LEARN ABOUT US
Bill Kalivas and Allen Battle, Co-Founders of LaunchPad, actively involved in the community for over 30 years.
Bill and Allen have built an impressive team to bring LaunchPad back!
In May 2022, Bill and Allen announced the return of LaunchPad.
Blending feedback with innovation, mentoring, coaching, inspiration and fun to create something special for our region!
Join Us!LaunchPad INW is a professional services organization committed to
- Leading a regional, collaborative initiative to strengthen our regional innovation ecosystem
- Deliver inclusive programs and events that connect, mentor and inspire people and companies to achieve greater success
Addressing Regional Challenges
We met with local businesses, community leaders, universities, economic development organizations and hosted several events to better understand key business challenges people and businesses are facing in our region.
The most common challenges we heard included (2) key areas:
The most common challenges we heard included (2) key areas:
Our regional innovation ecosystem has improved but continues to have significant gaps with no one organization leading a regional, collaborative effort to connect and fill these gaps.
Having a robust innovation economy leads to:
- A stronger regional brand around innovation
- Higher wage jobs
- High growth industries leveraging our assets including Clean Energy, Bioscience and Cybersecurity
- Economic multipliers
- A magnet for advanced research, recruiting and retaining talent, and visionary investment
People, companies and organizations need:
- Connections and coaching for how to network effectively and developing professional relationships
- Mentoring
- Coaching, especially for emerging leaders
- To be Inspired
Our Team
Ed Reese
Mentor and Advisor, Digital Services
Bill Kalivas
Co-Founder & Advisor, LaunchPad INW
Allen Battle
Co-Founder, Sr. Director, DEI Programs
Michael Orr
Mentor and Executive Coach
Steve Neff
Sr. Director, Springboard Program
Jennifer Evans
CEO, Events by Jennifer Evans
Sarah Reyes
Event Coordinator