About

New Orleans Entrepreneur Week Chairs

New Orleans Entrepreneur Week Chairs

Mark Romig

Mark Romig

NOEW Chairman - VP for Marketing and PR, Hospital Corporation America (HCA)

A native New Orleanian, Mark is Vice-President, Marketing and Public Relations for the Delta Division of HCA Inc. (Hospital Corporation of America). HCA is one of the nation’s largest healthcare providers, operating hospitals in 20 states and England, and employs more than 180,000 people. The Delta Division encompasses HCA’s Louisiana and Mississippi operations, including its partnership with Tulane University at Tulane Medical Center and Tulane-Lakeside Hospital. As the Division Vice-President, Mark is responsible for coordinating the communication and marketing activities.

Prior to joining HCA, Mark served as President of Peter A. Mayer Advertising’s Public Relations Division. Mark has also served as Vice President and Business and Community Development Manager at Hibernia National Bank and on the staff of U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elizabeth Dole in Washington, D.C. Mark also served as Director of Protocol and Guest Relations for the 1984 World’s Fair. He was also part of the development team that built the New Orleans Inter-Continental Hotel.

Mark attended Brother Martin High School and The University of New Orleans, where he received his B.S. in 1978. Active in his community, Mark is a member of the Board of Trustees for Xavier University of Louisiana and serves as Assistant Secretary. He serves on the New Orleans Workforce Investment Board and is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Emeril Lagasse Foundation and the North-American Interfraternity Conference (NIC). He is president of the Fontainebleau Improvement Association and is affiliated with City Year – Louisiana, serving as a City Year – Louisiana Champion.

Mark also serves as member of the City Park Board of Commissioners and on the Executive Leadership Council of the American Cancer Society (New Orleans area). He is immediate past Chairman of the Board of The Idea Village and an emeritus member of the Fore!Kids Foundation, producers of the annual PGA TOUR ‘s Zurich Classic of New Orleans. He is also a past president and chairman of the board of the Sugar Bowl Committee, heading up the organization in the year following Katrina when the annual football game was relocated to Atlanta. He also served as president of Project Lazarus and Southern Repertory Theater. Mark is past international president of Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE), and a former board member of the TKE Educational Foundation.

Margo Dubos

Margo Dubos

NOEW Co-Chair - President & CEO/Publisher, Gambit

Margo DuBos is the wildly successful publisher of Gambit, an alternative magazine that, under her guidance, has grown from a small-time local weekly to one of the most successful alternative magazines in the country. She also puts on and serves as executive producer the Big Easy Awards, a yearly award show that has been hosted by Ellen DeGeneres and John Goodman.

Recently named one of City Business' Women of the Year, DuBos is a living success story for the power of innovation and tenacity in business. A longstanding friend of The Idea Village, we are delighted to have her serving as one of our Entrepreneur Week Co-Chairs.

David Sylvester

David Sylvester

NOEW Co-Chair - Partner, Venture Philanthropy Partners

David Sylvester is a partner at Venture Philanthropy Partners. For 24 years, Sylvester was an attorney whose practice included advising private and public companies in the areas of early through late-stage venture capital financings, public offerings of securities, mergers and acquisitions, securities law and general corporate law. In 2000, he established the Northern Virginia office of Hale and Dorr, LLP now Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering Hale and Dorr, LLP, where he was instrumental in connecting early stage companies in the region with venture capital financing and assisting later stage companies access the public capital markets. Companies he assisted include CareerBuilder, OTG Software, Proxicom, and Ciena. Prior to joining Wilmer, Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr, Sylvester worked with Silicon Valley companies such as Electronic Arts and Apple Computer at the firm of Fenwick & West in Palo Alto.

