Chris Cummings // Pass It Down 
Chris is the founder of Pass It Down™, a social storytelling platform launching in 2016, that makes it easy to capture and preserve family stories in video, audio, text and photos.
Prior to founding Pass It Down™, Chris helped co-found Woople™, a learning management system that has delivered over 20 million minutes of educational content to fortune 500 companies around the world. He is also an attorney who practices federal criminal law on both the trial and appellate levels and is a CJA Panelist for the Federal Public Defenders office.
Christopher has spent the last 15 years actively involved in competing and teaching public speaking, debate, and appellate advocacy. In law school, he was the top speaker and winner of the Chancellors Cup Moot Court competition and the winner of the Robert Lee Tullis Moot Court Competition at the Paul M. Hebert LSU Law Center. During his undergraduate studies, he was a six-time collegiate state champion in public speaking and debate and a national champion speaker. Christopher now helps coach collegiate debate, public speaking and appellate advocacy.
Tia Capps and Ashlee Owens // The Company Lab
The Company Lab (CO.LAB) is a nonprofit startup accelerator that supports entrepreneurial growth in southeast Tennessee. We work with companies ranging from street-corner mom and pop shops to tech startups scaling into major markets. We also wake up every morning thinking about how to create a more robust and dynamic entrepreneurial ecosystem in our region.
Ashlee Owens is the Programs Manager of the Company Lab, over GIGTANK 365 and the CO.LAB Accelerator. Tia Capps is the Communications Director of the Company Lab, managing press relations, establishing community outreach programs, implement communications and brand strategy, and promoting the various programs and events offered at the CO.LAB, like CO.STARTERS, GIGTANK and the Gig City to local and national audiences. implement communications and brand strategy.
