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Northwoods Economic
Summit V |
| Mark Burwell | Carlton Crothers | Paul Lemens | Dr. David Ward |
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Mr. Lemens is the Director for the newly formed Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay. Prior to accepting this position, Paul held a variety of positions in the corporate world with the most recent being a Vice President in the Innovation Group for Esselte Corporation. His day-to-day responsibilities in this role were the management of the largest product development firm in Arizona. He also owns his own consulting firm where he assists companies with innovation activities and corporate strategy. Paul is a native of the Green Bay area and holds Bachelor degrees in engineering and economics as well as a Masters in business.
Carlton Crothers is currently the Chief Executive Officer of Michigan Tech Enterprise Corporation (MTEC) - one of twelve SmartZones in the state of Michigan. Michigan SmartZones are collaborations between entrepreneurs, universities, industry, research organizations, government and other community institutions to facilitate and stimulate the growth of technology-based businesses and jobs. There are currently 15 companies employing over 160 people in the four incubators.
In his first year as
CEO, he developed SmartTrac, a first of its kind, 2-year dual-track
summer entrepreneurial program targeted at undergraduates. It is a
program where students take technology to the marketplace either for
a specific industry partner or through a new start-up company. Before coming to MTEC, Mr. Crothers, as the interim general manager of a $130 billion global conglomerate, led the Dallas office in identifying, development, and commercialization of cutting edge technologies. He created a $100 million nanotechnology investment fund to accelerate commercialization of new technologies in this space. Carlton has held various new product development and marketing positions in Global Fortune 100 companies and start-up companies throughout his career. He earned his MBA from the University of Texas.
Mark Burwell currently leads as the National Director for “E-Hub” in Green Bay, WI, whereby he has built this successful model. As a serial entrepreneur, business architect, and non-profit leader, he has fostered innovative strategies to help empower and build communities through entrepreneurship. The program has many alumni who have become award winning entrepreneurs as well as community leaders. This includes over 500 businesses that have created hundreds of jobs within the New North. The U.S. Small Business Administration honored him as “Wisconsin’s Small Business Advocate of the Year.” The University of Wisconsin-Stout awarded him the “Distinguished Alumni Award” for his career, business and civic achievements. Dr. Ward is the founder and CEO of NorthStar Economics, Inc. His Wisconsin-based company provides economic consulting services to public and private sector clients. He and his firm have extensive experience in strategic economic development planning throughout Wisconsin and the Midwest and has authored a number of strategic economic development plans for clients in Wisconsin, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, New Hampshire, and Wyoming. Dr. Ward is an active angel investor and is a founding member of the Origin Investment Group of La Crosse, Wisconsin and is a member of the State of Wisconsin Advisory Committee for the Wisconsin Angel Network. Prior to founding NorthStar Economics, Dr. Ward was a professor and administrator in the University of Wisconsin System. He earned a BBA, MBA and Ph.D. in Finance from the University of Wisconsin - Madison. He held teaching positions at the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay and University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh. He served as Vice-Chancellor and Acting Chancellor at UW Oshkosh and concluded his career in higher education as the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Chief Academic Officer for the University of Wisconsin System. Most recently, Dr. Ward served as Interim Chancellor at the UW- Green Bay.
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