MEET OUR BOARD

Who makes up the leadership of Startup Champions Network? Black Belt Ecosystem Builders who are dedicated to advancing the field, working to build their ecosystems and volunteering to keep Startup Champions Networking thriving.

Mark Lawrence is our Board Chair. Mark is currently the founder and managing partner of Inncuvate, a full-stack entrepreneurship-led economic development enterprise that specializes in creating purpose-built programs and places that create an environment that merges ideation, invention, incubation, commercialization, and collaboration into local innovation centers that transforms the communities where they are located. Mark is an advisor, investor, and active part of management teams of a couple of the Mid-Atlantic region’s most promising high-growth startups. He is active on the boards of several entrepreneur support organizations and a mentor for several entrepreneur development organizations. Read more about his work here.

Tom Chapman is our immediate Past President and is the founder and principal at Chapman & Company, one of the premier organizations for measuring early-stage ecosystem metrics. He has helped hundreds of early-stage companies grow and has worked on product validation in healthcare, software, government, e-commerce, and other fields. Tom is also the instructor and designer of our Ecosystem Health Challenge.

Toni Eberhart is our Vice Chair and serves as the Executive Director of the Urban Engine in Hunstville, Alabama. Urban Engine's mission is to propel the growth of Alabama’s economy by connecting aspiring entrepreneurs and established business leadership to educational resources, talent, and community.

Rick Turoczy is our Board Secretary and the Cofounder and General Manager at PIE (Portland Incubator Experiment), Co-founder of Built Oregon, writer of all things Portland at Silicon Florist, and about a dozen other things. Rick is engaged in supporting any number of projects around the Portland, Oregon, startup community, as well as working with other accelerators, incubators, and founders around the world. All as part of an effort to recognize the work of amazing entrepreneurs and highlight interesting startups in Oregon.

Paulo Gregory Harris serves as Chair of our Intercultural Unity (ICU) committee. He is the inventor of Cohado, a flexible design structure and tool to understand collaborative and sustainable design. Paulo is also the President of Cohado Consulting, a social enterprise dedicated to leveling the economic game through developing models and vehicles for economic ascension of economically starved communities, and the Director of Ignoma Foundation, whose mission is to develop sustainable solutions to poverty. He recently launched the Black Butterfly Network and Exchange in Baltimore (more about that here).

Christina Oldfather is the Chair of our Membership Committee. Christina is an entrepreneurial community builder in Lincoln, Nebraska (startuplnk.com) and is currently working as the Workforce Development Director for Rabble Mill. She is also the Founder of the LaunchLNK initiative, NMotion Accelerator mentor, and an organizer for 1 Million Cups Lincoln, Lincoln Startup Week, and JumpStart Challenge.

Darlisa Diltz has blazed the trail of entrepreneurship with passion and force. As a 1st generation college student and Entrepreneur, she has played a vital role in several ecosystem building initiatives worldwide.  She is the Chief Entrepreneurship Strategist for Foundations Entrepreneur Development Company based in Dallas/Fort Worth Texas, which was the first for-profit, black owned, woman owned business service organization with an entrepreneur education distinction in the DFW Metroplex. Darlisa is a well known speaker, community advocate and currently leads the 4-county wide Global Entrepreneurship Week initiative for North Texas.

Debbie Irwin is a (failed) entrepreneur and leader with a passion for fostering new ideas and supporting the entrepreneurial community. Currently serving as the Managing Director of Lighthouse Labs, Debbie has a rich background in strategic leadership and ecosystem building. Previously, she held the position of Executive Director at the Shenandoah Community Capital Fund, where she significantly expanded the organization's budget and secured substantial grants to support small businesses. Debbie can be found exploring the outdoors with her three kids and husband and taking in the beauty of the Shenandoah Valley where she resides.

Eric Parker, AIA is an Architect and Ecosystem Builder focused on credentialing and data standardization to advance the field of entrepreneur support and improve access to capital for disadvantaged founders. As Cofounder and CEO of Make Startups, he has helped ESOs nationwide to launch workforce development funded programs, and helped introduce legislation to improve funding options for entrepreneurs and their support organizations through workforce development. He also serves as Founder and President of theClubhou.se, Owner and Architect of CONima, and previously served on the boards of the Southeast Makers Alliance, Technology Association of Georgia, 1MillionCups Augusta, TEDxAugusta, and the Augusta Library. 

Liz Truong is the Director of Operations for SCN. She has over 15 years of work in executive leadership and organization management for non-profit organizations. She received the Certified Fundraising Executive (CFRE) certification distinction from CFRE International and the Certified Association Executive (CAE) certification from ASAE. Whitney Wilkinson will work in a support role for SCN. Liz & Whitney are based out of Gig Harbor, WA.