BIF adds 5 board members, gears up for 3rd conference

PROVIDENCE – The Business Innovation Factory has expanded its leadership team with the addition to its board of directors of Lorne Adrain, Dr. Arthur Klein, Steve Lane, Ellen Levy and Rob Taylor.
Adrain, the founder and chairman of National Neighborhood Day, advises families and entrepreneurs nationwide on the uses of insurance for estate, business and philanthropic planning. He also is the author of the “Most Important Thing I Know” series of books, founder of philanthropy software developer Kindmark, and chairman and co-founder of Social Venture Partners Rhode Island. He is a graduate of Harvard Business School and the University of Rhode Island.
Klein is senior vice president and chief physician officer at Lifespan, and associate dean for strategic and special projects at Brown University’s Warren Alpert Medical School. He previously was executive vice president and chief operating officer at New York Presbyterian Healthcare System and a professor of clinical pediatrics and clinical public health at Weill Medical College at Cornell University, and had served in a variety of other leadership roles at hospitals in New York City.
Lane is co-founder and CEO of the Providence-based Item Group, where he focuses on defining and executing new initiatives, corporate and long-range planning, capitalization and strategic partnerships. He is also an adjunct faculty member in industrial design at the Rhode Island School of Design. A Rhode Island native, Lane earned bachelor’s degrees in industrial design and fine arts, both from RISD.
Levy – the founding managing director at Silicon Valley Connect – also serves as deputy chair for the global health track within the Clinton Global Initiative, as network adviser to venture firm Draper Fisher Jurvetson, as a consultant to the Kauffman Foundation and as an Industry Fellow at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology at the University of California at Berkeley’s School of Engineering.
Taylor, a partner in the Providence law firm Partridge Snow and Hahn, has nearly 20 years experience in litigation and arbitration. He also counsels clients on antitrust, unfair competition and other regulatory issues. He earned his J.D. at Georgetown University, graduating magna cum laude, and his B.A. at Yale University.
“Each of these talented individuals will bring important expertise and energy to our efforts,” BIF founder Saul Kaplan said in a statement. “It is an important time in BIF’s evolution, and the support and leadership of the board will be instrumental in our continued success.”
The nonprofit is gearing up for its third annual Collaborative Innovation Summit, slated for Oct. 10 and 11 at Trinity Repertory Company in the Downcity district.
With a week and a half to go before BIF-3, more than 300 people have registered for the “innovation storytelling” event. Presenters this year are to include Wall Street Journal columnist Walt Mossberg; Dallas Mavericks owner and entrepreneur Marc Cuban, “Mavericks at Work” author Bill Taylor; U.S. Department of Homeland Security Under Secretary for Science and Technology Jay Cohen; BzzAgent Inc. founder and CEO Dave Balter; Hybrid Vigor Institute founder and Executive Director Denise Caruso; and many more.
The Business Innovation Factory, based in Providence, is a community of innovators collaborating to explore business-model innovation, seeking to move ideas off the white board and onto the ground as quickly and cost-effectively as possible. To learn more, or to register for the nonprofit’s upcoming BIF-3 Collaborative Innovation Summit, visit www.businessinnovationfactory.com.