Speakers
Technology Pioneer & Chairman - ExoDexa Holdings, Inc.
Technology Pioneer & Chairman - ExoDexa Holdings, Inc.
Nolan Bushnell
Technology Pioneer & Chairman - ExoDexa Holdings, Inc.
One of Newsweek’s “50 Men that Changed America”, Nolan Bushnell is the quintessential technology pioneer, entrepreneur, scientist, and engineer. Often cited as the Father of the Video Game Industry, he is best known as the co-founder of Atari Corporation and the founder of Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre. Today his design credo - that games should be “easy to learn and difficult to master” - is inspiring a new generation of developers. Nolan was the first and only person to hire Steve Jobs (at Atari), which he details in his and co-author Gene Stone’s 2013 book, Finding the Next Steve Jobs, published by Simon and Schuster. In October 2023 he released his second book, Shaping the Future of Education, which he co-wrote with Dr. Leah Hanes, and which was published by Greenleaf Book Group Press. He pioneered many of the workplace innovations that have made Silicon Valley a long-standing magnet for creative talent.
Over the past four decades, it’s astounding what Nolan has created as a prolific entrepreneur, founding more than 20 companies, including: Atari; Chuck E. Cheese; Catalyst Technologies, the first tech incubator in Silicon Valley; Etak, the first car navigation system whose mapping is still the basis for car navigation systems today; Androbot, a personal robotics company; ByVideo, the first online ordering system, which allowed customers to order and pay for products from kiosks; uWink, the first touchscreen ordering, entertainment and check out system at restaurant tables; X2, a game company focused on powerful new tech for games for Amazon’s Echo; and Modal VR, an end-to-end virtual reality platform that delivers large-scale and fully wireless immersion for multiple users at once.
Today Nolan is Chairman of ExoDexa Holdings, Inc., a gamified education company focused on engaging and efficient learning. Additionally, he is Chief Knowledge Officer of Moxy, a platform which facilitates anyone to become an eSports competitor. He also sits on several Boards focused on games, robotics and other advanced tech. In 2019 Nolan released a multimedia murder mystery game titled St. Noire, made for Amazon’s Echo powered by Alexa that won the “Best Innovation” award at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show.
Nolan has also consulted with many of the world’s biggest corporations, including IBM, Cisco Systems, US Digital Communications, and many more. He’s been featured hundreds of times in the media, including in Forbes, Bloomberg, Fast Company, WIRED, the Economist, Yahoo, NPR, CNET, CNBC, and many more. He has won numerous awards around the world, including a BAFTA, and has been featured in many documentaries, including CNN’s “The Eighties” Series, produced by Tom Hanks, and in “Game On” on The History Channel. Nolan was given a cameo in the major 2013 film “Jobs” starring Ashton Kutcher, a tip of the hat to Nolan for his role in hiring Steve Jobs for his first and only job ever at Atari. A biopic about Nolan, tentatively titled “Atari”, with Leonardo diCaprio as Executive Producer is also in the works.
Sports Psychologist Performance Consultant & Best Selling Author
Sports Psychologist Performance Consultant & Best Selling Author
Dr. Kevin Elko
Sports Psychologist Performance Consultant & Best Selling Author
Dr. Kevin Elko received his Bachelors in Biology Education and Coaching from California University of Pennsylvania where he was later inducted into the University’s Hall of Fame. He then went on to West Virginia University where he received two Masters and a Doctorate and was later inducted into the West Virginia University Hall of Fame.
Originally, Kevin had a successful private family practice, but eventually entered the world of pro and collegiate sports, where he has accumulated 30 Superbowl titles or National Championships with storied organizations like The Pittsburgh Steelers, The Dallas Cowboys, The Philadelphia Eagles, The Green Bay Packers, Florida State Football, L.S.U. Football, The University of Miami Football, The University of Alabama Football, and more.
Kevin also works one on one with some of the biggest named athletes in all of professional sports from baseball to tennis to hockey. As a performance consultant, his corporate clients over the last two decades have included many of the Fortune 1000 companies and their C-Suite executives.
Kevin is a bestselling author with five books published, and a sixth on the way, including: Nerves of Steel, The Pep Talk, True Greatness and his latest, Believing is Seeing, of which the forward was written by the greatest coach in college football history, Nick Saban. Kevin has worked closely with Saban during every one of the seven National Championships he has won as head coach of LSU and Alabama Football. Kevin had been featured by numerous publications and national media including ESPN.com, Sports Illustrated, The Bleacher Report, and on ESPN Radio with his very own segment, “The NFL Psychological Report”. He has keynoted at the NFL Hall of Fame Ceremonies as well as many other notable events in and out of sport.
