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Guest Speakers

Learn more from our amazing breakout speakers from our 2020 virtual conference. We focused on key topics related to investing and running businesses during these challenging times that we live in today. These speakers will give you guidance on how to continue forward towards success in business and success in life. 

Global Investing

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Finny Kuruvilla
CIO & Portfolio Manager
Eventide Funds
Finny Kuruvilla serves as the CIO for Eventide Funds, lead Portfolio Manager on the Eventide Gilead Fund, and Portfolio Manager on the Eventide Healthcare & Life Sciences Fund.
Dr. Kuruvilla has a unique background in healthcare, statistics, and investing. Concurrent with Eventide, from 2008 through 2016, he was a Principal at Clarus Ventures, a leading healthcare and life sciences venture capital firm. Prior to joining Eventide, from 2006-2008, Dr. Kuruvilla was a research fellow at the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, and from 2005-2008, Dr. Kuruvilla was a clinical fellow at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Children’s Hospital Boston and a postdoctoral scientist at MIT.
He holds an MD from Harvard Medical School, a PhD in Chemistry and Chemical Biology from Harvard University, a master’s degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from MIT, and a bachelor’s degree from Caltech in Chemistry.
Breakout Video

Supporting Small Businesses
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Greg Lernihan
Chairman
​Impact Foundation


Greg is committed to making a positive difference in the lives of others and has refocused his life with this purpose.  He currently dedicates his time to mentoring budding entrepreneurs, investing in impact-related companies, and supporting Christian ministries passionately serving Chicago and other parts of the world. Greg is Co-Founder of Convergint Technologies. Started in a basement in 2001, Convergint is now the world’s largest privately held electronic security firm with over 2,400 colleagues globally. Greg spent 20 years at Siemens before leaving as Sr. Vice President for North America. Active in professional and civic organizations, Greg mentors inner-city youth and serves on several boards, including a national entrepreneurship program for high school students, Impact Engine, and other impact companies he has invested in. ​
Breakout Video

Professional VC's and Company Blizzards
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Ben Chelf
General Partner

Elementum Ventures

Ben was a co-founder of Coverity, a software quality and security company birthed from his research as a PhD student at Stanford. Coverity attracted investment from the likes of Benchmark Capital and Foundation Capital, employed hundreds of people, and, in 2014, was acquired by Synopsys. Ben served as both COO and CTO, defining product strategy and working closely with customers and the press and analyst communities. He's been named to ComputerWorld's Top 40 under 40 Innovative IT Professionals and is in the Stanford Inventor Hall of Fame. Ben has lived every part of the entrepreneurial cycle and is passionate about sharing his knowledge and experience. As part of this work, Ben also heads up the Venture Lab at the nonprofit Praxis, helping serial entrepreneurs research and develop new organizations from the moment of inspiration to incorporation. Ben holds a BS and an MS in Computer Science, both from Stanford. 
Breakout Video

Generosity & Investing Through
​Donor Advised Funds

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Aimee Minnich
Chief Impact Officer
​Impact Foundation

Aimee Minnich serves as Chief Impact Officer and General Counsel of Impact Foundation. Prior to founding Impact Foundation, she served as President and General Counsel for the National Christian Foundation, Heartland, where she designed and implemented the foundation’s Missional Investing Program to allow the investment of donor-advised funds in social impact companies. A recovering attorney, Aimee earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Kansas School of Law with honors and a BA in Philosophy, summa cum laude, from Rockhurst University. In addition to “The Profitable Charity,” she's published a boring law article and a study of the metaphysics of salvation. Aimee and her husband Marshall live with their three adorable and high-energy kids and sweet old dog in Kansas city. Aimee loves serving on the boards of two local nonprofits that seek to make the city an even better place.
Breakout Video

Biotech & Healthcare

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Aaron Fletcher
Managing Director
Bios Partners

