Join Startup Grind and the Douglas Design District for an evening of local eats, drinks and a panel discussion from four esteemed DDD entrepreneurs moderated by DDD Executive Director, Renee Duxler!
The Panel:
Janelle King | Founder | The Workroom
Bill Gardner | Founder | Gardner Design
Ken Stoppel | Founder | Building Controls & Services
Eddie Sandoval | Founder | Pinole Blue
Interior designer and owner of The Workroom, Janelle King is an entrepreneur, community activist, and art advocate. Outgoing chair of the Douglas Design District, she has led many community initiatives including Avenue Art Days, 2nd Saturday Artisan Market, LevelUP, and the Blackout ICT campaign fostering progress and increasing vibrancy and culture in our city core giving us all a reason to #LOVEICT.
As the owner and president of Gardner Design, Bill has produced effective and award-winning results for clients ranging from Fortune 500 companies to one-man shops. He understands the nuances of brand practicalities better than anyone in the business and leads his team to always first consider the business that the design is supporting.
As the founder of LogoLounge.com – the international, searchable compendium of logos – Bill authored the affiliated bestselling LogoLounge book series, volumes 1-11, and is the author of the annual LogoLounge Logo Trend Report. 2013 marked the release of the highly anticipated Logo Creed, a foundation textbook for students, educators and professionals alike.
In 2014, Bill became an AIGA Fellow Award recipient for his contributions to the local, national and international creative community.
Bill also judges design competitions and speaks nationally and internationally on identity trends and logo development. In his spare time, he serves on several community boards and has completed a six-year term as the Territorial Vice President of the International Brotherhood of Magicians.
After founding BCS in June of 1985 as one man and a truck, Ken has presided over, not only a tremendous internal corporate evolution, but arguably the greatest technical transition in the history of the overall market. Over the years, Ken helped establish the culture and values that make BCS what is today, enabling the optimum blend of talent, youth, wisdom and enthusiasm to take it to the next level. Today, Ken champions our “Premium Customer Experience” initiative. As we often hear him say, “We can’t make payroll without it!”
Eddie Sandoval is the founder of Pinole Blue. He was raised in the small town of Solomon, but moved to Wichita to attend WSU where he graduated in 2017 with a Business Finance degree and was also the winner of the 2017 Shocker New Venture Competition with his business idea Pinole Blue.
Pinole Blue makes traditional food products from organic blue corn while giving back to the Tarahumara tribe in Chihuahua, Mexico. Pinole is made of roasted ground maize (corn) with spices, and has been passed down by tribes in Mesoamerica since the time of the Aztecs. Pinole Blue also just recently started a tortilleria here in Wichita. We are one of the only two stone ground tortilla manufactures in the state of Kansas. I have always had a passion for entrepreneurship but I had always wanted to start a business where I could share my family's traditions.
