Lorraine Ball
Creative Director
Roundpeg

Lorraine Ball spent 20 years in corporate America, including with Carrier and Lennox, before she came to her senses. Frustrated by the resistance to change, indecision, and lack of entrepreneurial spirit, Lorraine gave up the fancy VP office, huge staff, and big budget.

Today, you can find her at Roundpeg, a small marketing firm, based in Carmel, Indiana helping small businesses become big businesses. Along with an extraordinarily talented team (which includes Bonnie the dog and Clyde the cat) she shares what she knows about marketing, traditional and nontraditional PR, social media, graphic design, branding, and web design.

 

 

Chris Beyers
CEO
Formstack

Chris is the CEO of Formstack and runs the day to day operations of the company. He has been a fan/user of Formstack since 2006, assisted in the first round of funding, and joined the team in 2010. His most recent past experiences include co-founding and running an international non-profit while based in London, England & Krakow, Poland. While living in Europe he and his wife, Dana, once packed up the kids and went on a 40 day journey to 10 countries which included South Africa. Chris also served as a Vice President of Investor Relations and Financing for a regional health care company. Dana is active in social networking and leads various faith based projects.

Favorite Sunday afternoon activity?

Sometimes napping, sometimes a date, sometimes a Bible study with friends.

Any TV shows that you are semi embarrassed that you watch?

Nope, I’m proud to watch Downtown Abbey.

 

 

Brian Geiselhart
Entrepreneurship Center Coordinator
Ball State University

Brian K. Geiselhart is an instructor of entrepreneurial and venture financing in the university’s nationally ranked undergraduate program in entrepreneurship. Ball State University’s entrepreneurship program has continually earned national rankings including: Top 25 in Entrepreneur magazine, The Princeton Review, and Fortune Small Business; as well as Top 10 in U.S. News & World Report’s elite rankings.

Geiselhart’s primary role within the center is to locate, establish and manage external partnerships with industry, government and academia. During his tenure at Ball State University, he has aided in the educational partnership agreement between the Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC), Crane Division and Department of Defense. Under this partnership, Ball State University was able to establish the Military 2 Market initiative, providing undergraduate students with access to intellectual property to develop and commercialize military technology. He has also aided the Entrepreneurship Center in partnerships between Clarian Health, The Innovation Connector, and local entrepreneurs.

Brian Geiselhart is also partnering with the university’s Rinker Center for International Programs to serve as a trainer and facilitator in a $1 million grant issued by the U.S. Department of State and Kandahar University in Afghanistan. He will be visiting the country four times over the next two years for extended stays to teach new faculty members modern day principles of free market and entrepreneurship.

Within the entrepreneurship program, Geiselhart was responsible for the curriculum development and implementation of the new minors in entrepreneurship for business and non-business majors, which was launched in fall of 2010 and opens the program to all students across campus. He also serves as the academic advisor and coordinator of student mentoring programs.

Geiselhart’s current research interests focus on effective market research techniques, conceptual prototyping, small business valuation and venture capital management. He is in the processes of co-authoring an online financial modeling training manual for undergraduate entrepreneurship students in partnership with Mount Royal University located in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Geiselhart has spoken at several community events and has been a guest lecturer in economic development courses endorsed by the Indiana Small Business Development Center. He has also served on intellectual property mining committees for the U.S. Navy and Department of Defense and performed consulting services for local companies.

Geiselhart attained his undergraduate degree in entrepreneurship and master’s in business administration, with a finance concentration from the Miller College of Business at Ball State University. While earning his undergraduate degree, Geiselhart received the Outstanding New Venture Plan award and graduated cum laude honors from the program. In addition, Geiselhart is certified in Simplex Applied Creativity levels I and II from Basadur Applied Creativity, which is a method of creative problem solving and innovation.

 

 

Michael Goldsby
Entrepreneurship Center Director/Stoops Distinguished Professor
Ball State University

Michael G. Goldsby teaches creativity, innovation, and entrepreneurial ethics in the University’s nationally ranked undergraduate and graduate programs in entrepreneurship. Ball State University’s Entrepreneurship Program has continually earned national rankings including: Top 20 in Business Week, Success, and Entrepreneur magazines; and Top 10 in U.S. News & World Report’s elite ranking. Dr. Goldsby has produced 25 refereed journal articles. His research has been reported in many international media outlets, such as ABC, NBC, CBS, MSNBC, CNN, and the Associated Press. His study on entrepreneurship and fitness was covered by Runner’s World, Prevention Magazine, Muscle and Fitness, and Health Magazine, among others. His article in the Journal of Applied Management and Entrepreneurship was selected the winner of the Paul Hershey Award for best paper in the journal.

Goldsby attained his undergraduate degree in business economics and public policy from the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University, his master’s degree in economics from Indiana State University, and his doctorate in strategic management and business ethics from the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech. While at Virginia Tech, he was awarded the Jack Hoover Award for Teaching Excellence. He is a member of many management professional organizations, and has served as Vice President and a member of the Board of Directors for the United States Association of Small Business and Entrepreneurship (USASBE), of which he has received a distinguished service award.

Goldsby’s current research interests focus on opportunity recognition and development, healthy lifestyles for entrepreneurs, social entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurial ethics. He specializes in offering guidance during times of creation and change. As such, he is a frequent speaker to companies, communities, and universities, and offers consulting and workshop services.

