Tech @ Breakfast (June 6): Professional Development & Continuing Education For the Local Tech Sector

For the working adult in the technology sector it can be very difficult, if not impossible, to find local professional development or continuing education programs that fit your busy schedule. Join us on June 6 at the CAER in Forest, VA for breakfast and to learn more about several local options that you may have never heard of.

Speakers: John Wood, Ranken Technical College – James Grooves, UVA/CGEP – Bob Bailey, CAER – and others.

Details

When: Wednesday June 6, 2012 from 7:30 AM to 9:00 AM
Where: The Center For Advanced Engineering & Research,  1173 Research Way Forest, VA 24551
Cost: Members: $10, Non-Members: $15

The CAER is located at 1173 Research Way, Forest, VA in the New London Business and Technology Center located on Rt. 460, one mile west of Rt. 811 (Thomas Jefferson Road) intersection in Bedford County, Virginia.

REGISTER NOW

Over a Dozen Expert Speakers. Regional Technology Awards. Business Networking. Only 11 Days Left…Register Now!

For the past 10 years our annual technology awards banquet has been the highlight of our year. This year we are expanding our awards night into TechEDGE 2012, a half-day regional technology conference (a first in our area!) and we want you to be a part.

• Come learn from and interact with regional and statewide expert leaders in business, technology and education.  
• Come be a part of the local technology community as we honor those of you who are leading the way with our annual technology awards.   
• Come network with movers and shakers and others in the local technology and business community. 

Our Executive Director Jonathan Whitt recently talked with the Lynchburg radio station WLNI about our upcoming TechEDGE 2012 regional conference. If you haven’t registered now is the time as registration is quickly filling up. Check out the video below of Jonathan’s interview:

This year's Jr First Lego League Expo was a huge success!

Only in its third annual season, the Region 2000 Jr. FIRST LEGO League Expo was a huge success! Held last Saturday, April 28^th, the event has grown to include 251 youth team members and coaches. 16 different organizations participated representing local elementary schools, clubs, and homeschool groups.

Many Jr. FLL Teams began meeting in February to prepare a display board and LEGO model to present a solution to the real world problem related to food safety. Teams took a variety of approaches at solving the “Snack Attack” theme by building projects that solved issues such as keeping food frozen, building safe handling food processing facilities, and keeping farm to table foods free of contamination.

First year coach Kristine Lloyd with Bedford Hills Elementary quoted about her Jr. FLL experience,

“I had a wonderful experience coaching Jr. FIRST. The Jr. FIRST program challenges the students to higher level thinking by presenting them with a real world challenge. Through the process, it was fascinating to watch each student recognize and explore their own individual and unique strengths and then use these qualities to problem solve and work collaboratively as a team. On top of everything, it was just fun!”

The Future Focus Foundation, the education foundation of the Region 2000 Technology Council with the support of local sponsors including AREVA, the Lynchburg Retail Merchants Foundation, and the Region 2000 Technology Council, hosted the Region 2000 Jr. FLL Expo. Additional contributors and partners included Central Virginia Community College, Texas Roadhouse, Bedford Cooperative Extension, and Sweet Frog.

This event could not be possible without the help of almost 30 volunteers who represented organizations and industry such as AREVA, Lynchburg City Schools, B&W, Bedford County Library, Campbell County Schools, the Center for Advanced Engineering and Research, Liberty University, and Sweet Briar College.

For more information related to the Jr. FIRST LEGO League program visit the Future Focus Foundation Website at www.futurefocusfoundation.us. Photos of the event will be available on the newly organized Region 2000 STEM Network.  All regional educators, students, parents, and industry personnel interested in STEM education are encouraged to join the network at www.region2000stemnetwork.com.

Will you be at the Lynchburg Area Jr FIRST Lego League Expo?

The Region 2000 Jr. FIRST LEGO League Expo will be held tomorrow, April 28, 2012 at Timberlake Christian School.  Many Regional Jr. FLL teams have been conducting meetings since February to prepare their team for the Expo event and we are looking forward to seeing their hard work come to fruition.

As always we will have quite a crowd with around 240 participants composed of thirty-five teams from all around the regional area. Joined by parents, family and friends cheering them on, students will discover just how fun science, technology and team building can be. We look forward to seeing all of you there!

Also, we were mentioned on WLNI and check out these photos from the News & Advance of the Jr. FLL team at Paul Munro Elementary School in Lynchburg.

TechEDGE 2012: registration is filling up. Will you be there?

Registration is filling up for our largest event of the year- the new regional conference, TechEDGE that will take place in downtown Lynchburg May 15. We don’t want you to miss out on this gathering of local movers and shakers as we come together to explore how technology will shape the Region 2000 economy in the years ahead.

With a line up of strategic regional and statewide panelists, local technology leadership awards, and extended networking we believe TechEDGE will follow in the tradition of our past annual awards gatherings as a premiere event for the entire technology, business and education community.

