The Whitman School of Management at Syracuse University will host a guest lecture by Douglas K. Mellinger ’89, vice-chairman and founder of Foundation Source, a leading provider of outsourced services for private foundations, on Monday, April 5. The presentation, titled “Life Lessons from a Global Entrepreneur,” will take place at 3:45 p.m. in Room 002 of the Whitman School building as part of the “Strategic and Entrepreneurial Management” course. The presentation is free and open to the public. Mellinger will also be speaking in the “Introduction to EEE” course at 12:45 p.m. in Room 301; guests are welcome.
Mellinger sits on the boards of Edgar Online, enherent Corp., Ascentis/EBS, International Education Corp., Schiller International, Sequest Technologies and Producteev. He is also Entrepreneur in Residence with Clark University in Worchester, Mass.
Previously, Mellinger was a partner at Interactive Capital Partners (ICP), which provides strategic financing and business development services to foster growth of best-of-breed, Internet-enabled companies. He was also managing partner of Zeno Ventures, a venture catalyst for early-stage technology companies. At both organizations, he was involved with the development of six companies: Foundation Source; MoreBenefits, which was sold to AON; FreeSamples.com; The Map Network, which was formerly URHere and was sold to Navteq, now part of Nokia; Neuvis, which was sold to Rational, now part of IBM; and Opus360, which merged with Artemis International Solutions.
Prior to Zeno Ventures, Mellinger founded enherent Corp., a global software development and services company, in 1989 and served as the company’s chair and CEO for 10 years. Launched with $12,000, enherent reached $85 million in revenue in 1998, with more than 850 employees. Headquartered in New York City, enherent created one of the first offshore development centers in India, followed by near-shore and onshore software development centers in Barbados and Hartford, Conn. The company has been listed twice as an Inc. 500 company and was featured on Deloitte & Touche’s “Technology Fast 500” and “Fast 50 List.” Mellinger was named Entrepreneur of the Year for New England and a finalist for the National Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year award by Ernst and Young and Inc. Magazine in 1993.
Prior to starting enherent, he was the national and international director of the Association of Collegiate Entrepreneurs (ACE). In addition, he helped found the Young Entrepreneurs’ Organization (YEO).