 

 

Matt Hunckler
President
Verge

Verge is the hottest event in the Midwest for meeting & hanging out with software developers, investors, and entrepreneurs.  I’ve started a couple of software-oriented companies and also curate the Indianapolis Startup Digest. I’m at every Verge event as a host. Come say hi!

 

 

 

 

 

Chris Lucas
Vice President of Business Development
Formstack

Chris is the Director of Marketing at Formstack. Setting the vision for Formstack’s in-bound marketing program and discovering new ways to drive web traffic and leads is what gets him out of bed in the morning. Since starting at Formstack nearly 4 years ago, Chris has worked on PPC, SEO, PR, and Social Media. He now focuses his time interweaving smart web marketing with overall product vision to build an ever-growing user base. With a background in PR, communications, and marketing he has experience in a wide variety of industries including Sporting Goods, Bio/Pharma Marketing, and High Tech PR. A Purdue University graduate, Chris loves watching college sports, enjoys playing ice hockey, and most importantly loves spending time with his two young children and his beautiful wife.

Favorite Sunday afternoon activity?

Hanging out with my family

Song you never get tired of hearing?

“Betterman” Pearl Jam

 

Luke A. Phenicie
Partner
Hammond Kennedy Whitney & Co.

Luke’s primary role at HKW is to invest in privately owned companies on behalf of HKW’s investment funds. Since joining the firm in 2004, Luke has completed thirteen platform company investments, as well as several add-on acquisitions for HKW portfolio companies. In addition to investment activities, Luke serves on the board of directors for five HKW platform investments including NESCO, Aero-Metric, Contract Land Staff, FURminator and Total Equipment. He previously served as a director of C&J Spec-Rent Services and of Coeur, and has worked with other prior HKW portfolio companies on various initiatives.

Luke started his career in investment banking where he focused on Mergers and Acquisitions advisory work at A.G. Edwards & Sons. Luke then joined Prospect Partners LLC, a private equity firm based on Chicago, IL, to support the Principals of the firm in their investment activities. Luke earned an MBA from The University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business and a BS in Business from IU’s Kelly School of Business. Luke’s outside activities include a directorship for the Association for Corporate Growth’s Indiana Chapter and he is actively involved in The Penrod Society, which raises capital to support the central-Indiana art community.

 

 

Tiffany Sauder
President
Element Three 

Tiffany Sauder is the President of Element Three, an Indianapolis-based marketing communications firm that specializes in brand development, marketing strategy, and creative execution.  With a background in finance, Tiffany brings a ‘business first’ approach to helping clients meet their strategic objectives.

With a degree from Purdue University’s Krannert School of Business and experience as a financial analyst at Eli Lilly, Tiffany’s top line focus resonates with leaders who value the importance of understanding marketing’s purpose is to produce measurable results and generate leads.

Tiffany has actively shared her professional vision through numerous speaking and training engagements.  She appeared on Gerry Dick’s Inside INdiana Business and has presented to Business Marketing Association, TechPoint and Strategy Forum audiences. Element Three has a highly attended annual seminar series focused on online marketing at which Tiffany is a featured speaker. Tiffany is an active Purdue Alumnus and was featured in the Purdue Alumnus magazine

She currently serves on the Board of Directors for College Mentors for Kids and the Boys and Girls Club of Zionsville.

 

 

Jacob Schpok
State Director
Indiana Small Business Development Center (ISBDC)

As state director, Jacob leads Indiana’s efforts to provide management counseling and educational services to small business owners and entrepreneurs. The ISBDC provides support to over 1,000 entrepreneurs a day and holds one-on-one business consulting to over 3,000 entrepreneurs a year. In 2011, with a budget of $3.3 million, the ISBDC helped clients raise $54 million in new capital and create 2,098 new Indiana jobs.

A native Hoosier, Jacob’s experience and education is rooted in entrepreneurship. He has worked for the ISBDC since June 2005 in roles ranging from product/program development specialist to central Indiana business advisor. He has also co-founded two businesses, earned an entrepreneurship and small business management degree from Ball State University’s nationally recognized entrepreneurship program and spent his youth working for a family business.

 

 

Mendy Werne
President
Blast Media

As President and a co-founder of BLASTmedia, Mendy guides the firm’s mission and values by overseeing operations, business strategy & development and providing counsel to clients.

BLASTmedia specializes in results-driven PR campaigns that are strategic and immediate. We focus on accountability and measurement; expecting our teams to deliver results. We regularly discuss coverage goals, Web traffic, search engine rankings and sales – ultimately ensuring that we’re making a difference and meeting your marketing goals.

Our clients range from established companies with $400 million in revenue to start-ups with only a few employees. We’re firm believers in the power of an effective PR and Social Media campaign and we’re certain that there’s no better tools to reach your target audiences with the right message. The type of companies that engage our services are companies that need visibility with their target audiences now – not next month.

 

Doug Yerkeson
Partner
Faegre Baker Daniels 

Doug Yerkeson concentrates his practice in patent, trademark and copyright matters. He has substantial experience in providing patent novelty, validity, non‐ infringement and freedom‐ to‐ use analyses and opinions. Doug also represents clients in prosecuting patent and trademark applications, both domestic and international.

Before attending law school, he was chief test engineer for a defense contractor in Cincinnati during the development of a major weapons system including safety and arming devices for missiles.