Awards will be presented in the following categories:

• Innovator of the Year
• STEM Educator of the Year
• Technology Company of the Year
• Entrepreneur of the Year

Speakers will include:

Leadership Session:

• Jeff Halfinger, Babcock & Wilcox 
• Chuck Shaughnessy, Harris Corporation
• Dave Keller, LUMOS Networks  

Entrepreneurship Session:

• Dr. Jo Ellen Parker, Sweet Briar College
• Mr. Rubens Marcilio Jr., Liberty University
• Michael Drzal, LeClair Ryan 
• Jim Flowers, Virginia Tech

STEM Education Session:

• Margaret “Meg” Smith, Virginia Teacher of the Year
• Dr. John Capps, Central VA Community College
• Elizabeth Creamer, Commonwealth of Virginia  

Innovation Session:

• Mr. Des Black , AREVA
• David Ihrie, Virginia’s CIT
• Michael Pirron, Impact Makers
• Bob Donahoe, Rhodes Donahoe, P.C.

We are also offering a chance for Tech Council member organizations and STEM education focused groups to become exhibitors during our evening Networking Reception. Contact Jonathan Whitt if interested: jwhitt [at] techcouncil [dot] us or 434-847-1447

April 30, 2012 | Reception for Ruth Hendrick at CVCC

At the beginning of the year Central Virginia Community College welcomed Ruth Hendrick as the new Vice President of Workforce Development and Continuing Education. This coming April 30th CVCC will hold an open welcoming reception to allow the whole community to get acquainted with Mrs. Hendrick. Please come out, show your support and let her know “how CVCC’s Workforce office can help you grow your business”. A word from the News & Advance:

“This January, Hendrick came to Lynchburg for a key leadership role at Central Virginia Community College — vice president of workforce development and continuing education.

She is CVCC’s primary link to local business and industry. Her job is to develop training for Lynchburg’s current and future workforce by collaborating with leaders in Region 2000.

Workforce development coordinates everything from robotics training for the engineering sector to Spanish classes for local businesses that want to better serve Hispanic customers.” (Continue Reading at NewsAdvance.com)

Future Focus EXPO

Future Focus Expo, the popular career exploration event begun in 2006 by the Region 2000 Technology Council has been discontinued due to lack of a suitable venue. Ongoing construction projects at Liberty University have changed the availability of Tolsma Track, the Expo location used in past years. Future Focus Expo requires a large meeting space with adequate parking and easily accessible roads to handle students being bussed from multiple counties to attend the event.

Region 2000 Technology Council Executive Director, Jonathan Whitt the founder of the event, stated:

“Technology Council staff and the Future Focus Foundation Board did not take the decision to cancel Future Focus Expo lightly as we have seen the positive impacts of this event across the region. Plans to host the event again have been up in the air ever since our last Expo and we wanted to let our area business know about this decision. We have explored many options and to be honest had already reached the limit in the number of participants able to attend the event. The unavailability of a venue and the already present need to reach more students, has helped us begin to reframe our thinking.

Connecting the technology community and STEM education are integral to the Tech Council and Future Focus Foundation’s missions. Although we are unable to offer the Future Focus Expo in a format similar to what was seen in the past, we will continue work in finding new methods of connecting industry and education. The Tech Council and Future Focus Foundation have already begun working on initiatives that will provide in-depth exploratory STEM experiences to develop our students’ passions and build our future industry leaders. I encourage area businesses that have been faithful supporters of the Future Focus Expo to join with us in embracing new opportunities to make a difference in our region.”

What does the new crowdfunding bill mean for entrepreneurs and small businesses?

The following article by Joel Nied of LeClairRyan is an insightful examination of the changing environment in Washington towards ‘crowdfunding’ and entrepreneurship as both the Senate and House of Representatives pursue landmark legislation.

The Entrepreneur Access to Capital Act (EACA), which has been dubbed the “Crowdfunding Bill,” has been approved overwhelmingly by the House of Representatives. The Senate passed a similar bill, the Capital Raising Online While Deterring Fraud and Unethical Non-Disclosure Act, on March 22, 2012¹. Assuming the final bill approved by both legislative bodies more closely resembles the EACA and is signed into law, the only remaining question about the EACA will be the effect it will have on the startup community.

The answer is that the impact will be stunning. Although discussions about the EACA have focused on “crowdfunding,” the reality is that the EACA is a new, broad exemption in the heavily regulated realm of stock sales. First, I will describe the current state of selling stock in a startup. Then, I will discuss how the EACA will turn that process on its head.

Currently, federal and state law, and the corresponding regulations, govern the sale of securities (stock, membership interests, limited partnership interests, warrants, options, etc.) sold by every company. For the sake of brevity, all forms of securities will be referred to as “stock” in this alert. It doesn’t matter if the stock sale is conducted by a publicly traded multinational company or a one-man startup issuing stock to the founder’s brother. Every sale is governed by a complex web of state and federal laws and regulations. In general, no company, whether a corporation, limited liability or limited partnership, can sell stock without registering the stock (such as through an IPO), or finding an exemption to registration.

