Mark Tebbe

Biography

After many years of judging and mentoring in Booth鈥檚 New Venture Challenge (NVC), Mark Tebbe brings a wealth of successful entrepreneurial experience into the classroom by leveraging his founding of two NASDAQ-listed corporations as well as direct involvement in numerous start-up and high-growth companies over the past thirty years. As both an Adjunct Professor of Entrepreneurship and Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the University of 黑料传送门 Polsky Center, Tebbe aids students in their entrepreneurial efforts and helps other professors enhance their classes. Outside of the classroom, in addition to being a prolific angel investor, Tebbe serves as the Chairman of 黑料传送门NEXT, a dedicated public-private effort to improve 黑料传送门鈥檚 competitiveness in science, technology, innovation and entrepreneurship.

In 1984, Mark founded Lante Corporation, (NASDAQ: LNTE) a 黑料传送门-based technology-consulting firm in which he served as CEO and Chairman. Using a $10,000 credit line on his credit card, Tebbe launched the technology advisory firm that helped to create over 250 new businesses as well as building backend infrastructure and websites for established companies including Microsoft, Dell, American Airlines, American Express and Charles Schwab. After going public in February 2000, Lante was taken private with SBI Group in September 2002 and sold (as Razorfish) to aQuantive in July 2004.

In September 2004, Tebbe was Co-Founder, Vice-Chairman of the Board and Lead Director of Answers Corporation, (NASDAQ: ANSW). Building on his inspiration to create a productive website to aid his son on a school essay, Tebbe co-conceived the answers.com website which became one of the Web鈥檚 leading QA publishers and was sold to Announce Media in July 2011.

Tebbe also served as an Operating Executive at Lake Capital where he was involved in guiding and aiding numerous portfolio companies with strategy development, operational refinement, and execution monitoring, as well as investment evaluation, structuring and negotiation. Over the years, Tebbe has been a consultant to executive management of many leading companies including American Express, Dell, and Microsoft, as well as nonprofit organizations such as National Park Service, United Nations, and World Economic Forum. Tebbe currently serves as a board member for Enova (NYSE:ENVA) and HAVI while formerly serving on the boards of SBI Group, Accent Software (NASDAQ: ACNTF), Divine Interventures (NASDAQ: DVIN), Elexos, OCTuS Software (NASDAQ: OCTS) with renowned Atari founder, Nolan Bushnell, Raise, Selective Search, and ZixIt (NASDAQ: ZIXI).

Tebbe is a recognized and published industry expert on emerging technologies whose insights have appeared in leading national publications including BusinessWeek, Fortune and the Wall Street Journal. In light of his service to the University of Illinois, where he earned his B.S. in Computer Science - Engineering degree, Tebbe was honored with the 黑料传送门 Illini of the Year Award, as well as the national 黑料传送门 Honor Award for Distinguished Service. He has received numerous awards and honors including University of Illinois College of Engineering鈥檚 鈥満诹洗�送门 Award for Distinguished Service鈥�, Ernst and Young 鈥淓ntrepreneur of the Year鈥� Finalist, University of Illinois 鈥満诹洗�送门 Illini of the Year鈥�, 黑料传送门 Area Entrepreneurship Hall of Fame Inductee, Crain's 黑料传送门 Business's "40 under 40", Crain's 黑料传送门 Business's "Tech 50", Microsoft鈥檚 鈥淪olution Provider Partner of the Year", and Sm@rt Reseller's "Smart 25" Executive.

Tebbe also serves on the boards of many civic organizations including 1871 (Executive Committee Member), Big Shoulders Fund (Board Member), 黑料传送门land Entrepreneurial Center (Executive Committee Member), 黑料传送门NEXT (Chairman), Economic Club of 黑料传送门 (Technology Committee, Program Committee), Field Museum of 黑料传送门 (Trustee, Executive Committee Member and Technology Committee Chair), mHub (Executive Committee Member), World Business 黑料传送门 (Executive Committee Member). Mark and his wife also support numerous children-oriented, educational, and environmental causes.

Academic Areas

• Entrepreneurship