02:00 PM - 04:30 PM (Pacific)
03:00 PM - 05:30 PM (Mountain)
04:00 PM - 06:30 PM (Central)
05:00 PM - 07:30 PM (Eastern)

Registration

Please note that this is an in-person program only. Registration is required. No walk-ins allowed.

$25  Registration Fee

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Overview

This joint event will give PDA members the opportunity to learn more about the economic development initiatives underway at the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance® (CRBA), and for CRBA Investors (members) to get to know the PDA mission and efforts both regionally and nationally. Janet LaBar, CRBA President & CEO, will welcome the group with a “fireside chat” focused on regional economic trends relevant to private businesses, and then moderate a panel with John Grupp, VP Americas Deputy General Counsel, ARRIVAL, as well as PDA members Sara Garces Roselli, Co-Founder RevTech Labs and Packard Place, and Louis Forman, CEO Eventys. Networking with drinks & snacks to follow. Register early as capacity is limited and shared between PDA Members and CRBA Investors.

Thank you to our Chapter Event Sponsor!

 

Thank you to our National and Gold Chapter Sponsors!

Panelists 

Janet LaBar President & CEO Charlotte Regional Business Alliance®

A seasoned regional economic development leader with strong communications, strategy and operations skills, LaBar is President and CEO of the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance. She is leading CLT Alliance in a new direction to ensure the Charlotte region is the most vibrant, innovative and healthy economy in the nation. Through collaboration, the CLT Alliance is advancing a region that creates economic opportunities and prosperity for all.

Prior to joining the Alliance team in April 2019, LaBar held the same position at Greater Portland Inc (GPI), a regional public-private partnership that markets the Greater Portland metropolitan and helps companies expand and relocate to the region.

Under her leadership, GPI assisted 31 company expansions or relocations, which will generate nearly 2,800 jobs and nearly $153 million in income. LaBar led the planning process for Greater Portland 2020 — the region’s five-year comprehensive economic development strategy. Focused on three core pillars of People, Business and Place, the plan is rooted in guiding principles of equity and advancement and has a goal of shared economic prosperity for all across the region.

LaBar started her economic development career in 2002 at the Center for Workforce Development at the Maricopa Community Colleges in Tempe, Arizona, where she managed research and communications for the district-wide Center. From there, LaBar spent a decade at the Greater Phoenix Economic Council (GPEC), serving in key positions including Senior Vice President of Strategic Integration, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Communications, and Director of Product Improvement. Her rise at GPEC topped as Chief Performance Officer, a role in which she oversaw day-to-day operations, organizational performance, strategic initiatives and action plans.

LaBar serves on the boards of Charlotte Center City Partners, Charlotte Sports Foundation, Central Piedmont Community College, and UNC Charlotte’s College of Computing and Informatics Dean’s Advisory Board. She is also a member of the Charlotte Industrial Roundtable for the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond and IEDC’s Equitable Economic Development Playbook Advisory Committee.

LaBar earned a bachelor’s degree in communication arts from the University of West Florida and an MBA in marketing from the University of Phoenix.

She and her husband are proud parents to an older daughter and younger daughter/son twins.

Sara Garcés Roselli Co-Founder  RevTech Labs & Packard Place, Charlotte’s Center for Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Community

Sara is the Co-Founder and Managing Partner of RevTech Labs, RevTech Labs Foundation and Packard Place where she is instrumental in fostering innovation and entrepreneurship within the Charlotte community and offers FinTech, InsureTech, and HealthTech accelerators, mentorship, programming, and opportunities to connect business, government, and non-profits. She is a solutions-focused Entrepreneur and Thought Leader with more than 20 years of success across the marketing, advertising, oil and chemical, telecommunications and consumer product industries. Leveraging extensive experience managing and directing business operations, she is a valuable asset for companies, that are struggling with branding and strategy, succession planning, transitioning to the next business stage, or need a fresh perspective as they work to grow effectively into a larger scale company. Her broad areas of expertise include leadership and management, marketing and advertising, human resources, and operational management.

Sara has held leadership positions at advertising, consulting, and marketing firms including Mythic, Red F Marketing, Colgate-Palmolive, and Lucent Technologies. She has been responsible for aligning business and people strategies by designing and executing new programs that yield improved employee performance, managing and directing Human Resources, Finance, and Information Technology groups, and instituting operational policies that align with business goals.

Sara holds an MA in Industrial Relations from the University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management and a BA in International Relations from Michigan State University. As a seasoned Board Member, Sara has held board positions including Board Chair at Goodwill of the Southern Piedmont, Board Development Chair at Girl Scouts Hornets Nest Council and has held several other committee chair roles on the Charlotte Catholic High School Foundation Board, NAWBO Charlotte, the Mint Museum, and the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce. She is a Co-Chair for the Grameen America – Charlotte Advisory Board and is a founding member of the Business Innovation and Growth Council (BIG). In 2018, Sara was inducted into the NC Women in Business Hall of Fame. Sara is a past recipient of NAWBO Charlotte Chapter Woman Business Owner of the Year and the NAWBO Charlotte “Rising Star” Awards. She has also been named among Charlotte’s “40 Under 40” and was recognized by the Charlotte Business Journal as a Women in Business Achievement Award winner. In addition, Sara is bi-lingual, bi-cultural and of Colombian descent. She is passionate about economic mobility and women and children’s initiatives. Sara is also the proud mother of two sets of twins.

