news

My name is Michael Simmons, and I’m the proud co-founder of the Extreme Entrepreneurship Tour, and I’m extremely excited to be one of the jumpers at the JUMP for Opportunity event.

We’re really excited to be convening the Future of Entrepreneurship Education Summit (think Clinton Global Initiative meets Entrepreneurship Education) at the University of Central Florida on Friday, February 18–before the Jump weekend kicks off that night at 6:00 p.m.

We’re assembling the top leaders in the field of entrepreneurship education (government, corporations, foundations, philanthropists, educators, media) for the first time to share their thoughts on where the field is going and what the most cutting-edge practices are.

Below is a list of confirmed attendees:

-Michael Hennessy, Executive Director, Coleman Foundation (has given $50M+ to entrepreneurship education)

-Bill Morganstern, CEO, Opportunity International (second largest microfinance bank in the world)

-Steve Mariotti, President, National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (largest foundation promoting entrepreneurship to low-income youth)

-Michael Schneider, President, McPherson College (Young College President in the Country)

-Nishith Archarya, Executive Director, The Deshpande Foundation

-Deborah Hoover, Director, Burton D Morgan Foundation (endowment of $100M+ for entrepreneurship education)

-Ray Daffner, Entrepreneurship Manager, Appalachian Regional Commission (has given $50M+ to entrepreneurship education)

-Doug Mellinger, Co-Founder, Entrepreneurs’ Organization and Cogswell College

-Tim Kriewall, Program Director, Kern Family Foundation & Former College President

-Phil Weilerstein, Director, National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance

-Jeff Sandefer, Founder, Acton Foundation

-Mark Lange, Executive Director, Edward Lowe Foundation

-Judith Cone, Special Assistant to the Chancellor for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

-Ken Yancey, CEO, SCORE

-Jack Bienko, Deputy Director, Entrepreneurship Education, SBA

-Kevin Langley, Chairman, EO

-David Cohen, Founder, TechStars

-Rieva Lesonsky, Former Editorial Director, Entrepreneur Inc.

-Cathy Ashmore, Director, Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education

-Jonathan Ortmans, Director, Global Entrepreneurship Week

-Michael Holthouse, Chairman, Prepared 4 Life & Holthouse Foundation for Kids

-Founder of Red Box ($1B+ in revenue)

-Founder of Priceline

-20 of the Country’s Top Young Entrepreneurs, many with Businesses with over $10 million in Revenue

I’m super excited to be holding this event in conjunction with Jump for Opportunity. I look forward to meeting you there!