Event Details
The concept of "disruptive innovation" was most notably defined by Clay Christensen in his book, The Innovator's Dilemma, as solutions that either address markets that previously couldn't be served or offer a simpler, cheaper, or more convenient alternatives to an existing product. New technologies and design thinking, have created a wave of potential in traditional industries to engage and serve new and existing customers through innovative solutions and channels.
These disruptive forces are changing the face of iconic industries - major corporations and budding startups alike - many of which are anchored here in South Florida.
This event will include networking over refreshments and hors d'oeuvres followed by a panel discussion with notable leaders employing new methods and strategies to enable their companies and others to take advantage of disruptive forces in a number of key industries:
- Peter Giorgi - Chief Marketing Officer, Celebrity Cruise Lines
- Ivan Rapin-Smith - Managing Director, Watsco Ventures
- Thomas "Tigre" Wenrich - CEO, The LAB Miami and LAB.Ventures
Early Bird (Before 11:59pm on 5/10) - $20 alumni, $25 guests
Regular (Before 11:59pm on 5/16) - $25 alumni, $30 guests
On-Site - $30 alumni, $35 guests
Speaker Profiles
Peter Giorgi (Panelist)
Chief Marketing Officer, Celebrity Cruises
http://www.celebritycruises.com/
Peter is a passionate storyteller, creative advocate and true believer in the power of great ideas to change culture.
As Celebrity Cruises' Chief Marketing Officer, Peter oversees all aspects of the cruise line's global marketing, including brand strategy and creative development, digital marketing, social media, research, loyalty, direct marketing and advertising.
Peter most recently served as Global Head of Advertising for Airbnb, where he contributed to the brand's creative and strategic excellence, leading the development of strategic marketing platforms that dramatically increased the global growth and adoption of the brand.
Prior to joining Airbnb, Peter was VP Account Director at Crispin Porter + Bogusky, one of the world's most awarded advertising agencies, where he worked on clients including Volkswagen, Jose Cuervo, vitaminwater, Kraft and The Miami Dolphins.
Peter's work has been recognized at Cannes, The One Show, The Webby Awards, The Skifties and Shorty Awards.
Recent Media Appearances: Why Celebrity Cruises Turned to Airbnb for Its New CMO (Skift)
Ivan Rapin Smith (Speaker)
Managing Director, Watsco Ventures
http://www.watscoventures.com/
Ivan currently leads Watsco Ventures, the startup incubator and corporate venture capital fund of Watsco Inc., a fortune 1000 company headquartered in Coconut Grove. Prior to his current role, Ivan ran the startup accelerator program at the Venture Hive. Before moving to Miami in 2011, Ivan co-founded and ran the first startup accelerator in Belgium.
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Ivan Rapin-Smith was born in the UK from a French mother and an English father and was raised in Belgium. From a young age he developed an interest for science and technology.
After getting his Masters in Industrial Engineering from the University of Leuven he started his career as a management consultant where he developed an interest for sales and operations management.
In 1999 he co-founded Web-Diggers, an Internet startup that built technology and a team of domain experts to search, curate and package information on paid databases and the Internet for corporate customers. The company grew in revenue but didn't survive the dotcom bubble.
Ivan went back to management consulting for several years before co-founding his second startup Knowledge Plaza in 2007. Knowledge Plaza is an enterprise knowledge management SaaS product with customers in Belgium, France and Germany.
Leveraging his experience, failures and successes as a startup founder and as a management consultant for corporations, Ivan co-founded Idealy in 2010. Idealy was the first startup accelerator in Belgium and was part of the Global Accelerator Network championed by Techstars. Idealy supported Belgian entrepreneurs through funding, education and mentoring. Ideally has morphed into Nest'Up, a public-private partnership with the Walloon Government.
Ivan and his wife picked Miami as the place they wanted to raise their son and moved there from Brussels in November 2011. Ivan supported the of launch the Venture Hive in Downtown Miami where he ran the startup accelerator and incubator for the first two years.
Since December 2014, Ivan has led Watsco Ventures, the startup incubator and corporate venture capital fund of Watsco Inc., a fortune 1000 company headquartered in Coconut Grove.
Recent Media Appearances: Watsco to launch program for tech startups (Miami Herald)
Thomas "Tigre" Wenrich (Speaker)
CEO, The LAB Miami & LAB.Ventures
http://labventures.co/
Tigre recently joined The LAB Miami as CEO and is launching LAB.Ventures, a "venture builder" that aims to create game-changing new businesses in partnership with the region's best entrepreneurial talent and leading corporations. Tigre is also an active angel investor and a mentor to several local emerging technology companies, having invested in more than two dozen startups.
In 2009 Tigre joined Andres Moreno as the Founding COO and CFO of Open English, growing the company from commercial launch to over $50M in annual revenues and creating a massive consumer brand. Today Open English is the leading on-line language school in the Americas, having helped nearly 500,000 students to learn English over the internet. Under Tigre's leadership, Open English raised over $120M of Venture Capital in four rounds of investment from firms including Redpoint, Insight, and Technology Crossover Ventures.
Tigre began his career as a strategy consultant with The Boston Consulting Group, where he spent 16 years as a partner in the US, Spain and Mexico. Later, from 2006 to 2009, he built a chain of 20 check cashing and PayDay Loan stores in Miami, which he purchased in an MBO and subsequently sold to a larger competitor. He was also a founding investor and Board member of Proteak, a large Latin American forestry business which listed on the Mexican stock exchange in 2010.
Tigre holds a B.A. in International Relations from Stanford University and is fluent in Spanish and English.
Recent Media Appearances: The LAB Miami, a co-working pioneer, to expand entrepreneur programs (Miami Herald)