John Grupp VP Americas & Deputy General Counsel Arrival

John is the VP Americas, Deputy General Counsel of Arrival where he provides legal counsel, guidance and advice across many areas, partnering with business teams to achieve Arrival's mission.

Arrival was founded in 2015 with a mission to make air clean by replacing all vehicles with affordable electric solutions - produced by local Microfactories. Six years and over 2,000 people later, Arrival is driving the transition to EVs globally by creating products that are zero-emission, more desirable, more sustainable and more equitable than ever before. Arrival’s in-house technologies enable its radical new method of design and production using rapidly-scalable, local Microfactories around the world. This method facilitates cities and governments in achieving their sustainability goals whilst also supercharging their communities. Arrival is a technology company, a product company, a supply chain company, an automotive company, a mobility company, a fintech company and a service company - all rolled into one with a shared goal of true sustainability. This vertically integrated business model is how Arrival can have the radical impact our world needs today.

Prior to joining Arrival, John held similar legal positions in the Charlotte region with the Husqvarna Group and Ingersoll-Rand Company, including serving as General Counsel for Club Car, LLC. With a focus on achieving practical, business-oriented solutions, John has supported the launch of new innovative, products and business strategies. Before moving in-house, John was a partner with the law firm Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP, where he began his legal career in its Charlotte office in 1995.

John received his Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia School of Law and a BS in Electrical Engineering from Duke University. John is currently the President of the Board of Directors for the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy and President of the Board of Directors for the Association of Corporate Counsel, Charlotte Chapter. John also serves on the Task Force for Charlotte Triage, a partnership between corporate and outside counsel that support and work with Legal Aid of North Carolina and the Charlotte Center for Legal Advocacy. John was recognized by the Charlotte Business Journal in 2019 as a Corporate Counsel - Outstanding Pro Bono/Community Service award winner.

John and his wife are proud parents to their three daughters.

Louis Foreman CEO Enventys

Louis Foreman is founder and Chief Executive of Enventys (www.enventys.com), an integrated product design and engineering firm. Louis graduated from The University of Illinois with a degree in Economics. His interest in starting businesses and developing innovative products began while a sophomore with his first company founded in his fraternity room. Over the past 34 years Louis has created 10 successful start-ups and has been directly responsible for the creation of over 20 others. A prolific inventor, he is the inventor of 10 registered US Patents, and his firm is responsible for the development and filing of well over 700 more.

The recipient of numerous awards for entrepreneurial achievement, his passion for small business extends beyond his own companies. Louis is an adjunct professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, at Queens University. He received the Instructor Achievement Award for his teaching at Central Piedmont Community College and was recognized by the National Museum of Education for his Distinguished Contributions to Education. Louis is an adjunct professor and the Entrepreneur in Residence at The McColl School of Business and was the 2013 Distinguished Visiting Professor at Johnson & Wales University, where he continues to teach. He also teaches IP for Entrepreneurs at Central Michigan University and is a Visiting Assistant Professor of the Practice in the Center for Entrepreneurship at Wake Forest University. He is a frequent lecturer and radio / TV guest on the topics of small business creation and innovation and is frequently invited by universities and national trade associations to be a featured speaker on the topic of entrepreneurship and innovation.

In addition to being an inventor, Louis is also committed to inspiring others to be innovative. Louis was the creator of the Emmy® Award winning PBS TV show, Everyday Edisons, and served as the Executive Producer and lead judge. The show won 2 Emmys in 4 seasons and appeared nationally on PBS. In 2007, Louis became the publisher of Inventors Digest, a 35- year-old publication devoted to the topic of American Innovation. In 2009, his first book, The Independent Inventor’s Handbook, was published by Workman Publishing. In 2015, Louis was awarded the IP Champion Award by the US Chamber of Commerce.

Louis currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the James Dyson Foundation, the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO), New Dominion Bank, The Federal Reserve Bank Industry Roundtable, Beyond Campus Innovations, Vinco Ventures, and the Intellectual Property Owners Educational Foundation (IPOEF). In 2013, Louis was appointed by the SBA Administrator to serve on the National SBDC Advisory Board until the end of 2022.

In 2008, Louis was appointed by United States Secretary of Commerce Carlos M. Gutierrez to serve for a three-year term on the nine-person Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In 2011, he was appointed by Secretary Gary Locke to serve an additional three-year term. The Committee was created by Congress in 1999 to advise the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office on matters relating to the policies, goals, performance, budget, and user fees of the patent operation. In 2013 he was asked to serve as Chairman of PPAC until the end of his term in December 2014.

In 2011 Louis was called upon, multiple times, to brief the House and Senate Judiciary Committees on legislation related to the US Patent System and its impact on independent inventors. On September 16, 2011, Louis joined the President on-stage for the signing of the America Invents Act into law. This bi-partisan effort represented the most comprehensive overhaul to the US Patent System in over 60 years.

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