Mary Louise has over 25 years experience working in executive marketing, product and business development roles for start-ups and companies with high growth initiatives in the technology, financial and education industries. She is the former President of Virtual Nerd an ed-tech start-up who received national and industry awards for product design and is currently a mentor for the Capital Innovators Accelerator Program. In addition to working for start-up companies, while at American Express Incentive Services she led the strategic planning process including rebranding the product portfolio and while at Charter Communications she managed the re-design of the consumer high-speed internet installation program.

Melissa brings over 15 years of experience and commitment to the St. Louis innovation community to her role at ITEN. She works with our companies to help foster their successful navigation through ITEN’s various programs–from Intake to Mock Angel grad; as well as manages ITEN’s operations and many community-focused collaborations and events. Prior to joining ITEN, Melissa served as the Director of Administration for Akermin, Inc., a clean-tech R&D company that was BioGenerator’s first client company in 2004. Prior to Akermin, Melissa was one of the original employees of BioGenerator where she served as Manager of Operations and Client Services. Earlier in her career she spent time at Monsanto in its new products division and corporate M&A. She has also worked as a certified sign language interpreter. Currently, Melissa on the Board of Missouri Venture Forum and a member of the Parent Boards of Webster University and Bradley University. Melissa holds a Bachelor of Educational Studies and an M.A. in Higher Education Administration, both from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

Bringing over 25 years experience from the startup space Connie is a versatile, accomplished business professional. Her experience expands over areas in account management, customer experience, operations, business development, sales and marketing and product development. Connie has contributed and played multiple roles in a variety of startups, including founding member of a K-12 Education startup as Operations & Director of Partnerships to a Mobile Healthcare startup as Director of Client Services & Implementation. Other industries that she has worked in include Automotive Manufacturing, E-Learning, and Sales & Marketing.

Quentin is an experienced startup leader, skilled in corporate relationship management, digital strategy, mobile applications, corporate communications, and vision development, which will prove valuable to our ventures as he supports their progress toward successful market entry and growth stages.  Quentin is currently the Business Operations Manager at Multiply (Formerly Answers) and a board member at Johego.

Over the years, Quentin has been involved with numerous entrepreneurial ventures and organizations. Currently serving as the Square One IT Track Leader and the Vice President of Lumate Inc., Quentin is passionate about improving processes, growing companies, negotiating fair business deals, and seeing new thought leadership applied to organizations of all sizes. These passions have led Quentin to his current roles, which allow him to have the most positive impact possible.

Quentin has his MBA, a degree in Management and Information Systems, and a certification for Sustainable Business from Missouri University of Science and Technology.

In his free time, Quentin enjoys watching movies, attending concerts, and learning new things.

Stephen Von Rump has over 20 years of broad, global management and operational experience in startups and small companies including: business planning, startup company evaluation, preparing entrepreneurs for venture capital funding, and fund raising; R&D for software, electronic and mechanical development; manufacturing, technical service, project and quality management; intellectual property, U.S. and international regulatory compliance; and sales and marketing. He has founded and led several companies, and has extensive U.S. and international experience in medical technology including telehealth, telemedicine and remote monitoring platforms; medical devices and systems; digital health, visual communications, diagnostics and AI analysis; and quality and regulatory compliance.