Justin P. Hauke
Justin P. Hauke
Justin Hauke
Justin P. Hauke
Justin Hauke is a member of Baird’s Facility and Industrial Services team. Prior to joining Baird in 2008, Justin was a senior economic analyst at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis and a policy analyst at the Show-Me Institute, a Missouri public policy think tank.
Justin received an MS in Finance from Washington University in St. Louis and a BA in Economics and Mathematics from the University of Texas at Austin.
Managing Partner - Envise Partners, LLC
Managing Partner - Envise Partners, LLC
Mark Kowalski
Managing Partner - Envise Partners, LLC
Mark Kowalski has spent the past 30 years in corporate finance, strategy and M&A with 19 years in the industrial laundry industry. From 2006 until 2018, he worked at AmeriPride Services as the Vice President of Finance & Corporate Development.
For the past 7 years, Mark has worked as the Managing Partner for Envise Partners, LLC, an advisory firm focused specifically on the industrial laundry industry.
President & Chief Operating Officer - City Uniforms and Linen
President & Chief Operating Officer - City Uniforms and Linen
Rich Kramer
President & Chief Operating Officer - City Uniforms and Linen
Rich leverages his 19 years of industry experience into his current role as the head of daily operations at City Uniforms & Linen in Findlay, Ohio. He has notable experience in business development and production management, which his wife would call “sales and telling people what to do.”
Rich is the proud of his dynamic approach, and adaptation to, an ever-changing market by introducing new products and implementing a lean process initiative with the goal of improving customer experience and engaging team members on a broad spectrum.
In that same vein, Rich is particularly passionate about team culture in pursuit of creating value for all stakeholders. He fosters a supportive environment that gives team members permission to take intelligent risks and innovate existing processes. Rich is a proponent of the Baldrige Criteria as a tool to help organizations to consistently provide world class products and services.
President - Liniform Service
President - Liniform Service
Jennifer Peroli
President - Liniform Service
Jennifer Peroli has soap suds in her veins! She is the fourth generation of the Good family to lead Liniform. Jennifer completed her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from Ohio University, graduating with honors. She grew up in the family business, working summers as a teenager and young adult, and coming to work every day with her grandfather, Ed Good, Chairman of the Board of Liniform from 1990 to 2014. After college, she left the family business for the corporate world. Jennifer worked at Nationwide Insurance for 12 years, handling property and casualty claims in litigation. As Nationwide underwent a corporate reorganization, Jennifer decided to return to her roots at Liniform.
Jennifer returned to Liniform in 2015 at a tenuous time, with no family involved in the day-to-day operations of the company and the current President, Bertha Jenkins, nearing retirement. Jennifer grew the medical sector of the business exponentially and re-established strong, long-standing relationships with our customers. In 2018, Jennifer was promoted to Vice President of Liniform, and in February of 2020, she assumed her current role as President. A month later, the global COVID-19 pandemic hit. Jennifer led Liniform through the unprecedented pandemic, all while strengthening relationships with her employees and customers. Liniform came out stronger than ever!
Jennifer is highly focused on fostering a team-oriented workforce, where “Everybody Wins.” Liniform is a company built on the tradition of dedication, hard work, forward thinking, and respect. We are honored to be of service to our customers, employees, and community. Jennifer’s drive has always been focused on providing for our ever-changing customer needs and improving our partners' image. By operating with our Liniform values – integrity, respect, cooperation, and commitment – we ensure that “Everybody Wins”: our customers, our vendors, and our employees.
President & COO - Virginia Linen Service, Inc
President & COO - Virginia Linen Service, Inc
David Struminger
President & COO - Virginia Linen Service, Inc
David Struminger, a proud Virginian, was born and raised in the southern state alongside his three older brothers and younger sister. He is an alumnus of St. Christopher’s School and Tulane University’s A.B. Freeman School of Business. Although initially not part of his plan, David joined the family business at his grandfather's insistence, becoming the third generation to lead Mohenis Services, Inc. after his graduation.
Founded in 1934, Mohenis Services, Inc. is a consulting and back-office service provider for affiliated textile rental and commercial laundry service companies. These companies, including Virginia Linen Service, Inc., Tarheel Linen Service Inc., Sanitary Linen Service, Inc., and Buckeye Linen Service, Inc., serve the hospitality, restaurant, healthcare, and industrial markets across ten states from South Carolina to New Jersey and from Virginia to Ohio.
David is committed to environmental sustainability, with all company entities being TRSA certified as Clean Green. Mohenis Services, Inc. is also a founding member of Laundry ESP, the Federal EPA environmental stewardship program, which promotes pollution prevention and resource conservation within the textile services industry.
