Blank Center Names New Entrepreneurs in Residence

Derek Schoettle MBA’03, CEO of ZoomInfo, and John Landry ’69, MP’08, serial tech entrepreneur and investor, are the Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship’s newest entrepreneurs in residence (EIRs) and will work with Babson’s emerging entrepreneurs on their ventures.

“Derek and John bring incredible experience and deep tech-industry knowledge to their role as entrepreneurs in residence. They continually demonstrate their passion and vision for what tech can be—and do—next,” said Debi Kleiman, executive director of the Blank Center. Schoettle and Landry will be able to offer not only their perspectives on entrepreneurship and intrapreneurship, but also share their specific expertise in analytics and SaaS respectively.

Getting to Know Derek Schoettle

With a back­ground in artificial intelligence and data analytics, Schoettle is working to take ZoomInfo from a leading sales and management product to a highly sophisticated customer engagement platform. He has more than 20 years of experience in technology and has held responsibility for go-to-market strategy, business operations, and customer success in his previous roles at IBM and Cloudant.

Schoettle is no stranger to startups: He has worked with and in companies of all sizes and stages and is currently engaged with a number of local startups. He recently served as a judge at the 2018 Babson Entrepreneurial Thought & Action^® (B.E.T.A.) Challenge.

Getting to Know John Landry

Self-described as a serial CTO, Landry has held numerous roles in his long and storied career, including VP of technology strategy at IBM, where he developed IBM’s nascent internet strategy in the mid- to late 1990s; CTO at Lotus Development, and executive VP of development and CTO of Cullinet Software.

Eventually having parlaying his software background into tech investing and mentoring, Landry has invested extensively as “Lead Dog” investor of Lead Dog Ventures, served on the boards of more than 40 startups, and mentored teams as a TechStars mentor. Also, he has served as a Babson College trustee. Recently honored with the 2018 Commonwealth Award for his significant contributions to Massachusetts’ technology ecosystem and currently working on a new venture, Landry is endlessly excited about tech entrepreneurship: “This business is the best business to be in the world.”

Meet the New EIRs

“We are really excited to have these accomplished alums give their time and energy to support the next generation of Babson tech entrepreneurs,” added Kleiman. Schoettle and Landry will be kicking off their engagement with the Blank Center this semester. Both will be on campus for office hours, and Landry also will be presenting at a tech speaker series, covering topics including AI, software, raising money in tech, and trends in tech.

For more information about upcoming events with the new EIRs, follow the Blank Center and sign up for its newsletter.

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Tagged Technology, Startups, Entrepreneurship of All Kinds

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