The Pensacola Bay Area Chamber of Commerce and Okaloosa Economic Development Council are hosting the iTen Wired summit Dec. 10 in Destin, Fla.
iTen Wired is centered on innovation, technology and entrepreneurs and focuses on bringing people and ideas together along the I-10 corridor from Mobile, Ala., to Fort Walton Beach, Fla.
This year's summit features nine Northwest Florida companies on the Inc. 5000 list, keynote speakers Dr. David Goetsch and Bill Payne and four regional entrepreneur groups to discuss sustaining technical entrepreneurship.
Entrepreneurs will have the opportunity to meet and greet the nine companies from Pensacola to Tallahassee that made Inc. magazine's annual list of the top 5,000 fastest growing private companies in America, including Avalex, IMS Expert Services, AppRiver, Tropical Smoothie, KaMedData, Bit-Wizards, H2 Performance Consulting, Learn Something and TSA Consulting.
Attendees can also hear from a panel of technology organizations including Gulf Coast Technology Council, ITGulfcoast, TeCMEN and TalTech and a second track focusing on technology and research with representatives from the University of West Florida, University of Florida, University of South Alabama and Florida State University.
Also at the conference will be two keynote speakers. Dr. David Goetsch is vice president of Northwest Florida State College where he also serves as a management and business professor. Goetsch is the author of more than 60 books on management, leadership, supervision, success and economic development. He will address his philosophy on entrepreneurship as an economic development strategy.
Bill Payne, an active angel investor and advisor to entrepreneurs, has successfully founded and invested in more than 50 start-up companies. His portfolio includes Solid State Dielectrics, Inc., which he sold to E.I. DuPont; Novacap, Inc., a $100 million manufacturer now operating within Dover Companies; Vista Staffing Solutions, Inc., a $60 million company; and Email Publishing, which merged into DoubleClick, Inc., and is traded on Nasdaq. From 1995-2007, Payne was an Entrepreneur-in-Residence with the Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, where he worked on educational programs for entrepreneurs and their investors.
There will be a reception on Thursday evening at The Palms. ITGULFCOAST members are encourage to attend this reception where we will present our new Board of Directors and make a scholarship donation to UWF. To register for just the reception ($25 with Paypal), please visit http://eventsbot.com/events/eb632511530.
The cost to register for the Summit (Thu Reception and Friday meetings) is $75 per person. The actual summit is on Friday from 9:00am to 3:00pm in Destin. For more information or to register, visit www.itenwired.com/summit.