Mark Lawrence is the founder and managing partner of Inncuvate, a full-stack entrepreneurship-led economic development enterprise that specializes in creating purpose-built programs and places that create an environment that merges ideation, invention, incubation, commercialization, and collaboration into local innovation centers that transforms the communities where they are located. Mark is an advisor, investor, and active part of management teams of a couple of the Mid-Atlantic region’s most promising high-growth startups. He is active on the boards of several entrepreneur support organizations and a mentor for several entrepreneur development organizations. He is also SCN's Board Treasurer and Chair of the Finance Committee.

Joey is a startup founder and ecosystem builder with a passion for connecting entrepreneurs to government opportunities. Previously, Joey was the Chief Scaling Officer at Platform One and a pioneer of the innovation ecosystems at AFWERX and AFVentures. Joey holds a MS in Organizational Leadership from Colorado State University and a BA in Business Administration from University of Colorado at Boulder.

A dynamic, driven and award-winning community development strategist and entrepreneur developing services to meet unique and critical needs of communities across the country. Brings knowledge, skills and passions to venture capital firms, innovation centers, educational institutions, startups, civic organizations, media companies, government agencies and community nonprofits. Experienced ecosystem builder supporting entrepreneurs to create and build sustainable businesses. Proven record of production, management and analysis of initiatives and programs rooted in public-private partnerships, valued at over $2MM. National speaker on collaborative workspaces, innovation and civic leadership. Thought leadership focus in marketing, event planning, philanthropy, entrepreneurship and technology. Eager to engage national policy makers and foundations to support overlooked and underserved entrepreneurs.

Michael Binko is a co-founder and CEO of Startup Maryland; he is also co-Founder and Board Member of Startup Champions Network (previously Startup America); he is president/CEO, angel investor and a member of the Board of Directors for kloudtrack® — a leading provider of cloud-based cybersecurity, GRC data and process management technologies and solution services. Binko is a serial entrepreneur and startup Ecosystem Builder having joined PSINet as an early employee, taking the company public on NASDAQ (PSIX) and running Corporate Ventures after subsequently raising more than $1.2 Billion on the capital markets. After exiting PSINet, Binko joined other Internet innovators in founding LaunchFuel (www.launchfuel.com) one of the first startup accelerators on the East Coast while also raising a micro-VC fund Gemini Ventures. Portfolio promarily concentrated around ASP, cloud, software, Internetworking, electronic commerce, artificial intelligence, database management, big data and cybersecurity. Binko is an active angel investor and via Startup Maryland founded and proctors the Angel Academy bootcamp for serial entrepreneurs, wealth advisors, home office managers, NGOs and high-net-worth individuals.

Award-winning social sector executive leader with a deftness for ideating, implementing and deploying unique ideas and complex, inclusive initiatives that ensure all people can be economically secure, build assets and thrive.

Tenacious in my commitment to social justice and solving some of our greatest social challenges, I design and implement holistic, integrative programs that remove barriers and close the gaps in economic equity.

I build relationships that unite community stakeholders, including government, nonprofit, academia and a cross-section of business to create new and exciting programs that positively impact such vibrant sectors as healthcare, education, workforce development, economic development and financial services.

My success comes from leveraging philanthropy and unlikely partnerships to drive measurable, sustainable outcomes. I genuinely value diversity of thought, background and culture as a catalyst to creating new perspectives and lasting outcomes. Placing community voice at the center ensures that we’re delivering what a person needs–not what the system needs–to be successful and maximize ROI.

CAREER HIGHLIGHTS
✔ Designed and implemented an alternative, relationship-based, micro-lending product, transcending business as usual formulas for eligibility and how/who makes lending decisions. This nationally
recognized award winning program offers loans through community partners and organizations, utilizing a community and relationship-based accountability system.

