HAT NOTE TO CEC BOARD AND 1871 TEAM MEMBERS

To the CEC Board and Team…

               I just want to briefly join in Jim and Bryant’s comments (now that my phone has slowed down a bit and the 300 emails have been dealt with) to say how grateful I am for this opportunity and how excited I am about the prospects of working successfully with all of you and the terrific staff and all of the sponsors/supporters (and the City and State as well) whom have come together to accomplish so much and to take 1871 so far already. I hope that we can keep building aggressively on the great progress that has been made to date.

I also want to thank many of you for your personal notes and kind words of congratulations and good wishes. Jim and Bryant have been amazing leaders for this entire effort and they have been great to me already in guiding me through the interview and evaluation process. I think we have a very clear and shared view of how CEC and 1871 can both continue to move forward in these electric times to further the cause of entrepreneurship throughout our great city and state. The entire search committee (as luck would have it) were both friends and business acquaintances and that made the process feel so much more like a family affair than an inquisition and it set things off in a very supportive and positive direction.

I too want to commend Kevin on his very hard work and impressive results in bringing 1871 to this point – I can honestly say that we’ve been regularly connected and speaking about this adventure since before it even began. He’s been a great friend and supporter of our efforts over these last several years as well and the entire City and all the members and beneficiaries of 1871 owe him our thanks. 

HOWARD TULLMAN NAMED NEW CEO OF 1871

HOWARD TULLMAN NAMED NEW CEO OF 1871

Chicago business leader & iconic serial entrepreneur brings new energy and vision for taking successful digital hub to next level in order to better serve city’s growing startup community

CHICAGO – November 23, 2013 – Chicago’s leading, digital hub, 1871 today announced that Howard Tullman will become its new CEO.  Mr. Tullman succeeds Kevin Willer, a founder of Google’s Chicago office, who successfully led the organization over the past two years and left the role in June. 1871 is the flagship project of the CEC, the 501c3 non-profit committed to supporting, promoting and growing the startup community in Chicago.  Tullman will report into Jim O’Connor Jr. and Bryant Keil, the co-chairmen of the CEC Board of Directors. Mr. O’Connor has assumed the role of interim CEO since Willer’s departure.

“The selection committee set a very high bar for the 1871 role,” said Bryant Keil, co-chairman of the CEC Board of Directors. “We recognized that this is an important role not only as a leader for 1871, but also as a visionary for the broader startup community in Chicago. Howard is a proven entrepreneur who exemplifies everything that we were looking for and we couldn’t be happier that he has agreed to take 1871’s success to the next level.”

“Howard’s appointment to 1871 serves as an example of what we call “Chicagoness,” whereby people launch and grow great companies, have successes, and then come back to mentor the next generation of entrepreneurs as the cycle continues,” added Jim O’Connor Jr., co-chairman of the CEC Board of Directors. 

Howard Tullman’s reputation as an entrepreneur is legendary both in Chicago and nationally. He founded CCC Information Services nearly 33 years ago and since then, the company has created thousands of jobs nationally and in Chicago.  Mr. Tullman was also an initial investor and the long-time Board Chairman of The Cobalt Group, which was sold to ADP for more than $300 million in 2010. In addition, Tullman is responsible for saving Kendall College by bringing it to Chicago and turning it into one of the Top 3 culinary schools in the U.S. And most recently, Tullman is known as the founding CEO of Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy, which reinvented and reinvigorated high-end vocational training in the digital media arts, and which has graduated more than a thousand students since 2007.

“1871 is the heart of Illinois’ thriving startup community, and I cannot think of a more experienced innovator and visionary leader than Howard Tullman to ensure its continued success,” Governor Quinn said. “As a lifelong entrepreneur, Howard knows what Chicago’s best and brightest need to push the innovation boundaries further than ever before.”

“Howard Tullman is the perfect person to take 1871 to the next level,” said Mayor Emanuel. “1871 is a global model as an entrepreneurial hub and has had a strong impact on innovation in Chicago. Under Howard’s leadership, 1871 will be a primary engine to help Chicago achieve the goal I set out last month to double our tech economy over the next ten years and add 40,000 new jobs. Our tech industry relies on four pillars – a strong entrepreneurial spirit, access to talent, venture capital, and physical spaces for innovation. In each of these areas, 1871 has already made a huge impact. As an accomplished business leader and entrepreneur, Howard will help grow our technology economy in the future, and I look forward to working closely with him in his new role.”

"Howard Tullman is not only one of Chicago’s most successful, prolific tech entrepreneurs, but he is also a prominent voice on the national stage,” said J.B. Pritzker, managing partner of Pritzker Group and 1871 founder. “His experience as a visionary business builder and an educator makes him the obvious leader of Chicago’s newly energized startup community.  Howard helps 1871 gain greater traction as the flagship entrepreneurial center in the nation."

Added Larry Levy, founder and chairman of Levy Restaurants, "Howard is a proven entrepreneur and a great Chicagoan whose successes are many. I am confident that his vision will lead 1871 toward new and exciting directions that will benefit the city's next generation of business leaders.”

