Second annual Entrepreneurship and Technology Conference at IU Kokomo Oct. 3

The IU Kokomo Division of Continuing Studies, the Purdue University School of Technology at Kokomo and the Kokomo/Howard County Economic Development Corporation are joint sponsors of the seminar.

“We want to take the success we had last year and build on it,” said Greg Aaron, president of the Kokomo/Howard County Development Corporation. The corporation has been working on business plans with a couple of the entrepreneurs who attended the 2001 conference and has established a mentoring team to support those proposed businesses, he said.

More than 40 north central Indiana residents have joined the 2002 conference planning committee, including Aaron; Chuck Bucheri of the accounting firm Bucheri, McCarthy & Metz; Richard Burger, economic development representative for PSI Energy; top government officials from Kokomo, Marion, Tipton, Rochester, Wabash, Peru and Logansport, and business and community leaders from the campus’ 11-county service area.

The first Entrepreneurship and Technology Conference in December drew close to 50 participants, including potential entrepreneurs, business owners, political officials and IU Kokomo students. Fittingly, IU Kokomo Chancellor Ruth Person welcomed conference participants via videotape. Luncheon speaker Tony Armstrong, deputy director and counsel to Indiana’s 21st Century Research and Technology Fund, presented details of the state’s commitment to research and to the development of business-supportive technology in Indiana.

Breakout sessions called on the expertise of several area business leaders. Charles Kennedy, vice president of the Cambridge Capital Management Corporation, spoke on capital management. Chuck Bucheri described his accounting firm’s use of performance management accounting systems. Sabina Street, director of the Howard County Small Business Development Center, shared ideas on business planning and profiling.

Lucy Ojode, professor of business and economics at IU Kokomo, offered insights into international marketing possibilities in the region.

Tom Capozzoli, Purdue professor of organizational leadership and supervision, facilitated a panel discussion, “Speaking from Experience—Those Who Have Succeeded.” Panelists included Matt McKillip, president of Momentum, Inc.; Mike Miller, systems integrator, Miller and Miller Information Management Systems; Dennis Grover, manager, BTI Electronics; and Terry Munson, president of CSL.

Michael O’Hair, director of the Purdue University School of Technology at Kokomo, and Stuart Green, vice chancellor for academic affairs at IU Kokomo, offered closing remarks.