INNOVATIVE, INTERACTIVE EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Recipes for Success:
How to Build a Business
DENNIS TRINKLE
Dennis A. Trinkle is the Director for the Center of Information and Communication Sciences (CICS) and Director of the Applied Research Institutes at Ball State University. Dr. Trinkle brings a diverse multi-sector leadership background to his leadership of CICS, where he also holds the rank of Professor of Information Sciences and Communication. Prior to joining Ball State, Dr. Trinkle served as the system executive, provost, and chief academic officer for Harrison College. Trinkle provided executive and academic leadership for the entire Harrison College system, which included 900-plus employees and 12 campuses, an online division, and a culinary division (The Chef’s Academy).
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Dr. Trinkle has served leading institutions across the higher education, corporate, and government sectors, including serving as the Chief Executive Officer of IHETS, Chief Information Officer, Associate Vice President for Academic Affairs, and Tenzer Professor of Information Technology for DePauw University, and CEO for multiple technology companies and non-profit organizations.
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Trinkle is the author and editor of 16 books and more than 50 articles on entrepreneurship, technology, leadership, teaching and learning, and history. He is a frequently invited keynote speaker at international events on business, innovation, and technology topics. Together with Kevin Allen, CEO of EiGames, he developed the award-winning video game on the entrepreneurial process—Fireworks: The Entrepreneurship Experience (2018).
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A Phi Beta Kappa member, Trinkle’s honors and awards include the Stanley K. Lacy Executive Leadership Program; Indy’s Best and Brightest; Golden Horseshoe Award for Top Philanthropist, Indianapolis Colts; Innovation Fellow, Northwest Indiana Society of Innovators; CIO 100; EDUCAUSE Quarterly Contribution of the Year Award; Mira Award for Technology Leadership in Higher Education; and EDUCAUSE Teaching and Learning Award.
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A native of Indianapolis, Trinkle earned a bachelor’s degree, magna cum laude, from DePauw University, an MBA in technology management from the University of Phoenix, and a M.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati. He currently serves on multiple boards of directors, including College Mentors for Kids, the Lawrence Township School Foundation, Certell, North Coast College, BlackAsh Technologies, and the New England Culinary Institute. He resides in Indianapolis with his wife, Kristi, and two sons, JT and Nathan.
TONY SCELZO
Tony Scelzo has more than two and a half decades of experience as a serial entrepreneur. Starting with the founding of one of the country’s largest small business associations, Scelzo went on to build two digital marketing firms over six years to acquisition, launched a custom software company, and managed services companies through three acquisitions and mergers.
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He has spoken to more than 50,000 entrepreneurs on the topics of sales and go-to-market strategies. As with most great entrepreneurs, he started as a mentor working with other technology companies to build out go-to-market strategies. His passion has always been around empowering entrepreneurs through technology, people, and process.
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Recently he launched Ceemless, his latest venture to help keep the promise of technology to be a tool instead of a tax on the business and to create new value for internal and external customers. He saw a place in the market where SMBs could create optimization and developed innovation plans for short-term impact and long-term value for their organizations. The company is a professional services firm that also acts as an accelerator for spin-off companies that it partners with its clients to develop.
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He is a proud father of two girls—the love of his life—a golfer, an author, and a speaker. He is a consummate coach and reader, and a lover of wine, good food, and laughter. He hungers for the art of the possible and is proficient in whiteboard and business model development. He lives for the health of the team and believes the integrity of the team is the most important characteristic for growth companies.