Larry Steffan / RIoT
Founder
Larry’s career spans 35 years deeply entrenched in technology. Mr. Steffann held several roles with a number of startups, from advisor, angel investor and as executive/founder. He served in senior executive roles at two publicly traded companies, CEO of NSO/AMEX and COO BOCI/Nasdaq.
As a serial entrepreneur, Mr. Steffann’s recent roles have included GM of the Wireless Research Center of North Carolina and VP of Product Development for Consert, a Smart Energy start up in Raleigh, North Carolina. Consert raised more than $40 million in funding prior to being sold to Toshiba. Larry Co-Founded Joystick Labs, the initial tenant of the American Underground at the American Tobacco Campus, in Durham, NC.
As GM of WRC, Mr. Steffann also Founded NC RIOT and RIoT Labs. RIoT, has grown its membership to nearly 4,000, representing hundreds of companies, and is now doing events and programs nationally.
He now applies this combination of executive leadership and hands on mentor ship to economic development – the primary mission of The Wireless Research Center of North Carolina and RIoT. The Wireless Center and RIoT are poised to support the growth of Smart Cities, 5G and IoT.
Tom Snyder / RIoT
Executive Director
Tom is Executive Director of NC RIoT, a non-profit supporting Internet of Things and disruptive technology industry growth. He is co-instructor in Product Innovation Lab, a Forbes award winning multi-disciplinary course in Innovation and Entrepreneurship at NC State.
Prior to joining RIoT, Tom held an executive leadership role at the ASSIST Center, a National Science Foundation sponsored effort to create wearable electronics for healthcare monitoring. Previously, he spent two decades in product development and technology incubation in consumer electronics.
He’s passionate about creating and fostering collaborations across disciplines, markets and cultures. He enjoys the outdoors, woodworking, board games, big crowds, craft beer and ideas that are just crazy enough to work.
Randy Grinberg / Scully Dog Enterprises, Inc.
Owner
Randy Grinberg owns and operates a Pet Supplies Plus franchise store in Smyrna, Georgia. Originally from Oregon, Randy has a Bachelor of Science in Mathematics from Oregon State University and an Accounting degree from Portland State University, and is a licensed Certified Public Accountant, who spent 25 years in corporate finance and accounting. While successful in his career, he tired of changing companies every 4 or 5 years. One of those company changes brought him to Atlanta in 2006.
In 2015 Randy decided he wanted to take control of his career and his future by becoming a small business owner. After researching a half-dozen different franchises, Randy purchased the Pet Supplies Plus franchise in the fall of 2015 and the store opened in December 2016.
