Norm Brodsky

Entrepreneur-In-Residence

Norm Brodsky is a senior contributing editor for Inc., a veteran entrepreneur who has had 3 separate companies chosen for Inc. Magazine's Inc. 500 list. In 2007, he sold CitiStorage for $110 million (detailed in Inc. Magazine... link). In 2017, he sold another company for $160 million. For the past four decades, Norm's greatest success has been mentoring thousands of entrepreneurs and instructing millions through  his columns in Inc. Magazine and his book, Street Smarts: An All-Purpose Toolkit for Entrepreneurs.

• Twitter
• LinkedIn

BO BURLINGHAM

Bo Burlingham is the author of five books,the most recent being Finish Big: How Great Entrepreneurs Exit Their Companies on Top (Portfolio/Penguin, 2014). A previous book, Small Giants: Companies That Choose To Be Great Instead of Big (Portfolio/Penguin, 2006), was one of five finalists for the 2006 Financial Times/Goldman Sachs Business Book of the Year award.

• Twitter
• LinkedIn

GEORGE GENDRON

Founding editor-in-chief, Inc. Magazine (20 years). Innovator of the seminal Inc. 500 ranking, focusing public attention on young, emerging-growth companies for the first time (led to the creation of Euro 500, AllWorld’s growth-company rankings in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa, and partnership with Michael Porter of Harvard B-School to create the Inner City 100).  Inventor of Clark University Innovation & Entrepreneurship Program. Long-time national leader in social sector directorships and fellowships at City Year, Kaufmann Foundation, Community Wealth Ventures, Initiatives for a Competitive Inner City [ICIC].

JIM MCCANN

Jim McCann started his merchant career as a florist and then as the founder of 1-800-FLOWERS.COM (NASDAQ: FLWS), A consummate entrepreneur, McCann has shown a knack for making businesses grow and prosper. From its roots in 1976 as a single flower shop in Manhattan, NY, 1-800-FLOWERS.COM has become the world’s largest florist with revenues expected to exceed $1 billion. In the process, McCann changed the way flowers and other gifts are marketed for birthdays, anniversaries, holidays and special occasions while helping to expand the definition of retailing – positioning his company to help customers express themselves and connect with the important people in their lives.

VANESSA NORNBERG

Vanessa Merit Nornberg is the owner of Metal Mafia, a jewelry manufacturer and distributor which has twice been named to the Inc 5000 list of America’s fastest growing privately-owned companies.  Vanessa’s calling has always been selling—and she believes that every move an entrepreneur makes, from starting-up to exiting, should be about making the sale. She is the author of the weekly In the Trenches, column on Inc.com, and her writing has also been featured on the Huffington Post, Forbes.com, and others. Vanessa believes that entrepreneurship is the last avenue of class mobility, and thus, regularly speaks with high school students across the country.

BILL ROARK

Bill Roark is the co-founder/CEO of Torch Technologies, with 30+ years of Department of Defense-related experience. Roark has guided Torch to local and national recognition including being named one of Entrepreneur’s Fastest Growing Companies in America, one of Great Place to Work and Fortune’s Best Small & Medium Workplaces, one of Forbes’ Best Small Companies in America, and eleven consecutive selections on the Inc. 5000 list. Roark earned an M.S. in Physics from the University of Kentucky and a B.S. in Mathematics from Cumberland College.

Lewis Schiff

Chairman

Lewis Schiff is the chairmain of the Board of Experts for Birthing of Giants. He founded Inc. Magazine's Business Owners Council where he interviewed some of the most accomplished entrepreneurs in the world. He has authored or co-authored several books on success, including The First Habit: The One Technique That Can Change Your Life andBusiness Brilliant: Surprising Lesson from the Greatest Self-Made Business Icons. Over the past two decades, he built and sold two media businesses to publicly-traded companies, iVillage and TheStreet.com.

• Twitter
• LinkedIn

JERE SIMPSON

Jere Simpson is the founder of KITEWIRE Mobility (2019 rev: $55 million), a secure SaaS company which has been named to the Inc. 5000 list three times and is co-founder of NETPURE, a B2C company that creates a secure, parent controlled wireless network for the home. He’s also a frequent speaker and TV analyst on business and entrepreneurship. Jere brings two decades of experience in entrepreneurship, software engineering, and servicing government bodies and high security need corporations. Jere is passionate about stakeholder capitalism - building companies that invest in their employees, allowing the best minds to pursue their biggest talents, elevating both team and company.

DOUG TATUM

Chairman of Newport Board Group, a national partnership of CEOs who advise emerging middle market companies. Doug serves as an Entrepreneur in Residence at the Jim Moran Institute for Global Entrepreneurship at Florida State University. He is Advisory Board Chairman for the Business Dynamics Research Consortium, a national research institute funded by the NASDAQ Foundation and the University of Wisconsin - Extension. Doug is the author of No Man's Land, a leading text about growth companies that has been translated into many languages and won four National Best Business book awards. As CEO of Tatum LLC, Doug built a national professional service firm that was sold to Spherion (now SFN Group) in 2010.