foundation (call-in number and participant passcode to come)

All times are Eastern Time. To register, please e-mail i6@eda.gov with your name, title, organization, e-mail address, telephone number, and the date of the conference call you are registering for.

The call-in number for the May 29 and 30 conference calls is 1-888-889-2040; the participant passcode is 3818714.

For updates, please visit EDA’s website, www.eda.gov.