LehighSiliconValley, the Baker Institute’s highly selective, flagship immersion program is always an experience that takes my breath away, but it went well beyond my expectations this year. As with all the programs offered by the Baker Institute, each year builds on the previous year’s experiences so, heading into LSV2019, several new features had been incorporated. We added Arts Entrepreneurship and Start Up to the tracks students could choose, we recruited “professors in residence” from among our brilliant Bay Area alumni and we prepared the students for the experience in a way that not only gave them context for what they were about to experience but built a community of learners who were comfortable with each other and fully engaged before boarding the plane.
The combination of new features, a more diverse student cohort and well, an audacity that was palpable, LSV2019 got rave reviews from all constituents. Fifty-five students, 50 entrepreneurs, investors and experts, 14 alumni supporters and 12 program leaders were immersed in the Silicon Valley entrepreneurial ecosystem for 10 days in January. Students tell us their experiences were transformative. The alumni entrepreneurs, investors and industry experts tell us the curiosity, honesty, engagement and maturity of the LSV students is truly inspiring. Follow along below to get a glimpse into the LSV2019 experience.
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- Lisa Getzler
Executive Director, Baker Institute for Entrepreneurship, Creativity, and Innovation
Tom Gillis | SVP, VMware
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Tim Eades | CEO, vArmour
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Bill Kirsch '76 | Managing Director, Costella Kirsch
professors in residence
3
"LehighSiliconValley 2019 was a life changing experience for me. Having the opportunity to be in the same room as these incredible founders, let alone being able to pick their brains, was invaluable."
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Alec Stewart '20
FinTech Track
topical tracks
provided the
chance for students to connect with talented entrepreneurs over
shared passions.
4
FinTech
Software
Engineering
Start Up
Thank you to our
Lehigh alumni speakers!
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Kevin Drucker ‘93
Nadine Elsayed ‘18
Dave Heefner ‘08
Ann Lewnes ‘83
James R. Maida ’85 ’17P ’19P
Paul Martino ‘95
John Matranga ’88
Justin Mendelson ‘09
Sandy Stelling ‘91
J.Scott Scheeler ‘86
3
25
explored
companies
Adobe | Bullpen Capital | SF Jazz
Berkeley Repertory Theatre
San Francisco Playhouse | Square
California Shakespeare Theater
Google | Ethereum Classic Labs
Crowded Fire Theatre | Facebook
IBM Cloud Garage | OSI Soft
Joe Goode Annex | Wealthfront
Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center
1890 Bryant Street Studios | Cisco
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
Silicon Valley Bank | OhmniLabs
SynapseFI | Trial Pay | VMware
"I’m proud to say LSV has delivered above and beyond my expectations. I can say with complete confidence that LSV has been a transformative experience for me."
Andy Weng '19
Software Engineering Track
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For more information on LehighSiliconValley, please click here.