Startup Champions Network is proud to announce the appointment of three new board members: Fay Horwitt, Mark Lawrence, and Toni Eberhart. These dedicated ecosystem builders have years of experience are will be excellent additions to our board.
Fay Horwitt: Fay is an ecosystem builder based in Durham, NC who is a Startup Coach and Business Pollinator and loves to help entrepreneurs access the learning, resources, and support networks they need for sustainable business success. She is also an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Catalyst and Inclusive Entrepreneurship Expert, helping communities build inclusive and diverse ecosystems and activities that spur economic growth and social capital. Fay’s current role is Vice President of Community Innovation at Forward Cities. Fay will be filling the role of Board Vice Chair.
Mark Lawrence: Based in Washington DC, Mark is currently the founder and managing partner at Inncuvate Consulting, which is a professional service firm and venture studio that exists to provide underserved communities access to sustainable life-changing opportunities that creates wealth, bridges economic gaps, develops more serial entrepreneurs, fuels community growth and ultimately improves the standard of living. Mark Lawrence will be filling the role of Board Treasurer.
Toni Eberhart: Toni serves as the Executive Director of the Urban Engine in Hunstville, Alabama. Urban Engine's mission is to propel the growth of Alabama’s economy by connecting aspiring entrepreneurs and established business leadership to educational resources, talent, and community.
In addition to the three new board members, we have also appointed current board member Tom Chapman to Board Chair. Tom has helped hundreds of early-stage companies grow. He has worked on product validation in healthcare, software, government, e-commerce, and other fields. He is the founder and principle at Chapman & Company, one of the premier organizations for measuring early-stage ecosystem metrics. Tom is also the facilitator and our newest program: The Ecosystem Health Challenge.
Our Board of Directors
Meet the rest of our board:
Larkin Garbee: A Virginia native and a founding member of SCN who has been a pioneer in the Richmond ecosystem for almost a decade. She is a "full stack" ecosystem building having co-founded an accelerator (Lighthouse Labs), a coworking space (804RVA), and an incubator (Startup Virginia) while also helping curate a local angel list. Larkin was named a GAP 50 Award Finalist from CIT GAP Funds and a Top 40 Under 40 by Style Weekly.
Trey Bowles: Trey started the Dallas Entrepreneurship Center and is a founding member of SCN. He is an adjunct professor as well as a leading member of the planning for Dallas to be a Smart City. He lives in Dallas with his wife and three kids.
Mike Binko: Binko is a founding member of SCN, and the founder and CEO of Startup Maryland, a regional initiative launched out of the StartupAmerica Partnership. He is also the President and CEO of Kloudtrack, a leading provider of cloud-based GRC data and process management technologies and solution services.
Katherine Jernstrom: Launched an accelerator and coworking space in Anchorage, Alaska (The Boardroom). At age 30, Katherine was named Top 40 Under 40 by the state-wide Alaska Journal of Commerce.
Paulo Gregory Harris: Paulo 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 also serves as Chair of our Intercultural Unity (ICU) committee.
Jennifer Skjellum: Based in Chattanooga TN, Jennifer is a serial entrepreneur of several tech and non tech startups. She is currently the President of RunTime Computing Solutions and the Director of Programs, Managing Director and Managing Director of HealthTech Accelerator at The Company Lab (CO.LAB).
Christina Oldfather: Christina Oldfather is an entrepreneurial community builder in Lincoln, Nebraska. She is the founder of the LaunchLNK initiative. She is an NMotion Accelerator mentor, post-accelerator support programming coordinator, and non-profit operations manager.