NEW ORLEANS – The 2025 New Orleans Entrepreneur Week (NOEW), now in its final day, brought founders, investors, industry leaders, and creatives together for high-impact programming hosted by Loyola University New Orleans.
“Bringing the Summit to Loyola strengthens our commitment to entrepreneurship,” said Robert “Bobby” Savoie, Dean of Loyola University’s College of Business. “We are thrilled to welcome this dynamic gathering of business leaders, students, and visionaries to our campus.”
Besides the events held at Loyola University, NOEW week has seen pitch competitions, startup showcases, and industry summits taking place throughout the region.
The 5th Annual 101 Women in Business Conference, hosted by the Small Business Administration, kicked off on March 26 with a networking evening. The event, which runs through March 28 at the Sheraton Hotel in Metairie, included expert-led sessions on business strategy, marketing, funding, and scaling.
The inaugural Startup Noir NOLA Summit also took place on March 27 promoting the strengths and assets of the Greater New Orleans region and amplifying the ability for Black founders to launch start-ups and drive business success.
The Beach at the University of New Orleans (UNO) also hosted "The Power Hour: Future Energy & Innovation Celebration" on March 24, providing a platform for networking among industry leaders and emphasizing UNO's commitment to energy innovation.
The Future Energy Experience hosted multiple sessions on March 24 at The Nieux, covering a range of topics relating to energy innovation, clean technology, and building resilient energy infrastructure.
The Tulane Business Model Competition Semi-Final Round also took place on March 24 at the A.B. Freeman School of Business with six top teams from the semi-final round advancing to the Final Round for a chance to win cash prizes and gain support. The competition encourages student entrepreneurship and innovation.
Also on March 24, the BioSpark: Igniting Your Biotech Venture event, organized collaboratively by the New Orleans BioInnovation Center (NOBIC) and Xavier University of Louisiana (XULA), with participation from the Louisiana Small Business Development Center at XULA, was held at Xavier University and brought biotech innovators and entrepreneurs together to explore opportunities in emerging biotech advancements such as gene editing, AI-driven antimicrobial discovery, cell therapy, and biotech in agriculture..
The BioSpark event featured Mike Eckert, Founder and Chairman of Gulf South Angels, and Kwame Terra, MPH, CEO of bEHR Health. Kwame Terra shared insights on building bEHR Health and leveraging digital innovation to drive health equity.
The IDEAcorps MBA Consulting Challenge, presented by Dr. Bobby and Lori Kent Savoie, took place on March 25 bringing together top MBA students from across the country to pair up with entrepreneurial ventures to develop strategic recommendations addressing business challenges in real-world situations.
In addition, Tulane Innovation Day occurred on March 26 and brought together students, faculty, alumni, and local business leaders to highlight groundbreaking research, creative ideas, innovative projects, and commercialization of research.
NOEW 2025 Speakers
As the CEO of The Idea Village, Jon Atkinson played a pivotal role in coordinating and leading NOEW 2025, partnering with Loyola University's College of Business to co-produce it. "Our partnership with Loyola creates even more opportunities for our city’s entrepreneurial community to thrive," said Atkinson. “NOEW has always been about pushing big ideas forward. The 2025 Summit builds on that legacy with a lineup that speaks to the future of business, the creative economy, and the role New Orleans plays in shaping both.”
