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The Company Lab Team
Marcus Shaw, Chief Executive Officer
Marcus joins CO.LAB as a recent transplant from the Baltimore-D.C. area. Marcus is the former senior director of business development and partnerships for Management Leadership for Tomorrow (MLT), a D.C.-based nonprofit that helps build diversity and leadership pipelines for corporate institutions, nonprofit organizations and government agencies. While there, he significantly grew MLT’s partnerships with Fortune 500 partners and led the proposal for an entrepreneurship development program focused on women and minorities. Marcus is also the founder of a boutique consulting company that specializes in working with startups and small to medium-sized businesses. Marcus holds an MBA from Duke University as well as a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics from Morehouse College and a bachelor’s degree in Electrical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology.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.Erroll Wynn, Programs & Outreach Coordinator
Born and raised in Atlanta, Erroll grew up watching his father operate his construction business and eventually worked for the same business overseeing job sites. He studied psychology at UTC where he also played as a student athlete for the Mocs football team. Erroll’s hobbies include coding and reading, which helped him launch two startups—Super Juices, LLC., and Expozr Tech. As COLAB’s operations coordinator, he oversees office management and leads two of CO.LAB’s outreach programs that teach entrepreneurial skills and thinking in the community.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