New series is part of forum's revival; Luncheons to feature scientists, entrepreneurs

BYLINE: Jim Stafford, Business Writer

Tulsa's dormant Oklahoma Investment Forum will be revived by i2E, the nonprofit corporation that provides mentoring services to many of the state's fledgling technology-based companies, officials said Monday.

Among the first visible results of the merger will be the launch of what i2E is calling its new Innovator and Entrepreneur luncheon series in Tulsa and Oklahoma City. The series will debut Oct. 18 in Tulsa and will alternate on a monthly basis between Oklahoma City and Tulsa.

i2E has no plans to duplicate the program or compete with the Oklahoma City-based Oklahoma Venture Forum, of which it remains a member, said Greg Main, i2E president and chief executive officer.

The Oklahoma Venture Forum sponsors monthly meetings that often showcase entrepreneurs seeking investment capital. Its next meeting is 11:30 a.m., Wednesday at the Presbyterian Health Foundation Research Park Conference Center.

The new luncheon program will be a more casual affair than the Venture Forum, and will feature research scientists and entrepreneurs who aren't seeking investment, Main said. It's similar to the "meet the scientist" luncheons i2E sponsored in the past few years, he said.

"We decided we wanted to reinstitute that program, but under a little different flavor, because we wanted to do it both in Oklahoma City and Tulsa," Main said. "We didn't want to do it in such a way that it would be competitive with OVF over here. But on the Tulsa side there is no competitor because the Investment Forum is sort of defunct.

"So we're going to vary (the programs) a little between Oklahoma City and Tulsa."

The Innovator and Entrepreneur program may showcase more entrepreneurs in Tulsa, he said.

Bob Rader, senior vice president with Oklahoma City-based Capital West Securities and a member of the Oklahoma Venture Forum board of directors, said he had been assured the new program would not compete with the OVF, which often showcases young entrepreneurs seeking venture capital.

"All we can do is be encouraging to them and wish them well," Rader said.

Main said, "There will be enough of a difference that it will appeal to a different audience than the OVF. We won't be putting our (entrepreneurial) clients on the agenda when we do a lunch here."

The first luncheon in Tulsa will showcase a research scientist who is studying the West Nile virus and an entrepreneur who has developed a proprietary software for multimedia productions.

The Oklahoma Investment Forum started in 1989 with the mission of building bridges between entrepreneurs and sources of capital. It has been dormant for "a year or more," Main said.

i2E maintains offices in both Oklahoma City and Tulsa. Tom Walker, the organization's vice president and chief operating officer, maintains his office in Tulsa.

The merger also means that i2E will have the rights to the Southwest Capital Conference, Walker said.

"We managed the Oklahoma Investment Forum Program for three years," Walker said. "The OIF board got heavily involved in the Step Up Tulsa! economic development program, so the OIF was dormant in terms of their services, but stayed active in terms of their involvement in that effort."

Jim Stafford: 475-3310, jstafford@oklahoman.com