The NOEW Speakers list is extensive, with 123 speakers that can be grouped into the broad fields of technology, innovation, legal and corporate services, media-communications-public relations-marketing, content creation, lifestyle, culinary and hospitality, economic development and finance although several of the speakers fall into more than one category:
Technology and Innovation
• A'Kilah B. Gordon, Program Manager, City of New Orleans, NOLAvate Explore Tech Cohort 2024
• Barrett Conrad, CEO, Antares Technology Solutions
• Brandon Rapp, Founder & CEO, Allouve
• Burton White, CEO, Excella
• Conway Solomon, Co-Founder & CEO, WRSTBND
• Dustin Gaspard, Director of Technology, Excella
• Dustin Puryear, CEO, Giant Rocketship
• Eric Delgado, Founder & Principal Consultant, Izinga
• Erica Salm Rench, COO, Sidecar.AI
• Jim Odom, Founder & CEO, PreSonus
• Joe McMenemon, Co-Founder & COO, ChapterSpot
• Matt Sarradet, Co-Founder & COO, Gophr
• Ralph Whalen, CEO, BENZAIT
• Scott Wolfe, Founder & CEO, Levelset
• Tony Zanders, CEO & Founder, Skilltype
Legal and Corporate Services
• Adam Matasar, Partner, Jones Walker LLP, Corporate Practice Group
• Mickal P. Adler, Founder & Principal, Boot64 Ventures
Media and Communications
• Aisha Jackson, CEO, Arete Media International
• Bianca Cook, Founder & Creative Director, The Nola Collective
• Carla Pesono, Founder & CEO, CarlaMedia LLC
• Ciara Green, Founder & CEO, Signed Ciara
• Gibran Nassif, Founder & CEO, Nassif Media
• Jolie Bernard, CEO & Founder, The Bernard Group
• Lisa Fernandez, Founder & CEO, Lisa Fernandez Agency
• Mac Alsfeld, Creative Director, Deep Fried Advertising
• Malana Joseph Mitchell, Vice President of Public Relations, Spears Group
• Nicole McCullum, Founder & CEO, Captivate Designs
• Olivia F. Scott, Founder & Principal Consultant, Omerge Alliances
• Ray Fontaine, Founder & Creative Director, Bywater Branding Services
• Rich Collins, Business Reporter, The Times-Picayune
• Shanéy J. Washington, Founder & CEO, Dream Forward Media
• Tom Martin, Founder & President, Converse Digital
Content Creation and Lifestyle
• Alex Robinson, Founder & CEO, Alex Robinson LLC
• Caitlin Minshew, Founder & CEO, Eating with Cait, LLC
• Doug Tatum, Senior Vice President of Digital Media, New Orleans Pelicans/Saints
• Greg Bresnitz, Head of Cultural Strategy, FWB DAO
• Jonah Evans, Founder & Principal Consultant, theDifference Consulting
• Kim Bergeron, Founder & CEO, Kim Bergeron Productions/RightBrainDiaries.com
• Lisa LaCour, Founder & CEO, The Vault Collective
• Scot Pilié, Meteorologist & Content Creator, NOLA.com/WGNO/Pontchartrain Conservancy
Public Relations and Marketing
• Alicia Vial, Public Relations Account Executive, Gambel Communications
• Ciara Green, Founder & CEO, Signed Ciara
• Jennifer Simpson, Founder & CEO, Bespoke Experiences
• Lisa Fernandez, Founder & CEO, Lisa Fernandez Agency
• Mac Alsfeld, Creative Director, Deep Fried Advertising
• Malana Joseph Mitchell, Vice President of Public Relations, Spears Group
• Nicole McCullum, Founder & CEO, Captivate Designs
• Olivia F. Scott, Founder & Principal Consultant, Omerge Alliances
• Ray Fontaine, Founder & Creative Director, Bywater Branding Services
• Rich Collins, Business Reporter, The Times-Picayune
• Shanéy J. Washington, Founder & CEO, Dream Forward Media
• Tom Martin, Founder & President, Converse Digital
Culinary and Hospitality
• Amy C. Sins, Chef & Owner, Langlois NOLA
• Jane Cooper, Owner, Grande Krewe Fine Wine & Spirits
• Larry Morrow, Founder & CEO, Morrow’s Hospitality
• Robert LeBlanc, Founder & CEO, LeBLANC+SMITH
Economic Development and Finance
• Anna deTiege, Director of Innovation Capital, Louisiana Economic Development
• Annie Clark, Chief Financial Officer, Finance New Orleans
• Bill Ellison, Executive Director, Innovation Catalyst, Inc.
• Blake J. Stanfill, Managing Director, New Orleans Startup Fund
• Damon Burns, President & CEO, Finance New Orleans
• Danielle A. Davis, Vice President, JP Morgan Chase
• Destin Ortego, Executive Director, Opportunity Machine
