February 28, 2020

SIU hosts Innovation and Entrepreneurship Day on March 4

by Christi Mathis

CARBONDALE, Ill. — There is no better teacher than experience. Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Day on Wednesday, March 4, features a lineup of speakers with extensive business and entrepreneurship experience who will share what they’ve learned.

The event is from 5:30 to 8 p.m. at SIU’s Center for Innovation, 1745 Innovation Drive in Carbondale. The free seminar is open to the public and pre-registration is not required.

Refreshments will be served.

Four professionals will speak

The evening will feature live interviews with four special guest speakers spotlighting their own experiences with business, innovation and entrepreneurship.

The lineup includes:

  • Peter Gregory – founder of Bsquare Corp., a Washington software component company. Gregory is also angel investor and owner of Humid Town Ventures. He completed his bachelor’s degree in computer science at SIU in 1984.
  • Bronwyn Morgan – founder of Xeo Air Inc., an Atlanta, Georgia-based company providing guided digital drone services for a variety of business purposes. She also founded Airversity Drone Pilot Academy. Morgan was named a 2017 Woman of the Year in Technology finalist by Women in Technology.
  • Curt Jones – inventor and founder of Dippin’ Dots Inc., an ice cream confection phenomenon, and 40 Below Joe, a line of quick-frozen coffees and creamers. Jones is a double alumnus of SIU, earning bachelor’s (1981) and master’s (1986) degrees in microbiology.
  • Jeremy Packer – chief technology officer at Lineup Media Group, a multimedia content generating company. A tech entrepreneur, Packer earned a bachelor’s degree in computer science with a software engineering concentration from SIU in 2015. He is also the founder of Packer Labs, a technology consulting company.

Numerous groups involved

The SIU Saluki Entrepreneur Corps registered student organization and the College of Business and Analytics are hosting the event in SIU’s Research Park.

Sponsors also include the Office of Innovation and Economic Development, the Undergraduate Student Government, the Illinois Small Business Development Center, the SIU Credit Union, Quatro’s, The Reserve and Silkworm.

For more information, visit incubator.siu.edu or call 618/536-2424.