Cornell President Martha E. Pollack will join entrepreneurs from Brooklyn Brewery, Rent the Runway and Shutterstock as featured speakers for the sixth Cornell Entrepreneurship Summit NYC Nov. 3, organized and hosted by Entrepreneurship at Cornell. The event will also honor Robert Smith, founder, chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners, as the 2017 Cornell Entrepreneur of the Year.

The summit, with the theme “Where Ideas Collide,” will feature nine entrepreneurial business leaders speaking in TED-style talks and fireside chats about their entrepreneurial journeys. They will share insights about their successes and challenges, and motivate and inspire participants to connect with one another for collaborative opportunities. The event runs from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. at the Times Center on W. 41st Street, with a cocktail reception to follow.

Entrepreneurship at Cornell hosted the inaugural summit in 2012 as an extension of its annual spring celebration event and conference in Ithaca. The summit in NYC attracts more than 500 participants.

“This year’s summit dovetails nicely with the grand opening of Cornell Tech in New York City this fall,” said Zach Shulman '87, J.D. '90, director of Entrepreneurship at Cornell. “Summit will be an awesome event and further establishes Cornell as an entrepreneurial force in New York City.”

Featured speakers include Steve Hindy ’71, MAT ’75, co-founder and chairman of Brooklyn Brewery and a former Middle East correspondent for the Associated Press, and Stefanie Kasselakis Kyles, CEO and president, Vassilaros Coffee, who left a successful corporate career to lead her family’s business, which has operated in New York City since 1918.

Scott Belsky ’02, founder of Behance and a current venture partner for Benchmark, will act as moderator.

“In contrast to other entrepreneurship events that tend to be very ‘techy’ these days, summit is different,” Belsky said. “In the spirit of Cornell, we gather an eclectic group of entrepreneurs from many different industries. The insights shared and cross-pollination that occurs underscores the importance of bringing innovators with different interests together in the same space. I am honored to host for the sixth year running.”

Other speakers include:

• Liza Landsman ’90, president of Jet;
• Robert Smith, founder, chairman and CEO of Vista Equity Partners;
• J.J. Ramberg, co-founder, Goodshop and host of MSNBC’s “Your Business”;
• Ilya Sukhar ’07, M.Eng. ’08, general partner, Matrix Partners;
• Jennifer Hyman, CEO and co-founder, Rent the Runway;
• Carsten Koerl, CEO and founder, Sportradar; and
• Jon Oringer, founder, chairman and CEO of Shutterstock.

Registration ($300/general, $200/faculty and staff, $50/student) includes access to all speaker presentations, breakfast and lunch, reception and networking periods.

Kathy Hovis is a writer for Entrepreneurship at Cornell.