✔ Led an inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem building strategy as Chief Strategist for the ABQ Living Cities Integration Initiative, an asset-based approach to homegrown job creation and regenerative economic development grounded in racial and economic equity

✔ Developed new public-private partnerships to leverage funds and systems integration to implement new strategies for cohesive entrepreneurial ecosystems

✔ Advised on the City’s local procurement work, focused on reducing income inequality and re-directing ABQ's purchasing power to increase bid awards for businesses owned by people of color and women

My unyielding resolve for social justice and economic equity is deeply rooted in my personal life and professional experiences. It’s the impetus for devoting more than 25 years of working tirelessly to improve the lives of children and families in New Mexico.

For more than 15 years Chris Cain has been on the front lines helping people open businesses by educating them on business planning, helping navigate the business loan process, and creating a living, breathing entrepreneur ecosystem. Her experience running nonprofits and building rich ecosystems, driven by economic development, makes her uniquely qualified to raise the profile of any organization she works for and increase its impact. She knows firsthand how the power of community development can improve the lives of our neighbors. She sees education, support, and access to capital come together to help people become self-sufficient, while also giving them a sense of place and ownership side-by-side with those they care about most.

She is currently the Chief Lending Officer for Peoples Advantage Federal Credit Union. She is also on the Board of Directors for the Virginia CDFI Coalition, Startup Champions Network and Forward Cities. Chris is committed to social justice and has a mission to inspire people to take action through storytelling and by painting a vivid picture of how we can all be better together

Tom Chapman is regarded as one of the leading entrepreneurial ecosystem leaders in the world. He has particular expertise in measuring and creating metrics for entrepreneurial ecosystems. His work has been referenced, cited, and quoted in numerous publications around the world, and he is an active speaker on entrepreneurial ecosystems and their importance. Beyond his work for Chapman and Company, Tom helped grow Beehive Industries (a Lincoln based government technology company), Nebraska Global (a Lincoln based funding organization), and is an alum of Enron and American Electric Power in the energy industry. Tom has both a J.D. and an M.B.A from the University of Nebraska and undergraduate liberal arts degrees from Creighton University.

John Dearie is the founder and president of the Center for American Entrepreneurship, a nonpartisan, Washington, DC-based 501(c)(3) research, policy, and advocacy organization founded in July of 2017. CAE’s mission is to engage policymakers in Washington and across the nation regarding the critical importance of entrepreneurs and startups to innovation, economic growth, job creation, and expanding opportunity – and to pursue a comprehensive policy agenda intended to achieve a stronger, more resilient, and inclusive U.S. economy through thriving entrepreneurship.

John is the former Acting CEO of the Financial Services Forum, a financial and economic policy organization comprised of the chief executive officers of the largest financial institutions with operations in the United States. From 2001 to 2015, he was the Forum’s Executive Vice President for Policy, coordinating the group’s policy agenda, which included: financial supervision reform, the competitiveness of U.S. capital markets, free and fair trade, comprehensive tax reform, debt and deficit reduction, and accelerating economic growth and job creation. Prior to joining the Forum, John spent nine years at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York where he held positions in the Banking Studies, Foreign Exchange, and Policy & Analysis areas. He was appointed an Officer of the Bank in 1996.

John is the co-author of "Where the Jobs Are: Entrepreneurship and the Soul of the American Economy" (Wiley, 2013), which was called “one of the great economics books of the past few years” by the American Enterprise Institute. His writing has also appeared in the The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Financial Times, The Hill, Politico, American Banker, USA Today, and China’s Caijing Magazine.

Paulo Gregory Harris serves as Chair of our Intercultural Unity (ICU) committee. He is the inventor of Cohado, a flexible design structure and tool to understand collaborative and sustainable design. Paulo is also the President of Cohado Consulting, a social enterprise dedicated to leveling the economic game through developing models and vehicles for economic ascension of economically starved communities, and the Director of Ignoma Foundation, whose mission is to develop sustainable solutions to poverty. He recently launched the Black Butterfly Network and Exchange in Baltimore.

