Upstate Entrepreneurs Forum

December 10, 2007

JB Holeman of Holeman Investments, LLC will be the presenter at Monday's meeting

Mr. Holeman will be discussing his current plans to establish The Upstate Angel Group, an angel network in the area to serve new business startups. This will be an informal discussion on the challenges and the limitations of a functioning angel group. Financing is only a part of the concerns of a new business and we expect Mr. Holeman to describe how his network will be more hands on with the companies they choose to support.

Please come and be part of the interaction with Mr. Holeman as we know you will be most impressed with his effort and his group's intentions.

danieljgarvin@gmail.com

November 12, 2007

Dr. Brian Morin is currently CEO of Innegrity LLC, a start-up company that manufactures a high performance fibers. The company’s first fiber, Innegra S, is a structural fiber that delivers most of the performance of a carbon or aramid fiber at a price that is competitive with fiberglass. The company’s second fiber, Innegra E, is a low dielectric fiber developed to increase speed and signal integrity for high speed circuit boards.

Brian previously spent nine years in the Research Division of Milliken & Company, where he served as a Team Leader, as Intellectual Property Champion, and as Safety Chairman at different times during his tenure. Prior to working at Milliken, Brian received his Ph.D. and M.S. degrees in physics from The Ohio State University in Columbus Ohio. He received his B.S. degree in physics from the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, NC.

Brian has applied for more than 50 patents on subjects ranging from molecular magnetic materials to polymer additives to advanced fibers. In May 2004, he left Milliken to start Innegrity LLC and filed the first patents on the Innegra S fiber in November 2004. This technology was awarded Finalist status in the Innovision Technology Awards in 2005. Patent #7,074,483 issued in July, 2006. The Innegra E technology won the Innovision Technology Development Award in 2006. Innegrity has been awarded Small Business Innovative Research grants for work in high strength fibers and in airborne and submarine radomes. Brian serves on the Steering Committee of the Next Best Practices group in Greenville, and on the External Advisory Board for the Clemson University Department of Materials Science and Engineering.

Brian has several hundred million dollars in sales of products based on his inventions, and sees his strength as working at the interface between technology and commercialization. He has also written a novel, A Matter of Faith (www.amatteroffaith.org).

Jeff Papenfuss started his career in 1989 leading national sales and marketing teams, then technical development teams, start-up companies and entrepreneurial support groups. He is currently the Owner and President of North Gate Labs, LLC (NGL) in Greenville, South Carolina. NGL develops and sells web-based tools and services such as WebSalesTool, Condoh.com, BLKpURL.com, and WAWGO.com. Jeff also operates a small art gallery featuring emerging local artists called The Gallery at 16 North Main.

His professional experience with NGL, TiBA Solutions, EyeFlight.com, HomeGold Financial/Emergent Group, Office Automation Consultants, Solid Computer Decisions, Renaissance Cruises, R Travel, US Peace Corps and the US Forest Service has provided Jeff with valuable insight and experience in many areas of business and community.

Jeff’s ongoing community outreach has provided an expanding area network and experience:
A founder of NEXT, Greenville’s collaborative for technology entrepreneurs, Jeff continues to serve as Chair and works closely with Chamber staff to guide and govern its fast-paced growth (4 founding firms to 42 member firms in 2 year). Jeff was also a founding member of NEXT’s predecessor, the Upstate Coalition for Entrepreneurial Development (UCED) he also worked on the UCED Capital committee that developed South Carolina’s first Venture Capital Conference – InnoVenture 2004.

Jeff serves on the Greenville County Workforce Investment Board (WIB) where he chairs the Performance Indicators & Evaluation committee and has chaired the ad-hoc Leadership and Vision committee. He also currently serves on the Greater Greenville Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors. Jeff served on the InnoVision Technology Awards advisory board from 2000 to 2004, Advantage Greenville (formerly 300 for Greenville) and a number of business/technology-centric local and state-wide organizations.