TiE Dallas CEO Speaker Series Summary

Thank you to all the attendees, the speakers, panelists and volunteers who made the CEO Speaker Events such a great success.

The CEO Series conference event on Monday Oct 28 held at the beautiful Hyatt Regency, Richardson, started out with a welcome from Ram Viswanathan, President, TiE Dallas and Paul Voelker, Mayor of Richardson.
Valerie Freeman, the keynote speaker then offered a great motivating presentation, sharing the challenges and the successes she has been through, all along her career, as a woman.

The keynote was followed by a thought provoking panel discussion on the topic of ‘What Makes DFW tick’. The panel had representation from the PE/Venture Capital world (Sumit Gautam, Portfolio Manager, Scalar Gauge Fund), Academia (Dave Malenfant, Director, Outreach and Partnerships, TCU), Early stage entrepreneurship (Arun Gupta, Founder and CEO of Skyven Technologies) and Civic Leadership (Paul Voelker, Mayor of Richardson) The panel was moderated by Charter Member George Brody. It was insightful to hear the unique perspectives of the panelists on the strengths and opportunities in the DFW area including the historical leadership in the telecom and semiconductor space (and how that is again becoming relevant), biotech and the gaming industries. The panel was highly informative and provided ideas for the audience interested in pursuing new opportunities.

Ram then provided an overview of TiE at the global level and the initiatives under way in Dallas including the Ventures Program, The Young Entrepreneurs program (TYE), the CEO Series and the Women’s Network; and the opportunities it offers for all entrepreneurs. Manoj Balraj, Charter Member and TYE Chair, provided additional context and history on the TYE program, how it supports high school students and how to get involved. Debjani Biswas, followed with an introduction to the Women’s program, highlighting the program’s goals and how it offers women a platform for mentorship for launching and growing their businesses.

Our next event will be TiE Tuesday on Tue Nov 26th. It will be held at Nathan Research Inc, 17110 Dallas Parkway, Suite 201, Dallas, TX 75248. Registration link to follow. This and other upcoming events will be posted in our calendar at dallas.tie.org. Look forward to seeing you.