Jason Grill serves as the Head of Government Affairs at Right to Start. In this role, he leads policy engagement and strategy for the organization on the local, state, and federal level. In this capacity, Jason has led and driven the successful effort of 14 US States moving forward with Right to Start Act's in a short time span. Well over 40 pieces of legislation based on Right to Start policy recommendations have been filed on the US state level in the organizations first few years in addition to US federal and local initiatives.

Jason is a former two-term member of the Missouri House of Representatives and has worked at the White House and CNN. He passed significant legislation under both Republican and Democratic Governors, as a member of the Missouri House of Representatives. He is the Founder of JGrill Consulting and a Senior Advisor at Parris Communications. In his consulting career, Jason has worked with many clients including the Kauffman Foundation to start and build the Mayors Conference on Entrepreneurship and other pro-entrepreneur policy engagement on the state and federal level. Jason is a licensed attorney in Missouri and Kansas and has served as advance site lead for Presidential and Principal visits. He is a regular political contributor to Fox 4 in Kansas City and host of the Grill Nation Show. In 2018, he had a successful entrepreneurial exit from a company he co-founded and started, Sock 101. Jason is an avid sports fan who has run 8 marathons so far, including 4 Worldwide Majors, and enjoys travel and golf. He serves on the Board of Directors of Junior Achievement of Greater KC and the Missouri Motion Media Association.

An East Oakland Native, Martha Hernández is a serial entrepreneur and co-founder/ and partner at ESO Ventures. She is also the founder and CEO of madeBOS, Inc., a tech-enabled solution that makes HR affordable and accessible for small and growing organizations. She holds degrees from Occidental College and MillsCollege, as well as certifications in business from MIT. Martha is a best-selling author of her book, “I Have What it Takes”. Martha loves spending time with her son Joaquin, training at the boxing or crossfit gym and singing and writing music. Known as Martha Soledad, she released her first album "Prefiero Mandar en Falda" featuring her own corrido to inspire political action on gender equity and inclusion.

Alfredo Mathew III is an experienced urban educator, non-profit leader, and business owner. He brings over 20 years of experience as a teacher leader in New York City and California public schools, as well as executive leadership of a national youth entrepreneurship organization, NFTE, where he last served as the Western Regional Director. His love of entrepreneurship and career pathways led him to found Working World LLC, a business consultancy with a special focus on early-stage companies and nonprofits at the intersection of education, workforce, and entrepreneurship. Alfredo is a co-founder and partner at ESO Ventures Inc. His focus is strategic partnerships and developing a replicable business incubator model with community colleges, municipalities, and the State of California to create more employer enterprises in underinvested communities. This bold approach equips traditionally disinvested Black and Brown entrepreneurs to close the racial wealth gap, create quality jobs, and make relevant services and products available in their communities.

Jennifer McDonald is an Assistant Director of Activism at the Institute for Justice, where she leads the Cities Work Initiative, helping cities make it cheaper, faster and simpler to start a business. She regularly engages policymakers, advises state and local governments, and empowers people to become their own advocates. Prior to joining the Activism team, Jenny was an IJ senior research analyst, where she conducted original social science research on entrepreneurship, home-based businesses, municipal fines and fees, government transparency, and civil forfeiture. Her work has appeared in multiple academic journals and her research results have been cited in national media outlets such as the Washington Post, New York Times, Politico, and Los Angeles Times.

Eric R. Parker is an architect and philanthropist passionate about creating spaces for growth and well-being for disconnected individuals, organizations, and communities. His work spans the built environment, organizational development, and policy strategy. Eric has provided congressional testimony on how the federal government can support local innovation communities, and his work is featured in the book “Make Space: How to Set the Stage for Creative Collaboration” (Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University, 2012, 186-189). Eric is currently leading efforts at Make Startups to design training and funding automation systems that help disadvantaged entrepreneurs launch businesses and create jobs across every community in America, and spearheading the introduction of the Startup Act in the current session of Congress.

