Jessica Beaver is the Associate Director of FAU Tech Runway, an accelerator for early stage startups, located in Boca Raton, FL.  Having been with Tech Runway since 2015, Jessica oversees all operations and programming.  Prior to working at FAU, she lived in New York City, where she worked in the fast paced, high stress environments of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Related Companies. When not assisting entrepreneurs and “keeping the lights on” at Tech Runway, you can find Jessica scuba diving some of Florida’s (and the worlds!) most beautiful reefs, skiing in Colorado or planning her next travel adventure.Jessica is originally from Boca Raton, FL, and received her BA from the University of Colorado, Boulder. 

I'm passionate about helping people find their focus and connecting like-minded individuals in order to create a strong network of people who can find value in every meeting.Currently, I'm the Director of the Founder Institute Florida cohort, an accelerator that helps pre-seed startups get funding through a structured program. Through the program, I run workshops, panels, and round tables on diverse topics such as funding, pitching, and more in various spaces across Miami. When startups need more tailored aggressive growth strategies on a 1-1 basis 305 Works is a private consulting arm to help them achieve their goals in a more customized approach.Founder of Pitch Night MIA, a monthly pitch competition showcasing local startups. The monthly event consists of a 5-minute pitch, judges will do a Q&A, give feedback, a winner is selected, and participants win prizes to help with their business. Pitch Night MIA is a way to collaborate and bring innovative ideas to the Miami ecosystem. 

Blake is the CEO & co-Founder of Startup Boost, a global mentorship driven pre-accelerator helping promising startups take the needed steps to get funded. He's driven by his passions to create and build community. He's also the founder of 2332 Collective (music production & festivals with the goal of bringing music to West LA) & The MoGuard (consumer product cup attachment protecting glorious mustaches). Previously, Blake spent a great deal of his life building software and helping build companies. 

Dr. Susan Amat is the Executive Director of GEN Accelerates and the VP for Education at the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN). GEN operates in 190 countries celebrating and connecting entrepreneurs, ecosystem builders, and policy makers. GEN Accelerates offers a platform and customized intensive training programs that have supported entrepreneurs and ecosystem builders from more than 100 countries through accelerators, universities, and government programs. Additionally, her team designed and runs Entrepreneurship World Cup, the largest startup competition globally with more than 175,000 applicants from over 195 countries in the 2020 edition. A serial entrepreneur, she built media businesses for over a decade, including the first CD-Rom magazine and a national television show. She is the founder of Venture Hive, an entrepreneur education company, and Flitepath, a SaaS solution that provides accountability and transparency tools and content to support innovation management and entrepreneurship programs in Fortune 500 businesses. After completing her MBA, Dr. Amat developed pediatric health monitoring products and earned a Ph.D. in Strategic Entrepreneurship (coursework in industrial engineering, business, and education). While teaching at the University of Miami, she founded The Launch Pad, which was considered the top model in entrepreneurship education. Her program and platform were replicated internationally as Blackstone LaunchPads in universities including USC, UCLA, and Case Western Reserve University. Dr. Amat served as the founding Chair of the STEM Board for Miami-Dade County Public Schools and a Trustee of Miami Dade College. She actively speaks about entrepreneurship and innovation education internationally and has worked with the US State Department, the Kauffman Foundation, and the World Bank on program development, training, and evaluation.She is currently working with Miami Dade County, leading the startup and scaleup initiatives. In 2012, Dr. Amat was honored as a Champion of Change at the White House. @susanamat