Now in its 17th year, Innovest will unite venture capital and private investment with companies seeking financing at its conference May 10 and 11, 2001.
Thirty growth companies from throughout the Great Lakes region are expected to give presentations on their business plans in the hopes of drawing interest from investors at the conference, which rotates annually among Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati. This year’s event, set for the Westin Hotel in Cincinnati, features Pete Blackshaw, CEO of Planetfeedback.com in Cincinnati, as the keynote speaker May 10, and Tom Petzinger Jr., co-founder, chairman and CEO of Pittsburgh-based LaunchCyte LLC, as the luncheon speaker May 11.
Before founding Planetfeedback.com, an online consumer feedback service, Blackshaw was brand manager of interactive marketing at Procter & Gamble Co.
Named Interactive Marketer of the Year by Advertising Age magazine, Blackshaw co-founded P&G’s interactive marketing team and led the company’s corporate relationships with companies such as AOL.
Petzinger, former Washington bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal, also was the publication’s Washington economics editor, millennium editor and weekly “Front Lines” columnist. He has written three business books: “Hard Landing: The epic contest for power and profits that plunged the airlines into chaos,” “The New Pioneers: The men and women who are transforming the workplace and marketplace” and “Oil & Honor: The Texaco-Pennzoil Wars.” How to reach: Innovest ’01, www.innovest.org, or Rich Simpkins, Enterprise Development Inc., (216) 229-9445, ext. 152, or [email protected]