Sylvester has been recognized for exceptional standing in the legal community in the areas of corporate and Mergers and Acquisitions by Chambers USA: America's Leading Lawyers for Business in 2003 through 2006. He was selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America in the areas of leveraged buyouts and private equity and securities law. Throughout his career, Sylvester has been active in the community. A New Orleans native and former New Orleans public housing resident, he has spent the last year working on both informal and formal rebuilding efforts in the hurricane damaged region, spending a week a month in that city. He serves on the Board of Governors of the Isidore Newman School and on the Board of Directors of The Idea Village Inc., a nonprofit business accelerator, both in New Orleans. He is a past president and current member of the Board of VPP investment partner Heads Up, a leading provider of after school and summer programs in Washington, DC. He is also a past president and former member of the Board of Directors of the AHC, Inc., a private nonprofit organization that provides low- and moderate-income housing to more than 6,000 residents in the Mid-Atlantic Region. In addition, Sylvester has served as pro bono General Counsel to the Midnight Basketball League, Inc. and to the National Association of Midnight Basketball Leagues, Inc., is a former member of the Board and General Counsel to the Mid-Atlantic Venture Association (MAVA), and is a former member of the Executive Committee of the Arlington, Virginia, chapter of the NAACP.

Emeril Lagasse

Emeril Lagasse

NOEW Honorary Chair - Chef, Restaurateur, Television Personality & Author

Chef Emeril Lagasse is the chef/proprietor of thirteen restaurants including three in New Orleans (Emeril's, NOLA and Emeril's Delmonico); four in Las Vegas (Emeril's New Orleans Fish House, Delmonico Steakhouse, Table 10 and Lagasse's Stadium); two in Orlando (Emeril's Orlando and Tchoup Chop); one in Miami (Emeril's Miami Beach), one in Gulfport, MS (Emeril's Gulf Coast Fish House), and two at the Sands Casino Resort Bethlehem in Pennsylvania (Emeril's Chop House and Burgers And More by Emeril).

Lagasse is a national TV personality, and has hosted over 1500 shows on the Food Network, and is the food correspondent for ABC's Good Morning America. He is the host of Emeril Green, an original series exploring fresh and seasonal ingredients, which airs on Discovery's Planet Green. His show Essence of Emeril can be seen on Food Network, and Emeril Live appears on both Fine Living and Food Network.

Lagasse is the best-selling author of fourteen cookbooks including Emeril's New New Orleans Cooking which introduced his creative take on Creole cuisine. In September 2008, Lagasse announced a multi-year, 10-book project with HarperStudio, a new imprint of HarperCollins. The chef's first book with HarperStudio, Emeril at the Grill, quickly became a New York Times bestseller. His newest book, Emeril 20-40-60: Fresh Food Fast debuted on October 27, 2009.

In September 2002, Emeril established the Emeril Lagasse Foundation to support and encourage culinary arts and education programs for children. Projects funded include an outdoor classroom, gardens, and Edible Cafeteria and Teaching Kitchen at Edible Schoolyard New Orleans. As of November 2009, the foundation has contributed $3.2 million to organizations in New Orleans and on the Gulf Coast.

Lagasse's restaurant company, Emeril's Homebase, is located in New Orleans and houses culinary operations, a test kitchen for recipe development, and a boutique store for his signature products.

Emeril Lagasse joined the Martha Stewart family of brands in 2008; Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (NYSE: MSO) acquired the assets related to Emeril's media and merchandising business, including television programming, cookbooks, and emerils.com website and his licensed kitchen and food products.

Rita Benson LeBlanc

Rita Benson LeBlanc

NOEW Honorary Chair - Owner/Executive Vice President, New Orleans Saints

Owner/Executive Vice President Rita Benson LeBlanc is the leader of the business operations of the New Orleans Saints, with responsibilities that include overseeing all sales and marketing efforts, the club's community and youth programs, game day entertainment and stadium operations. She has served in nearly every department within the organization and was a key administrator in this year's Super Bowl XLIV-winning team.

LeBlanc represents the club at NFL Ownership Meetings, where she chairs the league's Employee Benefits Committee and serves on the NFL International Committee. She played an integral role in the Saints playing in London in 2008 - with her primary objective being to stimulate the economy of the Gulf South on an international level. LeBlanc also worked tirelessly in the successful campaign to land the 2013 Super Bowl for New Orleans.

LeBlanc is on the board of directors of Zelia, Inc., which is redeveloping the Benson Towers and surrounding downtown properties in partnership with the State of Louisiana. She is also a board member of the Louisiana Media Company, including her active involvement in the daily operation of WVUE FOX-8, and is an executive producer with Horizon Entertainment.

LeBlanc is part of the city's new leadership - a member of Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu's Economic Development Task Force, a supporter of social entrepreneurship and at the forefront of developing charitable initiatives. Annually, the Saints put $5 million in charitable contributions, goods and services back into New Orleans and the Gulf South region.

