During the first council meeting of 2021, Orlando Tech Council Chair and Vice President of IT at Massey Services, Adam Scheinberg, officially transferred leadership to incoming chair, Rajiv Menon, an entrepreneur, speaker and mentor.
After forming in late 2019, the Orlando Tech Council leveraged its inaugural year to build the foundation of an effort designed to engage the region’s tech and innovation community to work more collaboratively toward an innovation-based economy.
The group established programs to unite the region’s economy. One example is Tech Connect, a program that scouts and vets innovative tech companies for large companies in the region that seek to contract out some of their work to a nimbler team. It is a model that embodies the spirit of the group in all its work.
During the first council meeting of 2021, Orlando Tech Council Chair and Vice President of IT at Massey Services, Adam Scheinberg, officially transferred leadership to the incoming chair, Rajiv Menon, an entrepreneur, speaker and mentor. Menon is the Founder and CEO of Informulate, a software development and innovation consultancy that employs Lean Startup and Agile methodologies. He is also the organizer for Lean Startup Orlando and Startup Weekend Orlando. Scheinberg continues to serve on the council’s leadership team.
Menon is joined by chair-elect, Lilian Myers, executive director at StarterStudio. Starter Studio is a 501c3 nonprofit accelerator for tech-enabled startups and other innovators that are adding fuel to Florida’s growing technology economy. Prior to StarterStudio, Lilian founded several startups and navigated a robust career with Fortune 500 companies including Microsoft, serving in roles such as corporate development, marketing, product management and internationalization. She also possesses strong experience raising venture and strategic capital.
To meet the council’s objectives, Menon and Myers work hand-in-hand with the chairs and chair-elects of the council’s three committees: Ecosystem, Programming and Marketing.
The Orlando Tech Council’s objectives include:
- Leverage partnerships to broaden and deepen the innovation ecosystem
- Develop and activate tech/innovation leaders within the community
- Identify and fill in the gaps in the tech/innovation ecosystem
- Increase diversity in the region’s tech community
- Amplify the key messages and success stories to attract/retain top talent, companies and capital resources
Orange County Government’s Chief Innovation and Emerging Technologies Office, Andrea Wesser-Brawner, and 100 Women Strong co-chair, Renuka Sastri, lead the ecosystem committee in its mission to measure, map and build a deep understanding of the region’s tech and innovation ecosystem.
Chris Morton, operating partner at Orchid Black and co-founder of NanoPhotonica, along with Charlie Lewis, founder and CEO of Bluewave Resource Partners and Project Orlando, serve as the leaders of the Programming committee. Their goal is creating or co-delivering external events and programs such as the Tech Connect and SynapseOrlando.
Matthew Broffman, director of innovation and digital platforms and service design for the City of Orlando, and Kelly Trace, founder of Reach & Headquarters Marketing, co-chair the Marketing committee focused on bringing visibility to the region and increasing engagement within the council.
Collectively this group works alongside the Orlando Economic Partnership’s innovation team led by Sheena Fowler, VP of innovation, and Lindsey Sandrin, director of innovation, to align activities with the council’s mission.
Welcome to the 2021 Orlando Tech Council leadership, we look forward to the incredible work that will positively impact our region’s tech and innovation economy.
