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By Nikki Cabus

Brian Kornfeld steps down as CEO of Synapse; yet another Florida female leader is crowned

Read Time 4 Minutes

After 6 years, Brian Kornfeld, CEO & Co-Founder of Synapse, steps down as CEO. 

In a letter to the community via a social media post, Brian wrote “When we launched Synapse in 2017, we set out to transform Florida. We wanted to turn it into a destination for innovators and a place where they can live, work, build, and scale. As a native of the Tampa Bay area, I have always loved everything about the state and set a goal to make it a better place. It was a personal mission to get people to embrace and empower innovation across Florida. That mission could not be accomplished without the efforts of a talented team and the advocacy of an engaged community.”

He went on to write that the change will be effective as of April 30th, 2023 which coincides with the organizations 6th year anniversary. Synapse was incorporated in January 2017 in the Tampa Bay region which is one of the state’s hottest tech hubs.

Currently the Chief Strategy Officer, Lauren Slawsky Prager, will assume the role of Chief Executive Officer effective May 1st, 2023.

Lauren joined the organization in early 2018 starting as a volunteer and then as the VP of Communications and Programming where she lead efforts to bring the brand and mission to life through identifying and crafting the stories worth being told, organizing community events, and the annual Synapse Summit. After 4 years in this role, Lauren was promoted just last January to her current role as Chief Strategy Officer. Her vision and strategy have been instrumental to the growth of Synapse since its inception and the first Synapse Summit.

Lauren said that she started as a volunteer organizer aligning speakers and outlining content for the first Synapse Summit not thinking this would turn into a career opportunity, but when the opportunity arose she knew it was one she had to take. “The first Synapse Summit was magical,” she said. “We had three times the expected attendance and you could really feel the desire for human connection.” The role aligned with her passion of bringing people together.

“Lauren has been a driving force behind the scenes for years and has become a visionary leader of the community and the team,” noted Brian Kornfeld. He continued, “I am beyond thrilled that somebody so talented will take Synapse to the next level as her vision and strategy in community building is truly unique and top notch.”

Brian said, “Lauren has made an indelible impact on the Synapse community since she joined us in early 2018 and she is the unequivocal choice to bring Synapse to its next chapter. I leave Synapse in the most capable hands with Lauren and the incredible team around her and I look forward to supporting them as a continued member of the Board of Directors.”

Not ready to announce any new venture quite yet, Brian stated that he is looking forward to achieving “new professional aspirations” and the other Synapse alumni who have been able to reach new heights through the organization and the community. He expects to still be an active member in Florida’s innovation ecosystem and will remain an active member of the Board of Directors and the Impact Board. In his public letter, Brian closed by expressing that this has been the “best chapter of my career.”

In an interview with South Florida Tech Hub, Lauren shared that “Brian has given so much to the community. He has a deep passion and respect for the work of the people with some really great ideas and has always supported them with the execution of those great ideas. He is a champion of true collaboration working to create ties across the state.” She told Tech Hub CEO, Nikki Cabus, “His passion of creating connections brought us together.”

Lauren shared that she is beyond proud of working alongside Brian, and is honored to have the ability to not only have called him a colleague, but a friend and a partner. Lauren will continue the work of moving the needle for tech and innovation in Florida – now that the world is watching. She wants to show the world at “Innovation Lives Here.”

Synapse is a statewide non-profit organization that brings communities from Pensacola to Miami to Tampa and everyone in between together aiming to connects and catalyze Florida’s innovation community. Curated events and targeted engagement enable the organization to make meaningful connections.  They connect key stakeholders across industries, technologies and geographies: entrepreneurs, investors, corporate innovation leaders, policy makers, innovation enablers, entrepreneur support organizations, educational leaders, and talent. Synapse celebrates, discovers and engages thought leaders, doers, creators, and entrepreneurs driving innovation across the state of Florida and beyond.

The overall vision of Synapse is to be an all-encompassing, interactive, and flexible methodology for building, facilitating, and exposing the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem of Florida. The organization is elevating Florida’s profile as a global innovation leader by connecting people so they can inspire, energize, and impact the world. To learn more, visit https://synapsefl.com/

By Nikki Cabus

Innovation leader Leigh-Ann Buchanan steps down as leader of aīre ventures – What’s next?

Read Time 4 Minutes

After seven years, Leigh-Ann Buchanan, is stepping down as President of aīre ventures.

Leigh-Ann has been a staple leader in the tech and innovation ecosystem in South Florida known for her passion and work building a more inclusive and equitable ecosystem. As the founding executive of aīre ventures, a venture studio focused on scaling tech and innovation solutions addressing systemic gaps in access, opportunity and racial equity, Leigh-Ann lead strategic efforts around innovation for the social impact.

As part of the aīre ventures portfolio, Leigh-Ann was able to launch multiple projects portfolio companies including Tech Equity Miami, Opportunity Connect, Talent Scout, Passport, REDI Scorecard, Capital Days, Venture Café and more. Under her leadership, the portfolio ventures collectively served more than 55,000 innovators, 85 local small business entrepreneurs of color, and over 750 students from underrepresented backgrounds over 4000 hours of entrepreneurial support in collaboration with over 1000 organizations and partners. Leigh-Ann has raised over $5.5 million in equity free capital to fund the projects and helped syndicate over $55 million in philanthropic capital for digital equity initiatives. Impressively, these efforts served a diverse demographic of over 70% people of color and 49% women.

Leigh-Ann did share that although she is stepping down that she will continue to support the organization as a strategic advisor and overall equity-driven efforts that leverage tech, innovation and social investment to transform communities.

