Learn the importance and value of advisory boards as you launch and grow your company. At this seminar you will learn from a panel of entrepreneurs who have successfully built strong advisory boards, and professionals who have served on boards of start-up/growing firms.

Topics to be covered will include:
- How to craft an effective and valuable board of advisors
- How to maximize the impact of advisors, individually and as a group
- How and when to compensate advisors

Panelists

Troy Henikoff
Troy is a serial entrepreneur and adjunct professor of Entrepreneurship at Northwestern University. He spent the last two years as President of Amacai, a consumer and business data company. Previously, Troy co-founded SurePayroll.com, an Internet based payroll service bureau focusing on companies with under 100 employees. Today, SurePayroll is the largest Internet payroll provider and the fifth largest payroll company in the country. Prior to SurePayroll, Troy led a team at Jellyvision, Inc. that created highly interactive multimedia experiences like “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” for Disney Interactive. He also founded Specialized Systems and Software which focused on creating custom database applications, and was purchased by Medline Industries in 1992. Additionally, Troy serves as a board member at the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center and Kohl Children’s Museum of Greater Chicago.

Ron Repking
Ron is CEO and Co-Founder of Capable Networks, which owns and operates the largest hybrid network of online communities that focuses solely on the consumer electronics vertical. Formerly the CEO and Co-Founder of privately-held Bauhaus Technologies, he grew the company to over 30 consultants and added major clients including Allstate, Northern Trust, Options Clearing Corporation, and Alliant Foodservice. In 2000, Ron oversaw and negotiated the purchase of Bauhaus by publicly-held BEA Systems, Inc. Ron earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Illinois.

Terry Howerton
Terry is founder and CEO of FastRoot, one of the leading SaaS operators behind the rapidly evolving software industry. FastRoot’s automation and platform-as-a-service is used by software and service providers to provision, deliver, manage and monetize their offering. A lifelong entrepreneur and technologist, Terry started his first successful business at the age of 15. He is the founding Chairman of the ITA, a technology trade association based in Chicago where he continues to champion the interests of more than 500 member companies. Terry is also the co-founder of TechNexus, a conference and office center in Chicago used by more than 1,500 technology executives a month and home to a dozen early stage companies. He serves as an advisor of several emerging companies and is the co-chairman of a new Chicago high school opening in 2009 started by Mayor Daley’s office to focus on technology entrepreneurship.