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Entrepreneur John Pope to Speak at January e2e Laramie Meeting

January 6, 2015
head portrait of man
John Pope, president and CEO of Gas Sensing Technology Corp., is the guest speaker at this month’s e2e Laramie meeting, scheduled Wednesday, Jan. 28, 5:30-7 p.m., at the Laramie Hilton Garden Inn.

With $100 and an idea, John Pope founded Blue Sky Group Inc. in Laramie in 1998.

Pope, a University of Wyoming graduate, will tell his entrepreneurial story as the guest speaker at e2e Laramie’s meeting this month. Pope, now CEO and president of Gas Sensing Technology Corp. (formerly known as WellDog), will speak during e2e Laramie’s meeting Wednesday, Jan. 28, 5:30-7 p.m., at the Laramie Hilton Garden Inn.

Blue Sky Group, of which Pope is CEO and president, became an umbrella for his business ventures, which includes Gas Sensing Technology Corp., Centennial Woods Inc., Nanomaterials Discovery Corporation (NDC), Blue Sky Batteries and Clear Creek Partners. Pope’s companies generate, collectively, more than $25 million in sales annually and employ more than 150 people.

“John is a classic entrepreneur. He’s run a lot of interesting companies, multiple companies,” says Jonathan Benson, CEO of the Wyoming Technology Business Center (WTBC). “Some of them worked well. Some of them had problems. But, because he is a persistent person and has good people around him, he’s been able to make it work.”

Inc. Magazine named WellDog as the 89th-fastest growing private company in 2013 after growing more than 3,000 percent from 2011-2013, according to a Wyoming Business Report article. The company uses Raman spectroscopy and chemical sensors to test oil and gas wells to provide a reasonable estimate for whether there is gas or oil below the surface, and which areas are likely to be strong producers, the article says.

Pope was listed in the 2002 “International Who’s Who in Entrepreneurs.” He is an expert on batteries, fuel cells, coal-bed natural gas and harsh environment sensing. Pope also is an inventor on numerous pending and issued patents.

Pope currently serves on the annual Rockies Venture Club's Colorado Capital Conference steering committee. He previously served on the board of the Laramie Economic Development Corporation, the Wyoming Business Alliance, the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, the Fuel Cell Advisory Board for the Big Sky Economic Development Authority and on the Gulf of Mexico Gas Hydrate Research Consortium.

He was an assistant professor of applied chemistry of the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, and worked in the advanced performance materials group at Monsanto Chemical Company.

Pope received his doctoral degree in physical chemistry from UW and his bachelor’s degree in physics from the University of Missouri at Rolla.

E2e is an educational networking program with chapters in Laramie, Casper, Gillette and Sheridan. It is designed to improve the climate for the startup and growth of entrepreneurial companies. Each e2e chapter meets bimonthly for 45 minutes of networking, followed by a 45-minute program. The programs include successful entrepreneurs telling their stories, panel discussions on relevant topics and advice from experts in a specific business.

The WTBC, a not-for-profit business incubator at UW that provides entrepreneurs with the expertise, networks and tools necessary for success, launched e2e as an educational networking program.

For more information on e2e, call the WTBC at (307) 766-6395.

Contact Us

Institutional Communications

Bureau of Mines Building, Room 137

Laramie

Laramie, WY 82071

Phone: (307) 766-2929

Email: cbaldwin@uwyo.edu

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