P U B L I S H E R ’S LETTER
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A Training Ground for Tomorrow’s Entrepreneurs
Georgia Tech Alumni Magazine Vol. 91, No. 2 PUBLISHER Joseph P. Irwin, IM 80 VP MARKETING & COMMUNICATIONS Dawn Churi EDITOR Roger Slavens ASSISTANT EDITOR Melissa Weinman
Henry Ford once said, “If I had
asked my customers what they wanted, they would have said a faster horse.” At Georgia Tech, students and faculty and administrators are constantly looking beyond today and imagining what products and services the world will need in the future. They’re not only getting and providing an education, but also together dreaming up new innovations and building companies around these ideas—right here on campus. It used to be that students would come to Tech so they could get the training they needed to land a prime job with a Fortune 500 company. But today, rather than work for somebody else’s corporation, many students are coming here to create their own jobs and their own companies. This shift is a trend that President G.P. “Bud” Peterson is distinctly proud of. Today’s Yellow Jackets are actively involved in understanding and learning about entrepreneurship and how to commercialize their brilliant ideas, from building prototypes to drafting business plans. The InVenture Prize competition and the Senior Capstone Design course are just a couple examples of this. And, of course, entrepreneurship, innovation and startup incubation are at the core of what we do at Tech’s Enterprise Innovation Institute. The startup bug is catching hold across campus. Former student and tech entrepreneur Chris Klaus recently announced a $2 million gift and investment in our students through the CREATE-X initiative (see page 47) which is designed to build an even more robust curricula to teach future engineers, computer scientists and more how to capitalize on their innovative ideas. Now, entrepreneurship is not new at Tech. John Imlay, IM 59, is considered by many to be the godfather of Atlanta’s startup community. John built one of the nation’s most successful software companies—Management Science 0 0 6
GTALUMNIMAG.COM VOLUME 91 NO.2 2015
DESIGNER Joshua Baker | joshbkr.com COPY EDITOR Rebecca Bowen STUDENT ASSISTANT Kierra Johnson EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE Robert N. Stargel Jr., EE 83, Chair Steve W. Chaddick, EE 74, MS EE 82, Past Chair Benton J. Mathis Jr., IM 81 Chair-elect/ Vice Chair of Roll Call Andrea L. Laliberte, IE 82, MS IE 84, Vice Chair of Finance Paul S. Goggin, Phys 91, Member at Large Eric Pinckney Sr., ME 86, M CP 93, Member at Large James E. Trimble, Jr., Mgt 91, Member at Large Elizabeth H. Wallace, Arch 96, Member at Large
America—which became an incubator for technology executives and startup companies in Atlanta. MSA is credited with training more than 300 CEOs and spawning nearly 100 companies. Sadly, John passed away in March at age 78. (See page 106 for a special tribute.) In addition to his entrepreneurial skills, John was known for his generous spirit, and he served as a mentor to many alumni who wanted to follow in his footsteps. In this issue, we’ll explore how Georgia Tech is building a strong culture of entrepreneurship, helping students and faculty take their innovations to market, attracting major corporations to participate and making a significant economic impact on the region by doing so. (In 2013, Georgia Tech’s economic impact was calculated at nearly $2.7 billion, almost twice the annual budget of the Institute.) We’ll also look at some of our most successful alumni who are blazing trails with their own companies. We hope the wide variety of startup stories in this issue of the Alumni Magazine help you pick up on the energy that’s building around entrepreneurship at Tech.
Joseph P. Irwin, IM 80, President & CEO BOARD OF TRUSTEES Stanley E. Anderson, IM 75; J. Paul Austin, Mgt 99; Nathan Bennett, PhD Mgt 89; Jeni S. Bogdan, Mgt 89 MS MoT 96; Arthur O. Brannen, IM 73; Sean L. Corcoran, ChE 95; C. Richard Crutchfield, IM 69; Richard DeAugustinis, IE 92; A. Ray Douglas Jr., Arch 75; W. Keith Edwards, ICS 89, MS ICS 91, PhD ICS 96; D. Shawn Fowler, Mgt 88; Jeanene Fowler, IE 84; Rick L. Garcia, CE 73; Jeffrey V. Giglio, EE 77; John T. Hammond, ChE 72, MS IE 75; Timothy A. Heilig, IE 75; Justin C. Honaman Jr., IE 96; Julie Sumerford Johnson, Mgt 84; Judy W. Liaw, ME 98; Wonya Y. Lucas, IE 83; Errika N. Mallett, IE 96; Michelle D. Mason, ChE 86; James L. Mitchell, CE 05; Whitney S. Owen, IA 03; Anu Parvatiyar, BME 08; Shantan R. Pesaru CmpE 05; Vicky S. Polashock, ChE 90, Phd ChE 95; Michael John Rafferty Jr., EE 02; John L. Reese III, BC 80; Valerie Montgomery Rice, Chem 83; Michael J. Rooney, Chem 73; Kary E. Saleeby, NE 77, MS ME 78; Ricardo Salgado, IE 98; Leslie R. Sibert, EE 85; Tyler A. Townsend, IE 98; Elizabeth Bulat Turner, IAML 04 ADVERTISING Holly Green (404) 894-0765 holly.green@alumni.gatech.edu GEORGIA TECH ALUMNI MAGAZINE (ISSN: 1061-9747) is published quarterly by the Georgia Tech Alumni Association, 190 North Ave. N.W., Atlanta, GA 30313. Periodical postage paid in Atlanta and additional mailing offices. © 2015 Georgia Tech Alumni Association POSTMASTER Send address changes to: Georgia Tech Alumni
JOSEPH P. IRWIN, IM 80
Magazine, 190 North Ave. N.W., Atlanta, GA 30313.
PRESIDENT & CEO
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Josh Meister