Monique is Founder & Executive Director of The Space On Main, a nonprofit coworking space located in a rural Vermont community that borders New Hampshire. More than just a coworking space, The Space On Main brings opportunities to the community that are focused around creative economy, small business & entrepreneurship support, community & civic engagement, and technology & STEM education for all ages. Monique has served on more than two dozen local, regional, and statewide nonprofit and municipal boards in a variety of leadership roles. She was elected as State Representative of Vermont Orange-2 in 2022. Monique sits on the House Committee on Commerce & Economic Development as well as the Joint Information Technology Oversight Committee.

Catherine is the Director of Field & Campaign Strategy at Right to Start, a national organization working to grow broad-based entrepreneurial opportunity. At Right to Start she focuses on all aspects of the organization’s public engagement mobilization, including leading a national group of 14 Advocates and 24 Ambassadors working on state and local policy change to break down barriers to entrepreneurship. Catherine is an experienced organizational leader, advocate, campaigner and grassroots coalition builder who has worked at the state, federal and international level. She is co-founder of Points True North Consulting which works on a range of critical health, racial and social justice issues building impactful coalitions, advancing policy change and devising strategic campaigns. In 2017, she launched and led an award-winning citizen-driven truth commission (The North Carolina Commission of Inquiry on Torture) – the first state-based accountability effort of its kind. Catherine started her career in Washington D.C. leading the offices of two international human rights organizations, Crisis Action & The Center for Victims of Torture. In 2011, Washingtonian Magazine named her one of the 40-star lobbyists under 40 for her work on the Campaign to Ban Torture. In 2021, Catherine was appointed to the NC Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. She was part of Leadership North Carolina’s Class XXVIII.

Scott is the co-founder of Hardin Design & Development, a full-cycle software development studio. He is a former two-term member of the Madison Common Council and entered with a pledge to make Madison a platform for innovation, specifically targeting social mobility. Resnick led efforts to close the digital divide by piloting free internet access for students on free & reduced lunch, created the first of its kind seed fund to spur women and minority entrepreneurship, and legalized opportunities in the sharing economy. Scott strongly advocated for sustainable land use as a member of the Plan Commission, and was instrumental in the passage of the City’s annual budget.

Scott Resnick is a leader in the Wisconsin startup ecosystem. He currently serves as the Entrepreneur-in-Residence and on the executive board of StartingBlock Madison, a 50,000 sq foot entrepreneurial hub that connections startups to capital clustered in healthcare, mobility, insurance, and gaming. StartingBlock’s motto: “Think big. Fear less. Listen deeply.” Scott was an organization co-founder and was the first Executive Director, leading a multi-million dollar capital campaign.

I lead FAS's regional entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem-building work across the country. That means that 1) I'm building a team of ecosystem builders with interest in public policy, 2) I want to hear your ideas about novel entrepreneurship or cluster-building policies, and 3) I want to get you involved in our work.

An Oakland, CA native, Benjamin Wanzo is a founding partner at ESO Ventures. He earned a BA in Applied Mathematics from the University of California, Berkeley and an MBA from Stanford University Graduate School of Business. As a small business owner, Ben founded TeachBar, Inc., a social impact company that ensured people of all walks of life accomplished academic and career goals. Ben has worked in tech and management consulting at McKinsey & Co. and is also a professor of business, teaching entrepreneurship, small business management, and digital marketing. When Ben is not working, he enjoys spending time with his family and friends or training for endurance activities including triathlons.

Liminality is the condition of being on a threshold or at the beginning of a process. With interests and involvement in more than one sphere, this ability offers an opportunity to drift between trades, organizations and focuses seamlessly. Combined with a natural instinct to connect and link, I work to introduce and bond to create intersections, collisions and serendipity for a more enriching and beneficial relationship for everyone. Impactful networking, building and rebuilding community, improve communication and processes are at the center of my work. I am passionately involved in efforts towards inclusion and work for belonging both socially and professionally. Multicultural and multilingual.