Keynotes

Keynote Speakers

Last year’s keynote speakers included Philip Gaskin and Natalie Madeira Cofield. Please sign up for our waitlist to be notified of news and alerts about this year’s keynotes!

Philip Gaskin

Philip Gaskin is vice president of Entrepreneurship for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, where he is responsible for leading the Kauffman Foundation’s efforts to build an economy that works for all people by making entrepreneurship an integral component of economic development policies, practices, and programs.

As a leader with deep expertise in implementing strategies that change conditions in communities of all types, Philip provides the vision, strategic thinking, and thought leadership to scale and deepen the impact of the Foundation’s comprehensive entrepreneurship portfolio, which aims to eliminate systemic barriers and enhance economic activity through inclusive entrepreneurship. With deep experience in organizational management in a variety of settings, he is also responsible for the department’s strategic planning, talent acquisition, program execution, grants process, budgeting, and operations. Charged with leading the team of more than 30 associates, Philip uses his collective life and work experiences to inspire each associate to achieve extraordinary things, reach their full potential, and impact the lives of those the Foundation serves.Read more about Philip here.

Natalie Madeira Cofield

Natalie Madeira Cofield is a presidentially appointed expert on small business and has been named one of the most powerful women in business by Entrepreneur Magazine. An award-winning entrepreneur, philanthropist, political appointee, and economic activist, Natalie has provided some of the nation’s most prominent CEOs of billion-dollar organizations, executives of global brands, senior advisors to the White House, mayors of leading national cities, and community activists and leaders with inspiration, insight, and advisement.As a presidentially-appointed Assistant Administrator of the Small Business Administration, she advised on the deployment of $1.2 trillion in funding and was directly responsible for supporting the deployment of more than $200 million in funding to ecosystems and entrepreneurs throughout the country during the greatest economic crisis in modern history.Read more about Natalie here.