She has been recognized for her work on behalf of the team and community by being named one of the 40 most influential sports executives under the age of 40 by Street and Smith's Sports Business Journal in both 2007 and 2008, and LeBlanc was also honored in New York as one of three selections by vote for WISE's (Women in Sports and Events) "Women of the Year."

LeBlanc is a graduate of Texas A&M University - studying abroad for a semester in Italy focusing on international finance and art - and also received a certificate in International Business from the Lowry Mays School of Business. She was a member of the inaugural class of the NFL Managers Program at Stanford University's Executive Education Graduate School of Business.

Special Guests

James Carville, Jim Coulter, Bob Brown, General Wesley Clark, Amy Cosper, Dr. Scott Cowen, Mark Cuban, Michael Hecht, Walter Isaacson, Julie Silard Kantor, Robin Keegan, The Honorable Mitch Landrieu, Mary Matalin, Irvin Mayfield, Stephen Perry, Peter Reiling, Hugh Weber & Kurt Weigle

  • "Inspired by Design"

    Entrepreneur.com - 5/3/10

    Just recently, Hardy was chosen as one of seven entrepreneurs to partner with an MBA team in New Orleans Entrepreneur Week 2010, when over 150 top MBA students, corporate volunteers, and our nation's most accomplished entrepreneurial talent congregated and collaborated in New Orleans to provide 9,121 hours of direct service to 329 early-stage New Orleans entrepreneurs....

  • "Reaping the Reward"

    myNewOrleans.com - 4/8/10

    What a year it has been so far! And now we are smack in the middle of festival season: Pinch me, I must be dreaming in the land of dreamy scenes. As good as it has been (Thank you, Saints. Thank you, Mitch. Thank you, Rex, etc.), plenty has been going on in parallel to all the Big Things that should not go unnoticed.

  • "How Businesses Are Launched, Big Easy Style"

    GOOD - 4/8/10

    Right after Hurricane Katrina hit, the academic world responded to the disaster. Schools sent students to do relief work, symposiums were planned.... Over spring break, while many of their peers lapped up tropical-flavored drinks, business students from around the country flew to New Orleans, where they were matched with local entrepreneurs as part of Idea Village's Entrepreneur Week.

  • "C.U. Team Takes First Place in Entrepreneur Challenge"

    The Cornell Daily Sun - 4/2/10

    The first time's a charm. The Johnson School of Management team travelled to New Orleans from Mar. 20 to Mar. 27 to compete for the first time in the Entrepreneur Challenge and won first place - beating out rival business schools Stanford, Northwestern, University of California-Berkeley and University of Chicago.

  • "Big Easy Blends wins Entrepreneur Week competition"

    New Orleans CityBusiness - 3/30/10

    Big Easy Blends, makers of the portable potable Mar-GO-rita, were chosen winners of New Orleans Entrepreneur Week’s competition among up and coming businesses. One of CityBusiness’ Innovator of the Year honoree in 2009, Big Easy Blends was founded in 2007 by Craig Cordes....

  • "Jazz Festival for Entrepreneurship"

    TravelTalk Media - 3/28/10

    Mixing work with fun is a longtime New Orleans specialty and nobody does it better. Mix they did again this week in the Big Easy for the annual New Orleans Entrepreneur Week where some of the nation’s most creative minds congregated to celebrate, support and promote entrepreneurship and innovation.

  • "Johnson School team wins New Orleans IdeaCorps Challenge!"

    Cornell University The Johnson School - 3/27/10

    A team from the Johnson School, participating in their first IdeaCorps Challenge in New Orleans, took first place among other visiting business-school teams from Kellogg, Booth, Haas and Stanford.

  • "Students team up for New Orleans Entrepreneur Week"

    Tulane University Freeman School of Business - 3/27/10

    Jack and Jake's Local and Organic Market is a new business that plans to bring locally grown food to customers in underserved neighborhoods within three days of harvest, but to achieve that goal, the company first needs a top-notch distribution system. That’s where a team of MBA students from Tulane, Loyola and UNO comes in.

  • "New Orleans entrepreneurs merge commercial and social-welfare interests"

    The Times-Picayune - 3/23/10

    Hurricane Katrina disrupted the sense of detachment and malaise that can often envelope communities, and in doing so it laid the groundwork for a burgeoning innovative entrepreneurial community in New Orleans, the president and chief executive officer of the Aspen Institute said Monday.

