BINGHAMTON, NY – The SUNY Business and Education Cooperative of the Southern Tier (SUNY BEST) will host a presentation, titled “Lessons from a High-Speed Tech Entrepreneur” at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 14 in room 1324C, Continuing Education and Outreach Office, Library North, located on the University campus. This presentation is free and open to the public.

Chuck Stormon, serial entrepreneur and upstate native, will discuss his experiences building high-growth companies around the world, the highs and lows of angel investing, and why mentorship driven accelerators are the right way to launch high growth businesses of the future.

His new project, the StartFast Venture Accelerator (http://startfast.net), is upstate New York’s first private, capital-backed, mentorship driven accelerator. He recently published “Start Fast! Accelerate your mobile, web, or software venture”, a compendium of lessons learned while starting, building, saving, and exiting businesses. Start Fast! is geared towards first-time entrepreneurs who would like to develop the path to success.

Stormon launched his first company while completing his master’s degree in Engineering at Syracuse University, and then spent the next 20 years building high growth software and telecommunications companies on three continents. During this period, Storman raised tens of millions of dollars in venture capital, and also returned $100 million to his investors. For the past five years, Storman has been an active angel investor through the Seed Capital Fund of CNY. He often serves as a board member or advisor/mentor to new technology companies, and is also sought after by private equity investors to advise on strategic mergers and acquisitions.

This meeting is hosted by SUNY BEST and cosponsored by the Southern Tier Opportunity Coalition and The Catalysts for Intellectual Capital 2020.

SUNY BEST is a volunteer group comprised of senior staff members from key economic and educational institutions in the Southern Tier. The group works to forge strong alliances, strengthen industry specific needs and provide information and outreach for business.

SUNY BEST also seeks to explore and support the business community workforce needs for traditional and emerging industry clusters such as nanotechnology, biotechnology, energy, photonics, energy conservation and renewal.

To register or for more information, e-mail dhulbert@binghamton.edu or call 607-777-2792. Parking is available at the visitors’ paid lot, across from Bartle Library and in the parking garage behind the Couper Administration building.