POSTPONED - NEW DATE TBA James E. Spencer, Jr. currently serves as the Executive Director of the Rensselaer Technology Park, Real Estate and New Venture Development for Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. In this capacity, Mr. Spencer directs the activities of the Rensselaer Technology Park and the Institute’s distributed business incubation program, the Emerging Venture’s Ecosystem (EVE). In this dual role organized and embodied through the Rensselaer Innovation Hub (RPiHUB.org), Mr. Spencer is leveraging 25+ years of experience as a serial entrepreneur, inventor, business consultant, real estate investor and corporate executive to foster the next generation of technology-driven economic development initiatives at Rensselaer. Mr. Spencer has authored one US patent and led the technical team at his pre-seed and venture capital backed startups for an additional five US patents.  Mr. Spencer has a proven track record of developing and commercializing industrial automation technology. He has also worked in business incubation and university technology commercialization since the sale of his $7.1M VC-backed robotics & automation tech venture in 2003. Mr. Spencer is also a National Business Incubation Association (NBIA) certified Incubator Manager, and formally consulted with small business owners and entrepreneurs as a “bricks and mortar” incubator Site Manager, Entrepreneur in Residence, and SBDC Area Director & Certified Business Analyst (CBA). Spencer holds a bachelor of science in electrical engineering from Brown University. Mr. Spencer also currently serves as the Chairman of Rensselaer’s Entrepreneurship and Innovation Council. "Innovation is the engine that drives the change that moves the world forward, forever fueling our desire to continually improve the quality of life for ourselves, our families, our community and future generations."