  • "Entrepreneur Week Kicks Off In New Orleans"

    Good NOLA - 3/22/10

    Entrepreneur Week Kicks Off In New Orleans. Entrepreneur Week in New Orleans is a meeting of the minds for upstart businesses and up-and-coming talent. The week is about matching top business talent from across the country with ...

  • "Village Capital and The Idea Village: Starting Social Enterprises"

    TechDrawl - 3/21/10

    The Idea Village in New Orleans is an excellent model for how a small group of dedicated entrepreneurs have created a remarkable ecosystem. A group of young entrepreneurs in New Orleans went to Atlanta, New York, Boston, and Chicago, did well in start-ups and finance, and then moved back to the city....

  • "Entrepreneur Week billed as Jazz Fest for business"

    The Times-Picayune - 3/21/10

    Despite their splashy appearance, the three-foot-long, black and yellow flags emblazoned with a light bulb and the phrase "It's On In NOLA" that were sent to businesses around the metro area this month may prove to be an understated way ...

  • "Bloomberg Television to focus on New Orleans entrepreneurs"

    The Times-Picayune - 3/19/10

    The digital-cable business network Bloomberg Television will present a live New Orleans edition of "On the Road with Betty Liu" on Tuesday (March 23) from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m.

  • "Idea Village sets economic development pace"

    New Orleans CityBusiness - 3/19/10

    Let's spend a few minutes celebrating a victory and remembering what could have been. First of all, congratulations to The Idea Village for making its 10th year and helping countless New Orleans area entrepreneurs make something of themselves and their good ideas.

  • "Big Help in the Big Easy"

    Inc.com - 3/17/10

    Organizers of New Orleans Entrepreneurship Week estimate the event will provide some $900,000 worth of consulting to local businesses. New Orleans already is the fastest-growing city in the U.S. - and a local nonprofit wants its businesses (and hopefully, a reputation for fostering innovation) to keep pace.

  • "Johnson School team to be part of Entrepreneur Week's IDEACorps"

    Cornell - 3/16/10

    A team of Johnson School students has, for the first time, been invited to compete with the best in the Idea Village Entrepreneur Challenge in New Orleans, LA from March 20-28. The challenge, which is part of Entrepreneur Week, charges teams from the nation's leading MBA schools to use their professional skills in short-term, high impact service roles in the revitalization of New Orleans.

  • "New Orleans Entrepreneurship Week: Meet With Google, Deloitte, Salesforce.com"

    BayouBuzz.com - 3/3/10

    Google, Deloitte and Salesforce.com…Jazz Fest of Entrepreneurship…What a week…Attend Friday's Introduction, Cocktail Party and Mingler. Idea Village, a leading organization in Southeast Louisiana is announcing Entrepreneur Week which will be a week-long event involving many New Orleans sites, business and major national industry leaders.

  • "Blue Ocean: Can the popular business strategy help Louisiana find its next big catch?"

    1012 Corridor - 2/9/10

    When state economic development officials talk about the kinds of companies they want to attract to Louisiana, they point to TurboSquid.

  • "Receivables Exchange capitalizes on the down economy"

    The Times-Picayune

    Nic Perkin and The Receivables Exchange, an online auctionhouse for accounts receivable are trailblazing for a new generation of entrepreneurs by capitalizing on a huge theoretical market. New Orleans is welcoming driven entrepreneurs with open arms, says Tim Williamson, co-founder of The Idea Village. "The biggest ideas are the ones that have skepticism in the beginning."

  • "Back in Business After Katrina"

    CNN - 10/22/09

    Sean Callebs reports on how Rock 'n Bowl bounced back after Hurricane Katrina. Rock 'n Bowl discusses with CNN the generous grant he received from The Idea Village which made it possible for them to quickly open their doors to the public news-Katrina.

  • "The New NOLA Tech Zone"

    Where Y'At Magazine - 10/15/09

    According to Tim Williamson, President and Co-founder of the Idea Village, New Orleans possesses, among other things, a university system and a creative culture. New Orleans is also a "worldwide brand." "The good news is that the foundation is there," Williamson says.

