UW Entrepreneurship Leader to Speak at Laramie Rotary, Kiwanis Clubs

The chief operating officer of the University of Wyoming’s new Institute of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (IIE) is scheduled to speak to two Laramie service clubs in the next two weeks.

Jack Mason, a successful businessman who has personally founded multiple companies and helped establish many more, will discuss how the IIE aims to create a more robust entrepreneurial ecosystem across the university and the state.

First, he’ll speak at the Laramie Rotary Club’s regular weekly meeting Thursday, Jan. 31, at 11:45 a.m. at O’Dwyers Public House, 1622 Grand Ave.

On Tuesday, Feb. 5, he’s scheduled to speak to the Laramie Kiwanis Club at noon at Altitude Chophouse & Brewery, 320 S. Second St.

Mason earned his bachelor’s degree from the U.S. Naval Academy and went on to earn a master’s degree in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Sloan School of Management, and a master’s degree and Ph.D. in engineering from MIT. At Duquesne University in Pennsylvania, he redesigned and repositioned the entrepreneurial studies program over the past five years. Before that, he taught at the University of Colorado.

Mason has founded eight businesses, including a firm in Boulder, Colo., that provided an electronic commerce platform and services to support energy procurement. Mason led the acquisition of more than 30 Fortune 1000 clients and fundraising of $1.1 million in venture capital.

He served as principal of the energy and management consulting firm Mason Energy and Management, vice president of E Source LLC, chief executive and founder of Energy Window Inc., senior vice president of Indus International and principal of PRISM Consulting Inc.

The IIE calls on innovators from throughout the state as it works to instill entrepreneurial thinking to empower the leaders of tomorrow. Adding needed programs and curriculum that draw together all UW colleges, business services and entrepreneurship competitions, the IIE serves as the university’s front door for the state’s entrepreneurs.