Joseph Boeddeker has been active in the entrepreneurial arena for almost thirty years. He is currently President and CEO of The Venture Growth Alliance (VGA), an international collaborative organization assisting venture development and technology transfer efforts. Prior to VGA, he served in the dual role as President and CEO of The Enterprise Network (TEN) and Director of the NASA/Ames Technology Commercialization Center (ATCC). Under his leadership, this nonprofit organization became the leading example of a successful incubator and network of entrepreneurial advisors, practices, facilities and services and was proactive in launching over 200 new ventures. In addition, he created the Academic Bridge Program providing graduate level college students from prominent universities across the country with internships working with new ventures. In 1999, The New York Times described The Enterprise Network as the primo incubator in the nation. The Public Broadcasting System ran an international special on its achievements and Ernst and Young named him Entrepreneur of the Year. In 1999 he was also inducted into U.S. Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame. Previous to TEN, Mr. Boeddeker was a full time mentor to start-up ventures in Silicon Valley and founded four companies. He received his corporate experience in a variety of executive roles with Raychem Corporation of Menlo Park, CA during twelve years when the company grew from $38 million to over $1B. Mr. Boeddeker sits as a director or board member on many start-up ventures and other entrepreneurial related organizations including: The Entrepreneurial Business Cluster, Los Alamos National Laboratory (DOE), Siemens Technology to Business Center, The Foundation for Educational Achievement, Cogswell Polytechnical College and The University of Illinois. Mr. Boeddeker attended The University of San Francisco, The United States Naval Academy and Santa Clara University.

“Creativity is the playground of dreamers. Innovation is the product of creativity. Entrepreneurship is the commercialization of Innovation.”