The Team
The Idea Village Team is a group of entrepreneurs, innovators and professionals with diverse backgrounds, career paths and levels of experience. Many have either personally started or participated directly in starting and growing businesses.
Staff
Tim Williamson: Co-Founder/CEO, The Idea Village
Tim Williamson is the co-founder and CEO of The Idea Village, a private, independent 501(c) (3) non-profit organization founded in 2000 with a mission to identify, support and retain entrepreneurial talent in New Orleans.
An entrepreneur by trade and by training, Mr. Williamson has successfully started and operated five...
Victoria Adams: Programs Coordinator
Victoria Adams, a native of Miami, moved to New Orleans as a freshman at Loyola University. Settling into campus life only days before Hurricane Katrina would strike the city, she has experienced the rebirth of New Orleans firsthand, growing to love and appreciate the city that she now calls home. After graduating from Loyola with a...
Megan Barry: Development Coordinator
Megan graduated from Louisiana State University with a BA in history in December 2009, and eagerly returned home to New Orleans to begin her next chapter. Megan joined The Idea Village team temporarily to lend support during New Orleans Entrepreneur Week ’10 and has since become a fulltime staff member coordinating The Idea...
Emily Madero: Managing Director
Emily moved to New Orleans as an undergraduate Tulane student prepared for an adventure. She graduated with a BA in Spanish and Psychology, MA in Spanish and Latin American Studies, and a love for New Orleans. After co-founding several start-up ventures, Emily returned to Tulane’s Freeman School of Business. Katrina reinforced...
Ravi Prakash: Technology Manager
Ravi first came to New Orleans as a tourist and instantaneously fell in love with the spirit of the city. He joined Tulane’s MBA program in 2009 after working for 3 years with HCL and Microsoft. Along with his coursework he became involved with different startups in the city and grew to channelize his technical experience and...
Kate Schneiderman: Director of Marketing
Kate Schneiderman, a native New Yorker, began her love affair with New Orleans in 2006. After graduating from the University of Michigan with a BA in Political Science, Kate was pursuing a career in corporate/investor communications when she watched as Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans. A year later, she decided to move to New...
Cameron Yancey: Communications Manager
Cameron, a native New Orleanian, returned to the city in May 2009 after graduating from the University of Georgia with a Bachelors of Arts in Publication Management from the Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication. Joining The Idea Village team first as a volunteer turned marketing intern to help complete How They Did It:...
Entrepreneurs-in-Residence
Kevin Wilkins: Idea Village Entrepreneur-in-Residence
Kevin has 25 years of experience in general management, marketing and operations for both corporations and start-up companies. He started his career at Procter and Gamble in their brand management program responsible for new product development and launches for the household cleaning division. After business school, he ran...
Professional Network
Henry Alpert, Action Copy
www.action-copy.com
Ideas are the power behind the Idea Village, but ideas will only catch on if they can be convincingly communicated to others. Action Copy provides writing services for entrepreneurs to help them articulate their concepts and reach their chosen audiences, whether that entails investors, other businesses, or consumers. Action Copy...
Ricardo de la Puente, SOURCEit New Orleans: Founder
www.sourceitneworleans.com
Industrial Designer with 18+ years of experience in business development, design, and marketing in different industries. Founder of SOURCEit New Orleans, a company that connects entrepreneurs, artists and designers with local, national or international supply and manufacturing resources that will allow them to expand their ideas and...
Vaughn Fauria, NewCorp, Inc.
www.newcorpinc.com
NewCorp, Inc. is a private non-profit 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) operating as a business assistance center specializing in small, minority, and women owned businesses. Simply stated, it is the mission of NewCorp, Inc. to be an economic development catalyst by providing technical and...
Josh Friedmann, Calliope Consulting Group: President and Marketing Director
calliopeconsultinggroup.com
Calliope Consulting Group is a full service consulting company providing expert services in the areas of web design and development, graphic design, public relations, marketing, branding and event planning. Calliope has prided itself on gathering the best talent in the New Orleans area to serve local non-profits and small businesses....
Carl Hanneman, Jones Walker
www.joneswalker.com
Jones Walker provides a comprehensive range of legal services to a local, national and international corporate client base through offices located in Alabama, the District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. Our attorneys practice law with high levels of creativity and innovation, and deliver quality...
Bob Kimbro, Ernst & Young: New Orleans Office, Managing Partner
www.ey.com
Ernst & Young (“EY”) is one of the world’s premier tax, accounting and consulting firms. Our 140,000 employees in 140 countries are committed to making a difference in the success of our clients. EY is a leader in servicing strategic growth companies. We have demonstrated our belief in entrepreneurs through our Entrepreneur...
Amanda LaPlaca
www.amandalaplaca.com
Amanda LaPlaca has worked for museums, designed at high-end design studios in New York City, has been an art teacher, and even re-designed, re-strategized and co-owns a local Louisiana business (just to name a few things). She has a B.F.A. in Communication Design from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY and with her versatile background,...
Lindsey Navarro, Accion Louisiana
www.accionlouisiana.org
ACCIÓN Louisiana is an extension of ACCION Texas Inc., an award-winning nonprofit organization whose mission is to provide credit and loans to small and start-up businesses that have limited or no access to credit from commercial sources.
Established in 1994 in San Antonio, ACCIÓN helps entrepreneurs, strengthen their businesses,...
David Rieveschl, Baker Donelson
www.bakerdonelson.com
Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowitz, PC gives clients access to a team of more than 600 attorneys and public policy advisors representing more than 30 practice areas to serve a wide range of legal needs. Clients receive knowledgeable guidance from experienced, multi-disciplined industry and client service teams, all...
Clayton White, South Coast Angel Fund
www.southcoastangelfund.com
The South Coast Angel Fund LLC (South Coast) is a member-managed angel capital fund designed to utilize the capital, resources, and expertise of its members to invest in entrepreneurial, early-stage companies, primarily within Louisiana and the Gulf Coast community. The Fund seeks to involve a broad base of successful entrepreneurs,...