The exemption most commonly relied upon by startups is the “Regulation D” exemption, also known as the “Reg. D” or “private placement” exemption. The Regulation D exemption, although widely used, is fairly restrictive. The exemption is a compromise. On the one hand, the startup’s stock offering documents and structure are not subject to prior review by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The disclosure requirements are lax, as well. Under some circumstances, the startup is not required to provide any material amount of information to prospective investors. On the other hand, the startup cannot advertise the offering or publicly solicit investors. Further, the startup cannot compensate a third party (an intermediary) for successfully soliciting investors, unless the intermediary is a licensed broker-dealer.

Although the two restrictions above sound benign, they prohibit startups from doing what they often do best: marketing and leveraging relationships. Startups using the Regulation D exemption cannot advertise on the internet (or any other medium) that they are selling stock. They cannot send out e-mail blasts and they cannot put notices on supermarket bulletin boards. The commonly accepted interpretation of the prohibition against public solicitation and advertising is that a startup can only approach people with whom the founders have a preexisting relationship.

That public solicitation restriction often leads startups to seek intermediaries to find the investors for them. The practice of using intermediaries that are not registered broker-dealers is widespread. Using unregistered broker-dealers, however, is unequivocally prohibited and can lead to an unwinding of the investment, significant civil penalties and, arguably, criminal penalties.

The EACA eliminates the public solicitation restriction and the intermediary restriction. The ultimate application of the EACA is largely dependent on the regulations put in place by the SEC. The language of the bill, however, appears to make it a game-changer. The constant reference to the bill as the “crowdfunding” bill hides the scope of the change the EACA brings to the entrepreneurial environment in this country.

The days of relying on friends and family, word of mouth and good connections will be over. Rather, a startup with virtually no history, no money and a savvy marketing plan will be able to raise up to $2,000,000 from as many investors as it can reach. Anyone who has tried to raise money under the Regulation D regime will realize the stunning change — gone are the days of ferreting out and trying to impress the local angel investors or hiring the “right” accountant or “business advisor,” all to get the first $200,000 needed to prove the business model or perfect the product. With the right idea and the right marketing, anyone, anywhere, will be able to raise money.

The EACA also allows intermediaries, whether registered broker-dealers or not, to offer stocks on behalf of startups for compensation. That means that currently existing crowdfunding sites, with minor modifications, will start selling stock. The EACA will be a boon to startups.

It will not, however, be without headaches and pitfalls. The conventional method for structuring startups assumes the startup will have a handful of investors living in one or a few states. The EACA will result in a startup having dozens, if not hundreds, of investors potentially living in every state in the nation. Startups that are anticipating venture capital investment after the EACA raise will have to consider how to structure the EACA investment to fit within the framework of the new law and the future VC investment.

Founders will also have to consider which state’s business laws most favor the founders of a company with hundreds of small investors. Also, founders will have to deal with logistics, organizational structure and the relevant state statutes so that they do not inadvertently end up in a situation where they need hundreds of people to approve changes in the business structure, elections of directors or amendments to the organizational documents. Without some forethought, the accounting expenses alone could dwarf the amount raised by the startup.

The EACA, if it becomes law in its current form, will create dramatic and positive changes to the startup funding process. Founders who are aware of the opportunity and plan for growth after their “crowdfunding” raise will reap the benefits of this radical departure from the currently available capital-raising methods.

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1) There is no need to give the Senate bill a nickname. The acronym for the bill, which must have been dreamed up by one of the apparently dozens of legislative aides who think it is clever if the acronym of a bill refers to the substance of the bill itself, is CROWDFUND.

(source: LeClairRyan)

new Future Focus Foundation website and STEM network launches!

The Region 2000 Technology Council’s Future Focus Foundation has taken its engagement with the regional community to a higher level through the launch of a new website.  The new website is dedicated not only to the Foundation’s own events, but will also include updates on other regional STEM programming opportunities for K-12 youth.  The website’s simple layout was carefully selected with a responsive design that makes it easily accessible to all computers and especially mobile devices.

The site also includes a blog and a page dedicated to helping viewers register for the the new “Virginia’s Region 2000 STEM Network.”  The online STEM network offers the opportunity for local educators, parents, and industry professionals interested in STEM education to interact in a web-based community forum.

Elizabeth Narehood, Managing Director of the Future Focus Foundation, had this to say about the new website, “The new Future Focus Foundation website is a wonderful addition that will raise the visibility of the Foundation and the STEM education initiatives across the region.  The site is a great medium for us to share our numerous stories and impacts with the community.  The website also offers explanation on how someone can become a part of the Region 2000 STEM Network, a private network for sharing STEM ideas, stories, and events.  I encourage anyone interested in STEM education to join the network, sign up for our newsletter, and if you are on Facebook, Twitter, or You Tube please check out our new social media channels!”

The Future Focus Foundation website  can be viewed at: www.FutureFocusFoundation.us