The Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation (ACEI) at the Haslam College of Business is proud to announce its newest cohort of Startup Coaches: Melissa Centers, Esteban Hernandez, Mark Huber, Jake Livesay, Chris McAdoo, Erica Stump, Chuck West, Lia Winter and David Youngblood.
The Startup Coach program (formerly the Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, or EIR, program) features a diverse team of industry experts to offer tailored guidance that precisely addresses each startup’s unique challenges. Startup Coaches interact with students, faculty, staff, alumni and community partners, offering strategic advising, introductions and accountability.
“As the Anderson Center grows, we’re thrilled to be able to provide specialized coaching and support to our entrepreneurs through our talented team of Startup Coaches,” said Breanna Hale, ACEI executive director. “We now have nine experts in business creation, all with different backgrounds and skill sets that will benefit our startups in various stages and industries. They are an incredible resource to our UT entrepreneurs, and a phenomenal asset to our team.”
Startup Coaches can help with a variety of entrepreneurial scenarios, from discussing ideas to developing business strategies or assessing the readiness of a product to go to market. Sign up for a free one-on-one coaching session here.
Meet the 2024-2025 Startup Coaches
Melissa Centers
Melissa Centers is a board member, consultant and attorney who provides integrated strategic advice and support to boards of directors, company founders and institutions of all sizes. Before entering private practice, Centers was the senior vice president, general counsel and corporate secretary at State Auto Insurance, a $2 billion publicly traded insurance company that also operates a venture capital fund, State Auto Labs (where Centers was the legal advisor and served on the board of directors).
Centers also has held executive leadership and consulting roles in IT, operations, communications, crisis public relations, marketing, human resources, government affairs and audit, as well as legal and compliance. She also serves on the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center’s board and is a college professor.
Esteban Hernandez
A passionate innovator, designer and engineer, Esteban Hernandez directs product development and strategy at Attestiv — an AI digital media authentication startup — while providing insight and counsel on how best to implement new technologies to satisfy market needs and demands. He is an experienced software developer who also has experience in the drone and robotics space.
Hernandez works closely with engineering and research teams to find the best ways to develop new products and solutions. Prior to his work at Attestiv, he founded and co-founded several ventures, from digital ID management to video game development. His extensive entrepreneurial experiences give him a unique insight into problem-solving and allow him to combine his knowledge of technology and engineering with his passion for business and innovation. Hernandez obtained a Bachelor of Science in business management from Utah Valley University and is a Stanford University Innovation Fellow.
Mark Huber
Mark Huber is an award-winning business development expert who specializes in waste and recycling management. He holds an MBA and a degree in chemical engineering. Huber has founded four startups, with his most recent venture being iSustain, where he serves as the business development executive.
Huber has built iSustain over the last decade, successfully solving environmental and waste circularity challenges in the manufacturing and distribution industries across North America. His professional philosophy is, “Only through education and policy changes can we expect to have our communities’ ecosystem improved.”
Jake Livesay
Jake Livesay began his career at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in accelerator-based nuclear physics and nuclear non-proliferation. His interest in commercializing intellectual property developed by his project team led him into the private sector. Livesay is the founder and CTO of IB3 Global Solutions, a nuclear security firm based in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. He holds a Bachelor of Science in physics from the University of Texas at Arlington and a Ph.D. in applied physics from the Colorado School of Mines.
Chris McAdoo
Chris McAdoo has an extensive background as an entrepreneur, creative professional and strategic executive. He serves as chief experience officer at Knoxville Entrepreneur Center, where he focuses on helping growth-stage companies and leads The WORKS business accelerator. Additionally, McAdoo hosts the “Big Ideas Welcome” podcast, featuring in-depth conversations with individuals who make big ideas come to life.
He hopes to encourage businesses and entrepreneurial ecosystems to think creatively, take care of their people (and themselves) and create and share value on the biggest scale possible.
Erica Stump
Erica Stump earned her Bachelor of Science degree in physics from Virginia Tech in 2016 and her doctorate in quantum computing from UT’s Bredesen Center in 2020. While at UT, she founded Quantum Lock, which later became Quantal Security. She holds two patents and has experience in raising government funding and private equity, building and managing products and teams, customer discovery and building customer/partner relationships.
Chuck West
Chuck West mentors and coaches early-stage businesses and concepts. His experience spans finance and management, from private companies to publicly traded companies, and from manufacturing and distribution to service and software businesses. He was a CPA in the early phase of his career, before progressing into business ownership, CEO, COO and CFO roles. He received his Bachelor of Science in accounting from UT.
Lia Winter
Lia Winter earned a Bachelor of Science in biomedical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, as well as dual Master of Business Administration/Master of Science in biomedical engineering degrees from UT. While at UT, she co-founded Winter Innovations, a company that developed an innovative medical device called EasyWhip, which is now being used in surgeries. Winter’s range of experience in business, engineering, academic research and orthopedics research and development gives her a unique perspective on developing innovative medical solutions.
David Youngblood
David Youngblood is the CFO of Strategic Acquisitions Group. Before joining the company in 2020, he served as the CFO of Dalen Products, a CPG company, and spent a decade at Avkem International leading its expansion into new markets in North America, South America and Asia. Youngblood received a B.S. in finance from the University of Tennessee. He is actively involved in the UT and Knoxville communities, working with Haslam, Truist Bank, the Knoxville Chamber, Knox Area Rescue Ministries and Junior Achievement of East Tennessee.
About the Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation
The Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation is a university-based resource for entrepreneurship across the region and the state of Tennessee. Its mission is to foster an entrepreneurial culture at UT and across the state by developing student skills, providing experiential learning opportunities, conducting meaningful entrepreneurial research and connecting students with mentors and resources that enable them to successfully start and grow new businesses.
Photo, top row L-R: Melissa Centers, Esteban Hernandez, Mark Huber, Jake Livesay; bottom row L-R: Chris McAdoo, Erica Stump, Chuck West, Lia Winter, David Youngblood
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CONTACT:
Brennan Hullett, brennan@utk.edu
