Last Friday, September 14th Governor Quinn visited 1871 to announce an innovative $10.3 million public-private education initiative called Illinois Pathways, to better prepare our state’s students for today and tomorrow’s jobs.
This morning 1871 was lucky enough to have Mark Achler, Senior Vice President of New Business, Strategy, and Innovation of Redbox, come speak on the importance of integrating values into company culture. Starting off his early morning presentation with a round of heartwarming jokes, it was clear how important connecting with people is to him. A string of notable accolades under his belt, notably the serial entrepreneur of four companies, a partner at a venture capitalist firm, and currently an intrapraneur at Redbox, Achler could only stress the importance of values in helping him through every step of his career.
Last Friday, Mayor Rahm Emanuel visited 1871 for a press conference and to tour this digital startup center. The Mayor and his team have been huge supporters of the effort to build 1871 - particularly his CTO John Tolva, CIO Brett Goldstein, and World Business Chicago - especially Director of Technology Development Dan Lyne.
When we were thinking about the many roles a space like 1871 could play in Chicago's startup community, one role was definitely a showcase of our entrepreneurs to both domestic and international leaders. Last week, we were visited by a Mayor of a major global city as well as a Governor of an important US state.
Today we hit a huge milestone in the early life of 1871 - we hosted a visit by a foreign head-of-government. And it wasn't just any head-of-government, this was the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, David Cameron!