David has served on the Board of Directors for industry organizations such as TRSA and CSC Network, as well as on the boards of local organizations including Petersburg’s Chamber of Commerce, Richmond Weinstein Jewish Community Center, Temple Beth-El, Keys for the Homeless, and Ryan Kerrigan’s Blitz for the Better Foundation. This foundation provides opportunities, support, and resources to children and families in need in Washington D.C. and central Virginia.
David has been happily married to his wife, Stacy, for over 24 years. They have two children: Liam, a graduate of Tulane University, and Grace, a senior at Tulane University.
CEO - Homeboy Industries
CEO - Homeboy Industries
Thomas Vozzo
CEO - Homeboy Industries
Thomas Vozzo is the CEO of Homeboy Industries, the largest and most successful gang rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world. He has over 35 years of global business experience in the service, retail, and distribution industries, where he led highly profitable and innovative businesses, such as ARAMARK, Galls, and WearGuard. Additionally, he has expertise in strategic positioning, mergers and acquisitions, work force development, and social impact investing.
In 2012, he joined Homeboy Industries as a volunteer and became its first-ever CEO, bringing his business acumen and vision to implement a mission-driven development plan that doubled the size of the organization. He has cultivated Homeboy's portfolio of job-training businesses, such as Homeboy Bakery, Homegirl Café, and Homeboy Electronic Recycling, and increased revenues from its enterprises to decrease its reliance on donations and government funding. He is passionate about helping those who live on the margins of society and addressing the challenges of racial, economic, and systemic injustices.
Tom is also an opinion columnist, author, and speaker on The Homeboy Way, a radical approach to business and life that is based on compassion, kinship, empathy, and social justice.
Senior Research Analyst - Baird
Senior Research Analyst - Baird
Andrew Wittman
Senior Research Analyst - Baird
Andrew Wittmann is Baird’s Senior Research Analyst covering Facility and Industrial Services (Engineering & Construction). Since joining Baird in 2006, Andrew has covered commercial real estate (REITs) and hotel and leisure stocks before joining Baird’s Business Services and Industrial research platforms. Prior to Baird he was a systems design engineer with Ford Motor Company.
In the 2019 StarMine Analyst Awards by Refinitiv, Wittmann was recognized as the No. 3 earnings estimator in Construction & Engineering. In 2016, he was ranked by Thomson Reuters Analyst Awards (StarMine) as the No. 1 earnings estimator in Commercial Services & Supplies. In 2015, he was ranked by StarMine as the No. 1 earnings estimator in Commercial Services & Supplies. In 2014, Andrew was ranked by StarMine as the No. 3 stock picker in Commercial Services & Supplies and the No. 3 stock picker in Construction & Engineering. In 2013, Greenwich Associates/Bloomberg recognized him in its survey of America’s Best Stock analysts for Commercial and Consumer services, while also being ranked by StarMine as the No.1 earnings estimator in Construction & Engineering and the No. 2 earnings estimator in Commercial Services & Supplies. In 2012, Andrew was recognized by StarMine as the No. 3 estimator in Commercial Services & Supplies.
Prior to Baird he was a systems design engineer with Ford Motor Company. Andrew has an MBA from Indiana University, an MS in Engineering with an Applied Statistics focus from Purdue University, and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Chief Operating Officer - CLS
Chief Operating Officer - CLS
Sarah Wrubel
Chief Operating Officer - CLS
Sarah Wrubel is an experienced executive with a focus on human resources. She was introduced to human resources at the age of 18 at her family’s business, CLS.
She became passionate about the field and earned her bachelor’s degree in human resource management from the Western Michigan University (WMU). From that point on, she enacted significant corporate culture improvements, supporting the explosive growth of CLS to seven locations, 250 team members, and 7,000 customers. CLS celebrated its 125th anniversary in 2024 and received a Congressional Record for the accomplishment.
Wrubel expanded her responsibilities from HR to also overseeing production and service operations, and has been instrumental in driving the company toward achieving its financial and operational goals, including enhanced efficiency, improved cost controls, and a strengthened team-oriented approach to delivering high-quality products and services.
Wrubel’s commitment to professional development is evident through certifications such as Predictive Index Analyst and Professional in Human Resources (PHR). She also received the Outstanding Alumni Award from the Department of Management at WMU in October of 2024. She regularly is asked to participate in industry round-table meetings and political policy reviews, and is frequently quoted in industry publications.
She is the third generation in her family to have ownership in CLS. Her daughter Leah is working in the Department of Marketing at CLS while attending WMU.