2008 featured speaker

clint everton is a Kansas native and serial entrepreneur who has spent a dozen years in the software, information & e-learning arenas.

Clint is a Kansas native and serial entrepreneur who has spent a dozen years in the software, information & e-learning arenas. As a student at Wichita State University, he developed the idea that business school case studies could be combined with gaming and simulation technology to create online business skills learning for major corporations.

Even though he had a product, Clint needed help creating a business. He turned to the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation (KTEC) and the Wichita Technology Corporation (WTC) for both seed capital investments and practical advice. The company grew from a concept in his parent's basement to a $30 million business.

Discovering some large corporations embrace an "intrapreneurial" culture, Clint decided to hone his operational skills in strategy, business development and technology at one of the market's largest learning technology companies that served over 1,000 customers and millions of end-users. In just a few years he became President of the $150 million business that had purchased his company.

With a passion for early stage companies, Clint is again pursuing another start-up. Watching the ups and downs of his financial portfolio has led to the founding of a new financial data business that aggregates the wealth management strategies of thousands of investors. All with the goal of providing an objective, unbiased perspective to make individuals better long-term investors.

Understanding the motivations for why people choose to start companies, the many challenges and rewards of doing so, and the experience of being on "both sides of the table" as a founder and acquirer of companies, Clint looks forward to sharing his lessons learned with fellow entrepreneurs.

past conference speakers

Barry moltz has founded and run small businesses with a great deal of success and failure for more than 15 years.

After successfully selling his last operating business, Barry has branched out into a number of entrepreneurship-related activities. He founded an angel investor group, an angel fund, and is a former advisory member of the board of the Angel Capital Education Foundation.

His first book, “You Need to Be A Little Crazy: The Truth about Starting and Growing Your Business” describes the ups and downs and emotional trials of running a business. It is in its fourth reprint and has been translated into Chinese, Russian, Korean and Thai. His second book, Bounce! Failure, Resiliency and the Confidence to Achieve Your Next Great Success, will be published by Wiley on January 11.

Barry is a nationally recognized expert on entrepreneurship who has given over 100 speeches to audiences ranging from 20 to 20,000. He was appointed by the Illinois Governor in 2005 to serve on the board of the Institute for Entrepreneurship Education (IIEE). He has taught entrepreneurship as an adjunct professor at IIT( Illinois Institute of Technology). He was elected to the Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame in 2004.

Moltz has written articles for many national publications. Moltz also wrote a chapter in the book, “State of the Art: American Angel Investing”, (The Darden School, The Batten Institute). Moltz wrote the foreword for Penguin Books’ new “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Business Plans”.

Barry’s ravings can be found at www.barrymoltz.com.

John May is managing partner of New Vantage Group (“NVG”), a Vienna, Virginia-based firm that innovatively mobilizes private equity capital into early-stage companies. NVG administers four regional angel groups - the Dinner Club, eMedia Club, the Washington Dinner Club and Active Angel Investors, and has joint ventures with WomenAngels.net of Washington, D.C., and the CEO Club of Columbia, MD. Over the last 15 years, John has been an advisor to, or a general partner of, five early-stage venture capital funds. John is an authority on “angel” investors and is the co-author of Every Business Needs an Angel (Crown Business: 2001).

John is chairman of the Angel Capital Assocation, a program of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and is a lead instructor for their “Power of Angel Investing” seminars. In 2003, he co-edited with Elizabeth O’Halloran a book and multimedia CD entitled State of the Art: An Executive Briefing on Cutting-Edge Practices in American Angel Investing (Darden Publishing). John is also the director of the Northern Virginia Initiative, Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia and a UVA faculty member.

Marianne Hudson is Director, Entrepreneurship at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. She oversees many of the Foundation’s entrepreneurial education, mentoring and networking programs designed to ensure that more entrepreneurs develop sustainable, innovative businesses. Current focus areas include enhancing the equity investment environment for entrepreneurs, promoting the importance of giving back to entrepreneurs, and supporting initiatives the help women grow their businesses. She serves as Executive Director of the Angel Capital Association, a professional organization of North American angel investing groups focused on networking, research and sharing best practices.

Prior to joining the Center in November 2001, Marianne was Vice President – Marketing and Communications for the Mid-America Manufacturing Technology Center (MAMTC), a not-for profit organization that helps manufacturers improve their profitability and performance. She led a team in developing MAMTC’s original business plan in 1991, leading to significant investments from the federal government and three states.

