Dr. Marnie LaVigne has spent more than 25 years in both the private and public sectors creating new products and start-up businesses, driving innovation and economic growth in high-tech industries, such as life sciences, informatics, and advanced manufacturing. Her passion for working with start-ups took root from her experience launching health informatics businesses with colleagues in the 1990’s as she finished her doctoral work at the University of Rochester, which resulted in growing two different firms with more than 100 employees and two initial public offerings (IPOs). In July, 2014, she became the President and CEO of Launch NY, a 27-county venture development organization that she co-founded with other Buffalo boosters and whose mission is to identify, support and invest in high-growth, high-impact companies and catalyze the entrepreneurial culture of Upstate New York. Previously, she led economic development efforts involving work with hundreds of firms at UB as Associate Vice President for Economic Development from 2012 to 2014 and Director of Business Development from 2005 until 2012 at the NYS Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics & Life Sciences and the UB Center for Advanced Biomedical and Bioengineering Technology. In addition to her for profit start-up experience prior to UB, Marnie also served in lead product development positions in larger corporations in managed care (e.g., Aetna), pharmaceuticals (Bristol-Myers Squibb), medical devices (Welch Allyn), and medical informatics (Medscape/MedicaLogic, now GE and WebMD). Marnie has a bachelor's degree in neuroscience and a doctorate in clinical psychology, both from the University of Rochester.  She serves on numerous boards for private, public, profit, and non-profit organizations. More about Launch NY Launch NY is dedicated to creating job and wealth creation in the Western part of New York State through entrepreneurial ventures. Launch NY not only supports entrepreneurial programming, such as StartUp Grind, but also provides pro bono mentoring services through its network of entrepreneurs-in-residence (EIRs) who also help companies access vital venture capital to drive their new businesses. Based on the wealth of innovation across Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Binghamton, and Ithaca, Launch NY is the only venture development organization working closely with partners across the region to organize resources on behalf of the most promising start-ups. Learn more at www.launchny.org and www.upstatenyresources.org.