In a social media post, Leigh-Ann wrote, “I’m delighted to pass the baton to Paulina (Nina) Cousiño Parada who has served as Managing Director since late 2022. Nina brings a wealth of experience in both the public and nonprofit sector to her new role and has been an aīre ventures team member since 2019. I am confident that aīre ventures will continue to thrive in the capable hands of Nina, our dynamic team, and dedicated board.”

Paulina has been the Strategy and Impact Manager leading the development and implementation of an impact and evaluation strategy across aīre ventures. She has experience working in the public sector in Chile, and the nonprofit sector in Boston, where she worked for The Social Innovation Forum, an organization dedicated to accelerating and building the capacity of nonprofits in the Boston area. She has worked in an array of roles throughout her career including strategic planning, impact and program evaluation, and fundraising and development. After graduating in 2018 with an MBA in Public and Nonprofit Management from Boston University, Paulina moved to Miami where she now resides.

Leigh-Ann, a former commercial litigation and white collar defense lawyer loves strategy. After finding her way into tech in 2016, she has continued to use her love of strategy as an ecosystem builder and voice for the underrepresented population in South Florida. She has been very successful in hiring great professionals to lead the aīre ventures portfolio companies continually aiming to foster a “culture of excellence by prioritizing people, purposeful work, and excellence in impact.”

 

What’s next for Leigh-Ann?

Leigh-Ann has has accepted the role as President of the newly formed Miami-Dade Innovation Authority Inc. (Innovation Authority).

During her recent State of the County Address, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced county grant funding for the newly formed nonprofit which was created to support equitable, sustainable economic growth driven in partnership between private and public sector innovation.

The Innovation Authority was established with seed funding commitments of $3 million from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, $3 million from Citadel CEO Ken Griffin, and $3 million from Miami-Dade County to provide grants to innovative companies working to solve pressing community challenges in climate, health, housing, transit, and more.

“With pilot programs and an openness to creative solutions, we are flipping the way government does business by inviting businesses to pilot their innovations with us,” said County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.

Working hand in hand with private sector funders to support best-in-class startups, the organization will leverage private investment dollars to maximize their impact –applying seed funding from the County to identify and solve local problems, and creating a path for successful entrepreneurs to scale and access private funding.

The Innovation Authority has three focus areas:

  • Challenge Grants: to issue and oversee challenge grants designed to test and validate technology,
  • Pipeline Support: to work in collaboration with local academic institutions to help scaling companies find talent and build a strong corporate culture based out of Miami-Dade
  • Tech Ecosystem Enhancement: to continue the rapid growth of the tech sector and to cement Miami-Dade as a world-class location for innovation.

The Innovation Authority’s Board of Directors has appointed Leigh-Ann A. Buchanan, Esq., as President to lead the launch of the organization and support its strategic vision to scale solutions for people most affected by critical challenges, improve economic and social outcomes, and make Miami-Dade a world class capital for high growth companies.

Congratulations, Leigh-Ann!!

By Nikki Cabus

2 tech companies join Boca Raton Innovation Campus including autonomous vehicles

Read Time 2 Minutes

The Boca Raton Innovation Campus, or “BRIC.” is welcoming two tech companies to it’s list of technology and life science tenants” autonomous vehicle startup, Guidant Corp., and cybersecurity firm, Arete.

Guident Corp developed patented software solutions utilizing artificial intelligence technologies for making autonomous vehicles safer and in turn increasing overall adoption. Harald Braun, Chairman and CEO of Guidant, brings decades of experience with him including formerly the President and CEO at Nokia Siemens North America and being recognized as one of America’s “Top 100 Voices of the IP Communications Industry” by Internet Telephony magazine. Additionally, Guidant’s board of directors includes a team of experts from companies such as Aviat Networks, Audi, Ford, General Motors, Volkswagen and ZipCar.

The startup will relocate from Florida Atlantic University’s Tech Runway where they won the annual Launch Competition in 2020. FAU Tech Runway® is a public-private partnership formed to incubate and accelerate early-stage technology-based companies, under the purview of FAU’s Division of Research.  The incubator/accelerator provides the most promising startups and talented entrepreneurs in South Florida with an opportunity to join a year-long program that offers competition winners “best-in-class” instruction, mentoring, networking, marketing, capital-raising assistance, co-working space, events, intern support and other vital programs.

A panel of judges, including successful entrepreneurs, technology investors, entrepreneurship professors, economic development professionals, philanthropists, and commercial bankers selected Guident Ltd. as the winner of the competition. The judges were convinced that the company creating a Remote Monitoring and Control Center in Florida for autonomous vehicles (AVs) applying artificial intelligence, and their first use-case for ‘zero-touch’ ground-based delivery of groceries and medicines, would be the right choice to create significant value in South Florida and nationwide.

The Boca Raton Innovation Campus is the home of the first IBM personal computer and research hub. It’s the largest single facility office building in the state at 1.7 million square feet, 123 acres and includes the country’s longest hallway at a length of 907 feet long. ‘CP Group, formerly Crocker Partners, acquired BRiC in 2018 with the vision of building off its innovative past and evolve the campus, through a multimillion dollar renovation project, into the premier technology and life sciences hub in the Southeast’ competing with Silicon Valley and bring more technology companies to South Florida. The campus is currently home to some big name tech and life science companies such as ModMed, Canon, Bluegreen Vacations and Baptist Health South Florida.

Brian Kornfeld steps down as CEO of Synapse; yet another Florida female leader is crowned
Innovation leader Leigh-Ann Buchanan steps down as leader of aīre ventures – What’s next?
2 tech companies join Boca Raton Innovation Campus including autonomous vehicles