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Alumnus James R. Baumgardt Inspires Entrepreneurship & Risk Taking
June 9, 2011
Launching summer Distinguished Speakers
Series at Rose-Hulman Ventures
With an inspiring talk about leadership and innovation, life
sciences entrepreneur James R. Baumgardt launched the
eponymous James R. Baumgardt Distinguished Speaker's series,
Rose-Hulman Ventures' annual summer series for students,
faculty and staff.
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"You plan your work and you work your plan. And, you do it
aggressively," Baumgardt told the group on June 8. He also
outlined three characteristics of successful people: An undeniable
desire to succeed, good interpersonal skills and being a
self-starter.
Baumgardt told students serving as summer interns at Rose-Hulman
Ventures to be boldly confident in themselves and the education
they're receiving at Rose-Hulman as they step into their
futures.
"Don't hesitate to take risks," he said. "Don't hesitate
to think you're good. If you get out of this place, you are
(good)."
Baumgardt also accentuated Rose-Hulman Ventures' role in new
product development, especially in the area of medical devices.
"In the area of development, Rose-Hulman Ventures is a key
player in the Research-and-Development cycle. You're the 'D'
in R&D," he stated. "More companies and enterprises are
coming to Rose-Hulman Ventures for the new product development
expertise that you possess."
Renaming of Rose-Hulmann Ventures' Summer Speaker Series for
Baumgardt recognizes the career accomplishments of the 1970
chemical engineering alumnus. He is the chairman of the board
for the NICO Corporation, is director of Neochord Inc. and is a
partner of Twilight Ventures, an Indiana-based life science venture
capital enterprise. He is the former executive director of
business development at Eli Lilly and Company, served as president
of the Guidant Foundation, was president of Guidant Sales
Corporation, is the former director of Laserscope and helped
co-found Suros Surgical Systems.
Baumgardt is also an emeritus member of the Rose-Hulman Board of
Trustees and former chairman of the trustees' Rose-Hulman Ventures
Affairs Committee. He received an honorary doctorate in
engineering from Rose-Hulman in 2010, and serves on the advisory
boards of Butler University's School of Business and Purdue
University's School of Biomedical Engineering.
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Learning Lunch: Rose-Hulman
Institute of Technology students serving as summer interns
at Rose-Hulman Ventures had the opportunity to exchange ideas and
get career advice from James R. Baumgardt, who has had many
entrepreneurial success stories in the life science field.
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"We're honored to have Jim Baumgardt share his insights and
experiences with our student interns at Rose-Hulman Ventures,"
stated Richard Stamper, interim associate dean of professional
experiences and professor of mechanical engineering. "Jim has
demonstrated the ability to create technology driven businesses in
the medical devices industry that improve the care that patients
receive. He has much to teach anyone that wants to be
innovative and create value in technology based companies.
We're lucky that he is willing to share that with our students.
Other speakers in this summer's series will feature Claudia
Fritsche, ambassador of Liechtenstein to the United States, on June
22, and Wes Bolsen, chief marketing officer and vice president of
government affairs for Coskata Inc., a biology-based energy
company, on July 13.
Fritsche has been Liechtenstein's ambassador since 2000 and also
serves as the countries ambassador to the United Nations, a post
she has had since 1990. She began her public career as the
personal secretary of Liechtenstein's prime minister, from 1970-78,
and entered the diplomatic service in the Office of Foreign
Affairs.
Bolsen, a 2000 electrical engineering alumnus, was voted 57th on
Biofuels Digest's "Top 100 People in Bioenergy" and was recently
named top Chief Marketing Officer of companies with less than $250
million in revenue in the U.S. Coskata uses proprietary
microorganisms and patented bioreactor designs to produce
FlexEthanol, on feedstock flexible ethanol, to fuel energy
security, economic growth and environmental sustainability.
Rose-Hulman Ventures, located at Rose-Hulman's South Campus,
takes educational hands-on projects to a whole new dimension.
It is a unique operational model for university/industry
interaction.
Rose-Hulman Ventures produces solutions to industrial technology
challenges, keeps intellectual property with the client and
maintains confidentiality. Learn more at www.rhventures.org.