How Chicago's new tech execs are deploying their freshly minted wealth in the city's philanthropic scene
Kevin Willer, president and CEO of the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center
Photo by: Erik Unger“A lot of technology entrepreneurs are really about reinvesting back into the start-up community,” says Kevin Willer, president and CEO of the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center. “There's an unwritten rule that if you have success as a start-up person, you should reinvest your earnings—your winnings—back into the next generation of early-stage leaders and companies.”
Mr. Willer, who co-founded Google Inc.'s Chicago office before taking on his role at the CEC in March, is planning to do that himself. He's on the boards of several civic groups and non-profits, including the Illinois Technology Assn. and Urban Students Empowered, which aims to make college a reality for low-income Chicago students.
Mr. Willer notes that many technology entrepreneurs are also focused on youth education initiatives. “The start-up community is driven by having the right, talented workforce to run and grow these high-growth companies,” he says. “It's about, how can we be sure that the next-generation workforce is prepared for these types of jobs and that a company doesn't have to move away because they can't find the talent here?”
Mr. Willer notes that many tech entrepreneurs are focused on youth education initiatives.
He points to Eric Lefkofsky and Brad Keywell, founders of Groupon Inc., as examples of the trend. The duo also has a venture-capital fund, Lightbank. Mr. Keywell is planning “Chicago Ideas Week,” a non-profit festival slated for October that will feature scores of speakers giving short talks on ideas that could spawn new businesses or civic projects. “This weeklong celebration of ideas and innovation—Brad did that,” Mr. Willer says. “He didn't need to do it. He could have just written a check, but he's all about, ‘Let's do things differently and let's do things new.' “
Mr. Lefkofsky and his wife, Liz, also run the Lefkofsky Family Foundation, a charitable trust supporting scientific, civic and educational causes, with a special focus on women and children.
'CIVIC-MINDED'
Another local technology entrepreneur, Matt Moog, founded BuiltinChicago.org, a blog and networking hub for Chicago techies. He also feels technology entrepreneurs are interested in growing the start-up ecosystem and financing the educational and entrepreneurial projects that support it.
“It's more civic-minded—the idea that, what else can we do to help the next generation of entrepreneurs get together and succeed?” Mr. Moog says.
He contends that many more education groups serving low-income and minority students are getting attention from technology entrepreneurs, groups like the Chicago Technology Academy, I.C. Stars, Future Founders and the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship.
Tech entrepreneur Howard Tullman created Chicago-based Tribeca Flashpoint Academy of the Media Arts and Sciences, a for-profit school that offers associate's degrees in film and broadcast, recording arts, animation and visual effects, and game and interactive media. Mr. Tullman meets with city officials regularly to offer ideas for using technology to make government more efficient. He says the city administration is calling on technology leaders for more collaborative work on public-private projects.
One example is the Chicago Career Tech Initiative, a workforce-development program subsidized by city and state funds. Mr. Tullman's academy has trained about 100 students in a social media and marketing class through the program, which serves unemployed, middle-income students looking to enhance their job skills.
Leaders at Lumity, a Chicago-based non-profit that provides technology resources to other non-profits, say the city's economic crisis has prompted more collaborative work among technology leaders and government.
“The biggest trend and where Lumity is going is having the public and private sector come together,” says Kara Kennedy, Lumity's executive director. “Societal issues are only growing and government budgets are shrinking, so you'll see more coordinated efforts to address issues.”
© 2011 by Crain Communications Inc.