Before her tenure at MAMTC, Marianne worked in the field of economic development, managing investments in research and development and business incubators as well as coordinating international trade and exchange programs. Positions included Vice President of the Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation and Assistant Manager of the Thomas Edison Program at the Ohio Department of Development.

Marianne holds a BA in Economics and Political Science from the University of Kansas and an MA in Public Policy from the Eagleton Institute of Politics at Rutgers University . She is a graduate of the Centurions Leadership Program of the Greater Kansas City Chamber of Commerce.

About the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation
The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation of Kansas City works with partners to advance entrepreneurship in America and improve the education of children and youth. The Kauffman Foundation was established in the mid-1960s by the late entrepreneur and philanthropist Ewing Marion Kauffman. Information about the Kauffman Foundation is available at www.kauffman.org.

Tim Cesarek is currently the President of Koch Genesis LLC, a subsidiary of Koch Industries Inc., that makes direct capital investments in early stage companies led by proven entrepreneurs with the integrity, vision, passion and expertise to build sustainable companies that can create new markets, replace industry incumbents and generate significant returns. Tim has more than 15 years of corporate finance and transaction experience, and as a principal has directly invested and managed more than $500 million in private debt and equity investments in various industries. Currently he serves on the boards of Power Medical Interventions, Inc. and Bacterial Barcodes, Inc.

Prior to joining Koch Genesis, Tim was the managing director of corporate finance for Koch Industries, Inc. In that role, he was responsible for leading a team that focused on transaction support such as buy-side analysis, due diligence and negotiation, as well as post transaction integration. Additionally, his team managed divestitures contemplated by Koch Industries and its portfolio companies.

Tim received a bachelor’s degree in biomedical engineering from the Milwaukee School of Engineering, and a master’s degree in business from Pepperdine University.

F. D. (Fran) Jabara earned his undergraduate degree from Oklahoma State University and completed his graduate studies at Northwestern University. He is a certified public accountant. Mr. Jabara joined the faculty at Wichita State University in 1949 and served the University for 40 years until he resigned in 1989. He was appointed Distinguished Professor in 1971 and served as Dean of the College of Business Administration for seven years.

Compelled by his advocacy of the American Enterprise System and his firm belief in the important role of the entrepreneur to the perpetuation and growth of our system, he founded one of the first Centers for Entrepreneurship at Wichita State University in 1977. This program became internationally recognized and is well known as one of the finest and most comprehensive programs of its kind in the nation. Under his guidance he co-founded the Association of Collegiate Entrepreneurs (ACE), the largest national organization for collegiate students interested in entrepreneurship with members in all fifty states and twenty foreign countries.

Devoted to fostering a more conducive environment for entrepreneurs, Mr. Jabara continues to be actively involved in assisting and facilitating entrepreneurial development. He has been invited to foreign countries to discuss venturing and entrepreneurship. Mr. Jabara has been instrumental in assisting other universities in creating academic programs in entrepreneurship including Cornell University, University of Calgary, University of Notre Dame, Arizona State University, St. Thomas University, Marquette University and Monterey Institute of Technology, Mexico.

Fran is the founder of a merchant banking and investment company, Jabara Ventures Group, as well as the Jabara Family Foundation. He is also a member of the board of directors of numerous corporations.

A recognized national leader in entrepreneurship, he was awarded the prestigious Leavey Award for Excellence in Private Enterprise Education and the George Washington Honor Medal by the Freedoms Foundation. In 1991, he was the recipient of the Ernst Young, Merrill Lynch, Inc. Magazine Award for Entrepreneur of the Year. Fran was the chairman of the Kansas delegation to the 1986 White House Conference on Small Business. In 1991, he was the founder of Project H.O.P.E. + E. Each year, Project H.O.P.E. +E hosts VENTUREKIDS, a program designed to communicate ingredients of success through entrepreneurship to minority fifth graders. In 1996, Wichita State University dedicated Jabara Hall, and that same year Jabara was inducted into the Hall of Fame at Oklahoma State University. He was a 1997 Laureate for the Wichita Business Hall of Fame. In 1999, he was awarded the Cardinal Newman Medal from Newman University. In 2001, he was awarded the Faculty Lifetime Achievement Award by the College of Business Administration at Wichita State University. Wichita State University awarded the President’s Medal to Fran in the Fall of 2002. In 2003, the Wichita Area Chamber of Commerce named Fran Uncommon Citizen. The U.S. Small Business Administration has selected Fran as 2003 Financial Services Advocate of the Year.

Fran has consulted with literally thousands of small and emerging companies during his career. He brings together the rare combination of an educator who has been an active entrepreneur throughout his professional career. Fran is truly a friend of the entrepreneur.