2011 Conference Speakers

Jack DeBoer understands business. Entrepreneurship. Building something new. He's recognized worldwide as a pioneer in the all-suite hotel concept and a guy who shakes up the status quo.

He designed and built the first Residence Inn all-suite hotel in 1975 and sold it to Marriott in 1987. A year later he co-founded Summerfield Suites, which he subsequently sold to Hyatt. In 1995, he founded Candlewood Suites, purchased by InterContinental Hotels in 2003.

DeBoer trailblazed a short-term apartment concept with his founding of Value Place in 2002. It continues to enjoy rapid expansion with 175 Value Places open as of January 2011. He also co-owns Pittsburg-based Hix Corporation and serves as chairman of the board for this global supplier of equipment for the food and printing industries.

He is the author of Risk Only Money Success in Business Without Risking Family, Friends and Reputation with all proceeds benefiting World Vision, the largest Christian humanitarian aid organization in the world.

Nominated by Governor Sam Brownback, Pat George became Kansas Secretary of Commerce in February 2011. In this post, Pat leads the state's premier economic development organization in its mission to empower and bring prosperity to individuals, businesses and communities. Pat oversees the Department's efforts to create jobs through business recruitment and expansion, workforce, rural and community development as well as international trade.

Pat is a native Kansan, who brings a wealth of business and public service experience to the Department. A true entrepreneur, Pat spent 25 years starting and building numerous successful business ventures in southwest Kansas, from his family's automobile dealership to real estate development to professional sports. He is a partner in PATS Real Estate Management and GPL Real Estate Company. Pat also provided leadership to G&G New Car Dealerships, Nueterra Equities, Reggie Jackson Enterprises, Dodge City Steaks and the Dodge City Legend Professional Basketball Team.

In public service, Pat represented the 119th District in the Kansas House of Representatives for six years. Pat was chairman of the Committee on State Employee Pay Plans and vice-chairman of the Vision 2010 Committee. In addition, he served on the Committee on Economic Development and Tourism and the Joint Committee on Economic Development. Pat also was vice-chairman of the National Conference of State Legislatures Health Committee; chairman of the Valley Hope Association Board of Directors; and president of the Dodge City Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Joe Poletto founded and manages Indie Global, a San Francisco based advisory group which invests in media technology companies in the United States and abroad. Engagements include: Ad Market Liquidity, Ad Predictive, Brandport (acquired by Live Gamer), imvu, Kinoma (acquired by Marvel), ScanScout (acquired by Tremor Media), SkyPop, YuMe Networks and Zendorse.

Previously, Joe was General Manager of US Advertising Sales for Microsoft's MSN Network, where he and his staff directed MSN's US advertising sales efforts and strategic partnerships. He also served as MSN's Managing Director of Emerging Verticals which included the creation of the MSN Entertainment and MSN Latino divisions.

Preceding his work at Microsoft, Joe served as Vice President of WebTV Networks, which was acquired by Microsoft in 1997. He was responsible for building and managing all non-subscription revenue streams and for defining innovative broadband services for cable and satellite network operators.

Prior to WebTV, Joe was Vice President of National Advertising Sales for HBO-Comedy Central, playing a central role in the network launch as well as in growing revenues. His advertising sales and business development career began with top media brands like the Madison Square Garden Network and the A&E Network.

Past Speakers

Rob Adams is an active investor, author, consultant, and on the faculty of the Management Department at the University of Texas at Austin's McCombs School of Business, where he teaches in the MBA program and is the Director of Venture Labs and the Global Moot Corp Program.

Dr. Adams is an active angel investor and board member for several start-ups, and is affiliated with numerous venture funds, several of which he started. Prior to the venture business, he was a software operating executive for two decades. Throughout his venture and operating careers he has been a founder, founding investor or involved with the public offering, merger or acquisition of more than 40 companies, representing the launching of more than 100 products, and transactions totaling more than one billion dollars of capital.

He is the author of A Good Hard Kick in the Ass: Basic Training for Entrepreneurs (Random House/Crown, 2002), and If You Build It Will They Come? Three Steps to Test and Validate Any Market Opportunity (Wiley, 2010).

Laura Kilcrease is founder and managing director of Triton Ventures, a venture capital fund investing in spinout and early-stage technology companies. With more than 25 years of hands-on experience in commercializing technology, Ms. Kilcrease has a deep understanding of how to cultivate new opportunities to “grow businesses around businesses” as well as how to deconstruct and reconstruct business models to achieve significant results.

Ms. Kilcrease founded Triton Ventures in January of 1999 to provide management and operational leadership to emerging technology-based spinout companies formed to acquire and commercialize technology developed by Fortune 500 companies and other large domestic and foreign corporations, universities, and government or private research institutions. As managing director of the firm, she sources, structures, performs due diligence for, negotiates, and manages venture capital investments focused on information technology, energy-related technologies, advanced materials, and communications. She provides ongoing counsel to portfolio companies regarding management teams, industry and financial marketplace issues, introduction of strategic and investment partners, and positioning the company for public offering, merger, or sale. She has served as director on the boards (including audit and compensation committees) of portfolio companies Applied Science Fiction, Charitygift, Exterprise, Hart Intercivic, and LNNi.