Dr. Fletcher is managing director of Bios Partners, a life sciences venture firm based in Fort Worth, Texas and founded and serves as president of Bios Research, a financial services firm that provides public equity research in the healthcare space tailored to institutional firms. Bios Research provides fundamental healthcare industry research focused in the biotech and med-tech sub-sectors and through this research, Dr. Fletcher has a strong understanding of commercial viability in the marketplace. Dr. Fletcher holds a Ph.D. in biochemistry from Colorado State University and currently serves as a visiting professor at Dallas Baptist University. Dr. Fletcher has worked as an independent consultant for the biotech/healthcare equity industry for more than 10 years and has extensive experience at companies covering a variety of diagnostic and therapeutic areas including oncology.
Breakout Video

Remote Teams & The Future of
Distributed Work

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Keith Brown
Founder & CEO
​Outperform Ventures


Keith is a devoted husband, entrepreneur, investor, and lifelong basketball player. He is the Founder and CEO at Outperform Ventures. Throughout his career he has held executive roles at everything from Fortune 500 companies to high-growth startups. He has been involved in more than 20 M&A transactions, totalling more than $1.5B and scaled both office and remote teams. For the last 10 years, Keith has been at the forefront of the intersection of technology and remote work. Most recently, he joined Aha! and helped it scale to become one of the fastest growing remote companies in the world, according to Forbes, Deloitte, and Inc. 5,000. Prior to that he ran digital marketing for RealPage [NASDAQ:RP], and managed a distributed global team across 4 countries and 9 office locations.


Breakout Video

Faith at Work - Kingdom Culture

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Rick Betenbough
CEO & Co-Founder
Betenbough Companies
Rick Betenbough co-founded Betenbough Homes in 1992 with a vision to use fanatical cost control and “out-of-the-box” organizational systems to become the price leader for new brick homes in Lubbock, Texas. Since then, he has matured a management and production system that combines quality and cost control through disciplined planning, negotiating and supervising. For 24 years, Rick served as the President of Betenbough Homes, building nearly 7,000 homes for West Texas families. Early in 2016, he felt led to step aside from the role, allowing new leadership to continue to grow and lead the company and its employees. Now serving as the CEO of Betenbough Companies, PBC., Rick pursues his passion for the advancement of God’s Kingdom in and through the marketplace. Rick loves to mentor other Kingdom-minded leaders and entrepreneurs while walking his daily journey beside his loving wife and childhood sweetheart, Holly. With their children grown, Rick and Holly are enjoying being grandparents to Naomi and Abbey.
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Casey Brewer
Marketplace Connections Director
Kingdom at Work
Casey Brewer graduated with a degree in Business Management from Texas Tech University in 2000. After serving on the pastoral staff of a local church, he came to Betenbough Homes in 2006 as the Business Manager. In 2012, Casey transitioned into full-time missions and leadership training with Prepare International where he served and trained leaders in Europe and Latin America. In 2016, Casey re-joined Betenbough Companies and now is the Marketplace Connections Director for Kingdom At Work, where he spends his time leading the Kingdom At Work team and coaching other business leaders. He is a graduate of the National Institute of Christian Leadership and is also a Certified Human Behavior Consultant®. He and his wife, Dana, have three children, Harleigh, Ellyson, and Jack.
Breakout Video

How Companies & Investors Can Win in the
Midst of
Both a Crisis and a Recession
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Wade Myers
Chairman & CEO
Capital Works
Wade Myers is a serial entrepreneur, investor, advisor, author, and speaker that has founded, invested in, and been a director of scores of companies and has completed over 100 financing and M&A transactions. He is CEO of Capital Works and general Partner of the Eagle Venture Fund. Wade’s previous ventures include a SaaS-based big data company and an Inc. 5000 SaaS-based property management firm. He also worked at the Boston Consulting Group and Mobil Corporation, and served as an Airborne Ranger in the US Army where he was a decorated veteran of the Gulf War. He is a Baker Scholar graduate of Harvard’s MBA program and is married with five children.
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Breakout Video

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The Lion's Den DFW is a registered IRC 501(c)(3) Organization pursuant to U.S. tax laws as Impact America, INC. EIN 84-552260.
  • Home
  • Lion's Den DFW 2023
  • Members
    • Investors
    • Entrepreneurs
    • Sponsors
    • Support Services
    • Alumni Stories
    • Become A Member
  • Events
    • Annual Events
    • Upcoming Events
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  • About Us
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    • Become A Member
  • Apply