  • "After the Storm: New Orleans' economic rebirth"

    CNN - 8/27/09

    "If you look at the people that have come since Katrina, there has been this influx of talent who has come to New Orleans, initially to help, but now they are here to stay and live and to grow new companies. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to reinvent an American city," Tim Williamson said.

  • "Entrepreneurs Take to 'Big Easy'"

    Wall Street Journal - 8/24/09

    Small-business owners who left are now coming back, driven by a sense of mission to help the struggling city and to take advantage of generous tax breaks. Young professionals have moved to the Big Easy to help with its recovery, enjoy its cultural offerings and start businesses.

  • "The changing face-and faces-of New Orleans"

    The Times Picayune - 8/23/09

    "Now you have some people who are here not just for the recovery, but who have drunk the Kool-Aid and want to be part of the long-term economic and social change of New Orleans," Tim Williamson said.

  • "A Place of Their Own"

    1012 Corridor - 8/1/2009

    "If you’re a young, bright entrepreneur, New Orleans looks pretty interesting right now," [Idea Village CEO Tim] Williamson says. "There aren’t hundreds of thousands of layoffs; there’s actually a growing, entrepreneurial community. We’ve got our coolness, but there’s also a sense of opportunity here, because we’re going through a transformation."

  • "Entrepreneurs Leverage New Orleans's Charm to Lure Small Businesses"

    The New York Times - 7/30/09

    "Competitive gets you nowhere. It's about being collaborative. And this city is so like that, from the people helping each other rebuild their homes to building businesses," said Seema Sudan, the owner and director of the knitwear company LiaMolly.

  • "Introducing the Entre-pioneers of the 'New' New Orleans"

    Social Earth - 7/30/09

    Clusters are a validation that entrepreneurs can create economic and social change.

  • "Persevering in New Orleans"

    The Washington Times - 7/29/09

    Driven by the mantra "Trust your crazy ideas," The Idea Village is a nonprofit dedicated to accelerating the city's for-profit entrepreneurial culture. Through a combination of talent attraction, technical support and connection to financing, the organization has supported more than 255 entrepreneurial ventures representing 946 jobs and more than $69 million in revenue.

  • "Think Tank"

    WWL - 7/24/09

    Think Tank hosts Tim Williamson, Miji Park, Jo Ann Minor and Amy Cosper, Editor in Chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, on July 24th to discuss entrepreneurship in New Orleans and the grand opening of The Entergy Innovation Center.

  • "Entrepreneur Magazine Highlights the New Orleans Entrepreneurial Ecosystem"

    Entrepreneur Magazine - 7/23/09

    "When The Idea Village was founded in 2000, we were building the framework for vibrant entrepreneurial community. 9 years later, this nascent spirit is alive and growing" says Tim Williamson.

  • "Laid-off Wall Streeters Find Entrepreneurial Spirit"

    Christian Science Monitor - 7/23/09

    "Clustering entrepreneurs is quite useful," says Tim Williamson, President of The Idea Village, a New Orleans business incubator. "It allows people to interact closely, bump into each other at the water cooler, [and it] forces conversation," he says.

  • "Entrepreneurial Hubs Are Springing Up Across the City And Spurring Economic Development"

    The Times Picayune - 7/19/09

    "The hubs operate under edgy names - Entrepreneur's Row, The Icehouse, The IP and the Entergy Innovation Center. The hubs encourage networking and collaboration among innovative companies while seeking to recreate a freewheeling culture reminiscent of Silicon Valley."

  • "Despite the National Recession, New Orleans is Attracting a Wave of Workers Pursuing Entrepreneurial Jobs"

    The Times Picayune - 6/26/09

    "New Orleans is attractive because there are lots of opportunities here and less layoffs than in other places like Boston or San Francisco," Tim Williamson said.

  • "Trumpet named one of top 10 marketing agencies in the country by Fast Company magazine"

    The Times-Picayune

    Regional New Orleans ad agency continues to craftily reinvent itself news-Katrina by becoming a startup incubator.

  • "3-D role in building up America"

    Anderson Cooper 360

    Turbosquid, a New Orleans-based 3-D imaging company becomes a worldwide leader in its industry despite difficult odds.

  • "James Carville: New Orleans is Storming Back"

    CNN

    James Carville pens a tribute to New Orleans’s historic rebirth.