Laura is also a member of the PIPELINE National Advisory Board, and is a regular advisor and presenter in the program.

In November of 2006, Tom Thornton became the first president and chief executive officer of the Kansas Bioscience Authority (KBA), where he leads the effort to stimulate growth in bioscience research and business in Kansas through the investment of approximately $580 million generated by the Kansas Economic Growth Act.

Mr. Thornton previously served as president and chief executive officer of the Illinois Technology Development Alliance, establishing it as one of the most respected technology development organizations in the country. He was the senior vice president for Convergent Technology Group, a Seattle-based mergers and acquisitions advisory services firm, and managing partner for divine interVentures, an early-stage venture investment fund. Early in his career, Mr. Thornton served as director of policy for U.S. Rep. J. Dennis Hastert, former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Mr. Thornton earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Cliff Reeves has been at Microsoft since March, 2001 and is currently the General Manager of Microsoft’s Emerging Business Team. The Emerging Business Team leads Microsoft’s work with the startup entrepreneur and investor community. Cliff led the team that developed the innovative BizSpark program which, since its launch in November 2008, now supports more than 20,000 startups worldwide. More than 5,300 high-growth companies have joined BizSpark in Europe and over 600 organizations are in the network partner community.

Before that, Cliff led the Product Management Team for Windows Server, and was the General Manager for the .NET Platform Strategy Team, working with large Enterprises and ISVs on advanced .NET Projects.

Cliff started his 30+ year career in the software industry with IBM, working as a programmer in England. He has held a wide range of software product-development roles in the areas of database, application development, and communication and messaging systems. He was Vice President of Product Management at Lotus Development Corp, and was closely involved with IBM’s acquisition of Lotus in 1995. He was responsible for rationalizing the Lotus-IBM product line after the acquisition. From 1996 through 1999, Reeves was Vice President of Product Management for Lotus Communications Products, which include Notes and Domino.

Cliff is a member of the PIPELINE National Advisory Board and also serves as a 2010 National Mentor in the program.

Suzette Dutch, Managing Partner of Triathlon Medical Ventures, has 20 years venture investing and 10 years operating experience in pharmaceuticals, surgical devices and diagnostics. At Senmed she served on the investment committee from its creation in 1987 and led the strategic planning, clinical/regulatory, market and business development due diligence efforts for start-ups through later stage investments. Previously she was responsible for strategic marketing for Sentron's surgical stapling business until its sale to Ethicon. Prior to that she held various positions in clinical studies design, market research, and corporate planning at SmithKline integrating the acquisitions of Allergan, Beckman, and Clinical Laboratories. She has an MBA from Wharton in Finance and Decision Science, and a BA in economics from Case Western Reserve University. Suzette serves as a Board observer for Akebia and BioVex and was on the Board of Directors of Renal Solutions prior to its acquisition by Fresenius. She currently serves on the Board of Tolera as the Chairperson.

John E. Moore served as Lieutenant Governor of Kansas from 2003 through 2006 and concurrently served as Secretary of Commerce from 2003 to 2005 before becoming the state’s first full-time Lieutenant Governor. As Secretary of Commerce, he championed passage of the Economic Growth Act which created the Kansas Bioscience Authority (KBA) in 2004. In 2005 and 2006 he chaired the Kansas Health Care Cost Containment Commission and the Governor’s Strategic Military Planning Commission. Prior to holding public office, Moore had been employed by the Cessna Aircraft Company for 20 years. Joining Cessna as a Senior Vice President and member of the Management Committee in 1982, he was named one of two Executive Vice Presidents in 1999. Moore is past chairman of the Kansas Chamber of Commerce. He is also a past chairman of both Kansas, Inc. and Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation (KTEC), two public/private partnerships focused on economic development. Mr. Moore has been a founding director of four successful 501(c)(3) organizations. Before becoming CIBOR’s CEO, Moore was the Senior Advisor to the Executive Director of NIAR. Moore holds a B.S. in Commerce from Washington & Lee University and a Juris Doctor Degree from the University of Kentucky’s College of Law.

Thomas W. Robb, Ph.D., is manager of Institutional Relations for Abengoa Bioenergy Corporation. From 1981 to 1984, Dr. Robb served as Assistant Professor with North Carolina State University and was stationed in Brazil as the leader of a collaborative research program. In 1985, Dr. Robb joined IMC Corporation in its animal health division as International Technical Service Manager. He subsequently became Project Manager in Research and Development and then Business Unit Manager for all North American cow/calf products. Dr. Robb joined Ivy Animal Health in 1999 where he led business development and acquisitions activities until 2000. In 2000, Dr. Robb joined a small start-up company (ImmTech) to lead bovine sales, marketing and technical services and joined Abengoa Bioenergy in 2004. Dr. Robb is a graduate of the University of Missouri (M.S. Animal Husbandry 1977) and University of Kentucky (Ph.D. in Ruminant Nutrition, 1980).

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.

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.