Jennifer Sherer is the Director of the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Institute at Georgia State University. The Institute is focused on expanding an innovative and entrepreneurial culture inclusive of all students, faculty, and staff at Georgia State as well as engaging alumni and the external community to advance innovative ideas, create new enterprises, and transform existing businesses and organizations.
Jennifer’s entire professional career has been dedicated to driving innovation and supporting entrepreneurs. Prior to joining Georgia State, Jennifer was the Vice President of Innovation and Entrepreneurship for the Metro Atlanta Chamber. There she led the launch of numerous initiatives to promote collaboration in the innovation community, support high-growth entrepreneurs, and elevate Atlanta’s status as a globally recognized innovation hub.
Earlier in her career, Jennifer served as the Executive Director of Southeast BIO (SEBIO), a regional non-profit organization that fosters the growth of the life sciences industry in the Southeastern U.S. SEBIO’s mentoring programs, designed to prepare entrepreneurs for fundraising and cultivate new start-ups from universities, have benefited over 200 companies in the Southeast. Companies participating in SEBIO activities have gone on to raise over $2.5 billion in public and private funding.
After finishing graduate school, Jennifer joined the Office of Technology Transfer at Emory University as a licensing associate. She was responsible for assessing intellectual assets for advancement, developing marketing strategies, and generating commercialization plans for technologies generated by university researchers. She also aided faculty members in developing strategic partnerships with the industry.
Jennifer serves on the Emory University Center for Ethics Advisory Board, the Southeast BIO Executive Committee, and is a graduate of Leadership Gwinnett. She earned a Ph.D. in Molecular Physiology and Biological Physics at the University of Virginia and a B.S. in Biochemistry at Lehigh University. She was also a collegiate athlete as a member of the Lehigh University Women’s Basketball team.
Jennifer lives in Suwanee, Georgia with her husband, Todd, and has three stepdaughters and twin boys.
Musaddeq Khan (MK) is the lead Entrepreneur In Residence for Georgia State’s Main Street Entrepreneurs Seed Fund. MK is a serial entrepreneur. He has taken ideas and transformed them into growth businesses. In 2002, he founded Prominus to help hospitals manage their receivables. In 2008, MK founded Verdeeco, a cloud-based analytics platform that energy utilities use to manage and analyze data to gain operational efficiencies.
Verdeeco was acquired in 2014 by Sensus, the company that helps Georgia Power and Cobb EMC measure and manage electric grid. Verdeeco was dubbed iTunes of the Smart Grid. MK has also led innovation teams for large corporations like Best Buy and Itron. In addition to his role at Georgia State, he is a mentor at the Atlanta Tech Village and works with startups and entrepreneurs nationwide. MK is also currently the Chief Revenue Officer for Grid4C an AI startup based in Tel Aviv. MK holds a B.B.A. in Computer Information Systems from Georgia State University.
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What You’ll Learn in This Episode
- About Main Street Entrepreneurs Seed Fund
- The significance of a program like Main Street in the middle of a global pandemic
- Who should apply and tips for submitting an application
- The selection process
- The program format
- How community partners can get involved
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