Local Business Movers and Shakers Highlight Judges for Genesis Block Demo Day
The Genesis Block Back on the Block Minority Accelerator Demo Day is shaping up to be a historic event showcasing minority entrepreneurship in the Cape Fear region. Genesis Block Demo Day is a showcase of the nine companies that were selected for the inaugural Back on the Block Minority Accelerator, highlighting the transformation of their companies over the last 16 weeks. There will be a pitch competition featuring the nine companies and the judges are some of the Wilmington’s area’s best and brightest in business and entrepreneurship.
Here are the esteemed panel of judges for the pitch competition.
Karl Ricanek, is the CEO and Cofounder of Lapetus Solutions.
Lapetus Solutions Inc. (LSI) integrates science and technology with machine learning to develop tools and platforms that enable industries relying on life event prediction to reduce and replace their dependence on traditional assessment methods with faster, more cost-effective and increasingly accurate results. Ricanek is also a Professor of Computer Science at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington where he serves as Director of the UNCW Institute for Interdisciplinary Identity Sciences (I3S). Karl was the 2018 Coastal Entrepreneur Award Winner for his work with Lapetus Solutions. Since starting in 2014, Lapetus Solutions has raised over $7 million in funding with insurance company Aflac being one of the major investors.
Gustavo Rodea is the owner of Mattress & Furniture Liquidators and the CEO of Rodea’s Enterprises Inc. Gustavo proudly serves as the Co-Chairman of the Wilmington Chamber of Commerce Latin American Business Council. He is also a certified John C. Maxwell Team business leadership coach. Rodea is fully committed to expounding on his passion to mentor aspiring business owners by helping them develop viable strategies to become successful business owners. Gustavo Rodea has lived in Wilmington since 2008 and is married to Lupe Duran. Together they have two boys, Anthony, age 11 and Leonardo, age 2.
Margaret Weller-Stargell is the President and CEO of Coastal Horizons Center. Coastal Horizons Center, Inc., nationally accredited through CARF, provides professional assistance to those in need of prevention, crisis intervention, criminal justice alternatives, community outreach, and treatment for substance use and mental health disorders. Margaret supervises services in a fifty-seven county area with a budget of over forty-three million dollars, and monitors the activities of twelve program directors and over six hundred staff members. In July 2020, Stargell was named to the Andrea Harris Social, Economic, Environmental, and Health Equity Task Force by Governor Roy Cooper. The goal of the task force is to “address the social, environmental, economic, and health disparities in communities of color that have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Jerry Coleman is the Director of the Cape Fear Community College Small Business Center. Coleman, has decades of experience in business and consulting, having owned his own consumer products manufacturing company in Wilmington NC. Jerry earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration from East Carolina University, and Master of Business Administration at UNCW. He earned his certificate in Project Management from UNCW and has secured multiple patents. Jerry is committed to helping other small business owners succeed.
We are excited to have this phenomenal group of judges for the inaugural Genesis Block Back on the Block Minority Accelerator Demo Day. The event takes place on Thursday, May 27, 2021 6:30 p.m. at Genesis Block.
