Turning the Light On Entrepreneur Week: The Speakers Continued

As if yesterday’s list didn’t suffice, here are three more speakers who have helped define the faces of their businesses, their cities, and even their countries. Now, they gather in New Orleans because they, like many others, have been inspired by the city’s enormous potential as a new hub of innovation and creativity.


Speech by The Honorable Mitch Landrieu, Tuesday, March 23
The newest Mayor of New Orleans, Landrieu recently made history and further added to the city’s momentum when he was elected with 66% of the citywide vote, an unprecedented result for a typically hotly contested seat. Already, he has taken direct action to promote New Orleans’s entrepreneurial movement, forming a jobs task force that includes the best and brightest of New Orleans and putting an emphasized focus on economic development in the region. Hearing Landrieu speak will be a special opportunity to observe the great potential for New Orleans as an innovative business hub.


Keynote Speech by Jim Coulter, Friday, March 26
Jim Coulter is a Founding Partner of TPG Capital, Inc. TPG Capital, Inc. (also known as the Texas Pacific Group) is a leading global private equity firm with 15 offices around the world and assets under management in excess of $50 billion. Coulter has served on numerous corporate and charitable Boards including the Stanford Board of Trustees, Lenovo Group International, Continental Airlines, Northwest Airlines, IMS Health, J Crew Group, Inc., Neiman Marcus Group and Common Sense Media. He is a graduate of Dartmouth College and the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

The keynote will kick off the Coulter Challenge, a day of intense action that will mark the culmination of New Orleans Entrepreneur Week. Even if you can’t make it, we will be streaming this live, so you can visit noew.org to tune in!


Speech by General Wesley Clark, Friday, March 26
General Clark serves as Chairman and CEO of Wesley K. Clark & Associates, a strategic consulting firm; Chairman of investment bank Rodman & Renshaw; Co-Chairman of Growth Energy; senior fellow at UCLA's Burkle Center for International Relations; Director of International Crisis Group; Chairman of City Year Little Rock; as well as numerous corporate boards. General Clark has authored three books and serves as a member of the Clinton Global Initiative's Energy & Climate Change Advisory Board, and ACORE's Advisory Board. He is a retired four-star general who graduated first in his class at West Point and was a Rhodes Scholar. His impressive military accomplishments, which include serving in Vietnam and saving 1.5 million Albanians from ethnic cleansing, have earned him numerous prestigious accolades.


Also, as we move yet another day nearer to the start of Entrepreneur Week, here’s a great article from BusinessWeek discussing the entrepreneurial fervor that is gripping business school campuses nationwide.

Entrepreneurial Spirit Soars on B-School Campuses

New Orleans is adeptly crafting its niche as a city that offers a collaborative, stimulating environment conducive to entrepreneurial action. Now, with the help of an ever-growing team of inspired, intelligent, and innovative students and business leaders, we’ll ensure that the success stories continue to accumulate and the nation sees the revitalized, re-energized New Orleans.

Tomorrow we continue our series with the Entrepreneur Week sponsors, without whose generous assistance this event would not be possible!

IT’S ON IN NOLA!