Two of the people who shaped Startup Champions Network into what it is today recently concluded their board service: Paulo Gregory and Mark Lawrence.
Between them, they gave SCN more than a decade of service. Paulo helped the network reckon with who felt welcome in the room, and then helped build a culture where more people did. Mark helped put the organization on steadier footing, first as Treasurer and then as Board Chair, while pushing for ecosystem building to be treated as a real profession.
We want to take a moment to thank them and honor the deep commitment they made in service to Startup Champions Network.
Mark Lawrence: making this work sustainable
Mark found SCN in 2018 through his work supporting the Kauffman Foundation's ESHIP Summit. He was starting his firm, Inncuvate, and doing community-based work directly with entrepreneurs. He just didn't have a name for it yet. Someone at Kauffman told him to get involved with Startup Champions Network and he dove right in. He joined the board in 2019, served as Treasurer and led the Finance Committee, and was named Board Chair in 2023.
One question drove much of his service: how do you make ecosystem building sustainable, so people can do it as a full-time profession and not only as a side hustle? Under his leadership, SCN grew its funding through challenges, network-level sponsorships and summit sponsors. He also formed and co-led the Policy Committee with Eric Parker, advocating for inclusive, startup-friendly policy at the local, state and federal levels.
"I'm proud that we've been able to build this community and build this tribe where everyone sort of sees where they fit in," he said. "This work take a toll. We know folks get burnt out at times and need someone to lean on." To him, that is a big part of why the network matters: genuine, authentic connections you can call when your ecosystem needs help, or when you do.
Mark has sponsored every summit since he has been on the board. He hosted the SCN Policy Summit, where the Policy Committee really came to life. He has championed so many efforts, tirelessly fundraised for our organization, and spent time in the trenches doing the unglamorous work that we all know too well.
THANK YOU, Mark, for your years of service, for your friendship, your spirit, and your dedication.
Paulo Gregory: building a network where people belong
Paulo came to his first SCN summit in Santa Barbara in 2016, not yet knowing what an ecosystem builder was. A colleague told him he was one and that he needed to be there, so he went. He joined the board within a couple of years.
The SCN of those early years looked different than today. It was tech startup heavy and mostly white and male. There was a stirring of needed change and a desire to make SCN feel more inclusive. For these reasons, Paulo Paulo facilitated a small breakout group on diversity and inclusion at the next Summit (Chattanooga). That discussion led to more folks leaning into change. Out of that session came Intercultural Unity, or ICU, which became a lasting thread in SCN's culture. Paulo went on to serve as ICU Chair.
The founding committee graphic – a plan that shaped what the committee would become.
The work of the InterCultural Unity Committee has helped guide and shape the welcoming and diverse culture that we know and love today. It’s one of the reasons why when you come to a summit, you feel like you found your people. Paulo is a huge part of that (as are other board members who formed and have served on our ICU Committee).
In Baltimore, Paulo leads the Black Butterfly Network. He is also the inventor of Cohado, a game, mindset, and structure that we have incorporated into SCN over the years. Over the years we have played the game, heard sessions based on the framework, and watched how it has changed the way folks think about inclusion and belonging in the work they do.
THANK YOU, Paulo, for all of your work. For facilitating sessions, bringing your people to Summits, sponsoring summits, and being so dedicated to the success of SCN.
A word from our new Board Chair
Eric Parker, who took over as SCN Board Chair at the Richmond summit, shared these words on LinkedIn:
I'm honored to work alongside our board to continue growing an organization that helped establish ecosystem building as a recognized field, one centered on the stewardship of place-based economic development and investment in the local entrepreneurs who build, employ, and reinvest in their communities.
Local can mean small. Local can mean high-growth. More than anything, local means ensuring that every community has the capacity to become stronger, more resilient, and more capable of shaping its own future.
When communities have that capacity, they can participate in larger collaborative systems from a position of strength rather than dependence. They can build economies rooted in trust, shared prosperity, and human dignity, while becoming more resistant to corruption, extraction, and exploitation.
I'm grateful for the opportunity to help steward SCN into its next chapter, and especially grateful to outgoing Board Chair Mark A. Lawrence for his leadership and service.
I also want to thank Paulo Gregory, who is concluding many years of board service and whose leadership of SCN's Inter-Cultural Unity work helped strengthen an important part of this organization's mission and community.
I (and many others) have learned so much from each of you.
Want a stroll down memory lane? We compiled this photo album from over the years.
