Executive Insights 💡 from our Spring Reception 🥂
Engage’s Cohort 9 finished our ten-week Enterprise Go-To-Market Program where they honed their enterprise GTM strategy and value translation messaging as we systematically connected them with senior corporate executives. We celebrated the body of work our entrepreneurs produced during the program and their traction with our corporate partners at our Spring 2022 Executive Reception.
As the culmination of the Engage Program, hosted in partnership with King & Spalding, the reception gathered 180 corporate executives and decision-makers, enterprise entrepreneurs, top technology investors, and innovation ecosystem partners at Honeywell’s Innovation Center in Midtown Atlanta.
An incredible lineup of C-suite leaders from corporations, research institutions, and startups shared their thoughts on sustainability, DEI, and the importance of working across startup, enterprise, research, government, and community silos to secure our planet’s future. Here’s the highlight reel:
An Inside Look at The Mom Project: You are a mom, or you have a mom. With that powerful opening, the reception illustrates the impact we can make when we band together. We caught up
“When you fuel moms’ earning potential, you’re empowering your families and your community, which is such a big, impactful thing to do. The Atlanta business community, and specifically Engage and our corporate partners here, have been such a supportive business environment for The Mom Project to grow and thrive, and we’re forever grateful. I’m so proud of how many lives and trajectories we’ve been able to change.”
– Allison Robinson
Founder & CEO, The Mom Project
“At Invesco, we have experienced first-hand the benefits of hiring moms through The Mom Project. Here is a ringing endorsement from Carol, one of our first hires in 2017, ‘Never would I have imagined that I could find a job that checked all the boxes. The culture at Invesco is extremely progressive. I have had excellent bosses who encourage and enforce work-life balance for working moms. The Mom Project nailed it.’”
–Kellie Schönberg
Global Head, Corporate Responsibility, Invesco
“Concern over building health has come into intense focus post-COVID and energy consumption and sustainability have become much bigger priorities. The challenge is that a lot of measures to improve air quality – like added filtration and UV sanitation – consume more energy. At Honeywell, we are excited to crack the code for healthy buildings at lower energy costs.”
– Doug Wright
President & CEO, Honeywell Building Technologies
“Our biggest asset at Georgia Tech is, of course, our students. We’re tapping into the innovation and entrepreneurial engine to get students participating in sustainability ecosystem solutions early. I’m here to say that Georgia can be part of the Global Climate solution. We are leading in extremely unique ways on the international stage and can become the change we seek.”
– Dr. Kim Cobb
Georgia Power Chair & Professor, Director of Global Change Program, Georgia Tech
Executive Keynote: Chris Womack, President, Chairman, and CEO, Georgia Power and Engage Board member gave the closing keynote at the Engage reception to resounding applause. While addressing the assembled audience of enterprise executives, entrepreneurs, researchers, and innovation ecosystem builders, Chris reflected on why we need each other to build our future saying:
“We can’t be afraid to seek the unexpected, because that is how we embrace transformation. That is how we shape the next frontier. We need to evaluate new technologies to help us build the future of energy, and we also need to constantly engage with organizations making an impact in our communities. Both are equally important. I’ll end on an old African Proverb that says “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.” We need each other to build a bright future – and I’m thankful Engage has brought us together.”
Bluedot’s advanced location services enable enterprises to collect real-time data for personalized enhanced experiences like in-store pickup, customer ETAs, and other marketing or operations use cases.
Evolv AI uses AI-driven experimentation, optimization, and personalization to continuously find better ways to connect enterprises with visitors and customers across all digital interfaces (web, app, and more).
Paladin’s mission is to streamline legal pro bono programs to help attorneys achieve their 50-hour annual professional responsibility commitment, and help enterprises reach their impact and business goals.
💎 Highlights from our Portfolio
Stord completed a $120 million Series D round at a $1.3 billion valuation. They also launched a new podcast, How to Unf*ck Your Supply Chain.
Moth + Flame partnered with Wellstar, Engage corporate partner, to pilot Virtual Reality Leadership Training across the organization.
Verusen was selected as one of TAG’s Top 40 Innovative Companies for the third year in a row. Its founder and CEO Paul Noble was named an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2022 Southeast Award finalist
Cresta introduced new Coaching Plans and Scorecards and was recognized as one of the world’s top artificial intelligence companies on the CB Insights AI 100 list and the Forbes AI 50 list for the third time.
Sounding Board CEO and co-founder Christine Tao was featured in Forbes’ article about the next generation of AAPI leaders and entrepreneurs.
Chain IO CEO and founder Brian Glick was named to the Supply and Demand Chain Executive’s 2022 Pros to Know list.
Otto by DEVCON was highlighted by Hypepotamus for making cybersecurity more user-friendly with their new platform launch.
☀️️Welcome to Our Summer Interns
Engage and Tech Square Ventures are thrilled to welcome six talented interns to our team this Summer. Engage’s internship program is part of our mission to bring hands-on educational opportunities and exposure to the startups and innovation ecosystem to more students.
These students hail from Georgia Institute of Technology, Georgia State University, Emory University, SCAD, Georgetown University, and Northwestern University and will be taking on roles ranging from design and operations to investment and research. We look forward to working with these incredible students!
What we 💛 about our Corporate Partners
Delta Air Lines CEO, Ed Bastian and Georgia Tech President, Ángel Cabrera – both Engage board members – discussed how businesses can make positive changes to address climate change.
Georgia Power was the first corporation to issue an Equality Progress Sustainability Bond designed to advance racial equity, economic opportunity, and environmental sustainability.
Georgia Tech’s CREATE-X hit a new milestone with more than one hundred student and faculty startup teams accepted into the summer 2022 Startup Launch program.
Coca Cola unveiled a new bottle cap design overseas, aimed at reducing waste and curbing litter.
Goldman Sachs doubled its diversity recruiting team and increased its budget by ten million dollars to help meet its goals and add more women, Blacks, and Latinos to its workforce
UPS CEO Carol Tomé was featured by The Atlanta Business Chronicle, highlighting five ways she has been a visionary leader for Atlanta.