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The Company Lab Team
A Tennessee native, Lindsey has dedicated her career to the support and acceleration of startups and entrepreneurs in Tennessee and the Southeast. During her tenure at LaunchTN, she reimagined 36|86 Entrepreneurship Festival into a two-day celebration of startup founders, funders and partners, which generated national attention for Tennessee’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. She also created LaunchTN’s government relations team and oversaw the passage and administration of the state’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Matching Program, which to date has deployed $8M of grants into tech-enabled, Tennessee-based companies. Lindsey comes to CO.LAB from the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Washington, D.C., where she led their signature grant program, Build to Scale. Lindsey spearheaded the agency-wide effort to rebrand and restructure this program, as well as oversaw the $150M+ portfolio of grants to tech-based economic development organizations across the country. Katie Hendrix, Chief of Staff
Katie came to Chattanooga to attend Covenant College, majoring in history with a focus on British history. After college, she began her journey into the startup world at Tricycle, Inc., then moved into the development at Covenant College. She spent time in several other local startups, including Quickcue and Variable. She recruited talent for Lamp Post Group and managed the Chattanooga Gigabit Community Fund for the Mozilla Foundation. As the Chief of Staff, she runs the CO.LAB Capital Network, working alongside entrepreneurs and investors to provide access to capital in our area. Katie is the Vice Chair of the board for the local nonprofit, Downside Up and the board secretary for the South Broad Redevelopment Group.
Kirk Burton, Program Director
Kirk joined CO.LAB following a recent stint in the Washington DC area. After he retired from the US Army, Kirk got involved in technology development for clients in the defense and intelligence community. After serving as the Director of Engineering for a Florida based business incubator he got the entrepreneur bug and has been working with small businesses ever since. Kirk co-founded two separate non-profit organizations devoted to building and supporting entrepreneurial ecosystems, founded two consulting companies, and designed a virtual incubator for SBIR companies. In addition to being a founder, Kirk has been a mentor and commercialization guide working with hundreds of tech companies across the country. Kirk holds an MBA from Syracuse University, a bachelor’s degree in accounting/finance from Kennesaw State University and is a certified PMP, PMI-ACP, and Scrum Master.Zac Beker, Programs Administrator
Zac is a fourth-generation Chattanoogan. As CO.LAB’s Programs Administrator, Zac brings years of analytics and database experience to the organization and also oversees the CO.STARTERS and Office Hours Programs. He studied marketing and management at UTC with a focus on entrepreneurship, and has since worked on projects for educational organizations across Chattanooga. Zac was first introduced to entrepreneurship when helping manage his elementary school’s bookstore, and first became involved at CO.LAB in 2011 by volunteering at 48Hour Launch. In his spare time, he enjoys improv and hosting board game nights around Chattanooga.
Our team is supported by a network of dedicated mentors and diverse partners who invest countless hours and endless energy into our startups.
Board of Directors
Travis Lytle, Vice ChairSVP, SmartBank
George YuFounder, Variable, Inc.
Santosh SankarCo-founder & Director, Dynamo
Mark McKnightPresident, Reflection Riding
Rebekah Elkins SharpePartner, Transparency Health
Cherita AllenDeputy Administrator of Economic Development, City of Chattanooga