The new Innovation Center at Mercer University’s Stetson School of Business has recently named an advisory board of 14 people that will help promote entrepreneurship among the student community at Mercer in addition to boosting the economy of Middle Georgia.
The Center’s goal is to forge connections for rising entrepreneurs through coaching, campus resources and capital, which can help these students take their ideas into the real world. The Center will work together with local organizations such as the Macon-Bibb County Industrial Authority, Atlanta Technology Village and the Atlanta Technology and Development Center to make Georgia one of the leading sites for startups in the United States.
The new advisory board includes fourteen business leaders, including CEOs and presidents of successful local businesses. Stewart Vernon, the founder and CEO of ASP Franchising LLC, will be serving not only as the advisory board’s chair but also entrepreneur-in-residence for the academic year. Part of this position will include leading a one-credit course in 2016, mentoring budding entrepreneurs, and hosting a speaker series.
Vernon is the founder of ASP–America’s Swimming Pool Company–which he founded in 2002 and is now the largest swimming pool franchise system in the nation, including over 176 franchise territories in 20 states. I am honored to now be associated with Mercer University and the great things being done there,” Vernon said. “By creating the new Innovation Center and the Entrepreneurship Seminar, Mercer will be adding invaluable resources, to which aspiring entrepreneurs will have unprecedented access.”