1871 opened its doors in May of 2012.  Since then, it has become a local, national and global model that is known for providing ground breaking programming, thousands of hours of mentorship from leading entrepreneurs, hands on training and physical space to digital entrepreneurs.  It is also the home to two incubators including the nationally recognized Tech Stars Chicago.  In its first year, 1871 has been host to local, national and international leaders including Steve Ballmer, Steve Case, Dick Costolo, Brad Feld and David Cameron.  More than 240 companies work out of 1871.  Those businesses have attracted $40 million in investment capital and created more than 800 jobs, which have already contributed an estimated $15 million to the Illinois economy.  

“There is an entrepreneurial renaissance in Chicago and 1871 is at the center of it,” said Howard Tullman, incoming CEO of 1871. “As a serial entrepreneur for more than 40 years, I can honestly say that there has been no more exciting time to be part of a startup organization in Chicago than today.”

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 About 1871

1871 is an entrepreneurial hub for digital startups. Located in the famed Merchandise Mart, the 50,000-square-foot facility provides Chicago startups with programming, access to mentors, educational resources, potential investors and a community of like-minded entrepreneurs that help them on their path to building successful businesses. 1871 is the flagship project of the CEC.

About the CEC

The Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center (CEC) is a 501c3 committed to the mission of supporting entrepreneurs and promoting entrepreneurship in Chicago. Its flagship project, 1871, fulfills its vision of a central address for tech entrepreneurs in Chicago.

New CEO for 1871 technology hub at Merchandise Mart

New CEO for 1871 technology hub at Merchandise Mart

BY SANDRA GUY Staff Reporter November 23, 2013 1:18AM

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Howard Tullman. | Sun Times library

Updated: November 23, 2013 1:22AM

 

Howard Tullman — a serial entrepreneur, venture investor, one of Chicago’s glamour tech gurus and just-retired chairman of digital-age vocational school Tribeca Flashpoint Academy — will become the new CEO of the 1871 technology hub at the Merchandise Mart.

The 68-year-old Tullman, dubbed by Inc. magazine as “the most accomplished, best-connected entrepreneur you’ve never heard of,” told the Sun-Times that he is excited to start 1871’s version 2.0 on his first day on the job on Jan. 6, transforming it into a showcase that can be “a zillion times more creative and substantial” than it is now.

He is committed to a three-year stint at the 19-month-old tech hub, which is uniquely run as a project of the non-profit Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center (CEC). The center takes no equity stakes in the companies housed at 1871.

Tullman’s first priorities are to leverage his skills in partnering with big-name technology companies, much as he did as leader of Tribeca and culinary school Kendall College.

He envisions using those connections to set up at 1871 a 3D prototyping lab, a video show and studio — the Midwestern headquarters for crowdfunding site Indiegogo and an international exchange program with entrepreneurs in Brazil, London and Tel Aviv.

He also wants to lure big-name startups and possibly expand the 50,000-square-foot tech space in the Mart to include tech companies with five to 20 employees.

“The idea is to let young companies have their own, separate identities while still being able to access the many shared resources at 1871,” said Tullman, who visits the hub weekly and has invested in three of the 240 startup companies that have had a presence there.

About 500 entrepreneurs are based at 1871, which has received 1,200 applications from both entrepreneurs and startup companies since its inception.

Tullman emerged from a field of 50 “highly qualified” candidates and, ultimately, five finalists from throughout the United States to succeed Kevin Willer, 1871’s founding CEO who left in June to become a partner in Chicago-based seed-stage investing fund i2A, now called Chicago Ventures.

Bryant Keil, co-chair of the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center who headed up the search committee, said Tullman won out because of his track record of starting a dozen successful companies; his willingness to “give back” to the Chicago tech community, and his outsized personality that has resulted in respect in the field and a reputation as a community builder.

Tullman is known for his frenetic energy, gray mane of hair, boastful but charming pronouncements and creating eclectic innovations ranging from 1991’s aggregation service that put college students’ resumes on CD-ROMs to 1993’s Imagination Pilots entertainment-based developer of computer games, to producing a 1995 Broadway musical, Swinging on a Star.

Jim O’Connor Jr., 1871’s interim CEO and CEC co-chair, said the tech hub needed “someone of a rock star caliber who is extremely efficient and operationally talented” to take 1871 to “a whole other level.”

The leader’s visibility is important because 1871 attracts visitors and speakers the likes of AOL founder Steve Case, retiring Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and British Prime Minister David Cameron, O’Connor said.

O’Connor cited Tullman’s longevity, too, including Tullman’s founding of insurance claims-management firm CCC Information Services, Inc., 33 years ago, which he sold for $100 million, and “saving Kendall College by bringing it to Chicago and turning it into one of the Top 3 culinary schools in the United States.”

So far, 1871 boasts its startups in the first year have created 800 jobs, raised $40 million in investment capital and generated $15 million in taxable revenues.

O’Connor said the CEO job attracted many Chicago candidates throughout the search process, declining to give specifics.

“It’s the greatest job in Chicago,” O’Connor said. “You’re at the center of a tech revolution and you’re leading it.”

CEC MOMENTUM AWARDS DINNER