Entrepreneurial Whiz Gary Hoover Keynotes MiniTrends 2013, Oct. 2, Austin, TX

by Carrie Vanston on September 3, 2013

MiniTrends 2013 Keynote - Gary Hoover, Entrepreneur, Hoover Academy

We are thrilled to have Gary Hoover as our Keynote speaker at our 2nd annual MiniTrends 2013: The Integration of Profit & Social Responsibility. He will be guiding us on “Making a Difference Through Entrepreneurship, Innovation, and Leadership.”

Gary is a serial entrepreneur renowned for his founding of the first large scale retail bookstore, BOOKSTOP, and the business information products firm Hoover’s, Inc. He recently incorporated his fifth startup, Bigwig Games, to produce business and social science strategic simulation games for the iPad and other tablet devices. He is presently Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the School of Information at the University of Texas at Austin.

Gary travels the world speaking about how enterprises are built and how they stand the test of time. He is the founder of Hoover Academy where he teaches hundreds of students how to be successful entrepreneurs and he is author of “The Art of Enterprise.” In 2009, he was the first Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship, McCombs School of Business at the University of Texas at Austin.

He is the epitome of entrepreneurial spirit, forecasting and optimizing marketplace trends with successful, revolutionary businesses both for himself and for budding entrepreneurs to follow in his footsteps.

His formal and on-the-job education includes studying economics under the tutelage of three Nobel Prize winners, serving as a securities analyst for Citibank on Wall Street, being a buyer for Federated Department Stores and leading acquisitions and strategic planning for the May Department Stores Company.

He created BOOKSTOP, the leading-edge book superstore that helped revolutionize the nature of book shopping in America. After just seven years, Gary and his partners sold it to Barnes & Noble for $41.5 million cash when it became a cornerstone for their industry-dominating superstore chain.

Subsequently, Gary created what is now known as Hoover’s, the world’s largest Internet-based provider of information about enterprises. In 1999, Hoover’s went public and, in 2003, the company was purchased by Dun & Bradstreet for $117 million.

In 2009 he launched www.hooversworld.com, a blog which includes reviews of books, ideas, and places from Gary’s iconoclastic angle. He continues to add new ideas to his list of business ideas, now numbering over 230.

In 2010, Gary began teaching students of all ages Entrepreneurial Thinking through his own Hoover Academy; more than 300 people have since graduated from his programs and benefited from his online video courses.

Takeaway: See a sample of Gary’s inspirational presentations at “Hoover’s Keys to Successful Enterprise: #7 Unique Vision and #8 Passion,” given while he was Entrepreneur-in-Residence at the Herb Kelleher Center for Entrepreneurship at UT Austin.

Then join us at MiniTrends 2013 as Gary and 18 other visionaries and entrepreneurial thought-leaders share leading-edge business ideas and what they see as MiniTrends–those big opportunities not yet widely recognized.

Plus network, learn, and trade ideas during meals, networking and break-out sessions, and the conference reception. Invite friends and increase the network of those of us making a positive difference in this world.