SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY

Louis Foreman is founder and Chief Executive of Enventys Partnersan integrated product development and crowdfunding firm. He is also CEO of Edison Nation and Edison Nation Medical. Louis graduated from The University of Illinois with a Bachelors’ of Science degree in Economics. His interest in starting businesses and developing innovative products began while a sophomore with his first company founded in his fraternity room. Over the past 20 years Louis has created 9 successful start-ups and has been directly responsible for the creation of over 20 others. A prolific inventor, he is the inventor on 10 registered US patents, and his firm is responsible for the development and filing of well over 600 more.

The recipient of numerous awards for his entrepreneurial achievements, his passion for small business extends beyond his own companies. Louis is an adjunct professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, at Queens University. He received the Instructor Achievement Award for his teaching at Central Piedmont Community College, and was recognized by the National Museum of Education for his Distinguished Contributions to Education.  Louis is an adjunct professor and the Entrepreneur in Residence at the McColl School of Business, and was the 2013 Distinguished Visiting Professor at Johnson and Wales University. He is a frequent lecturer and radio/TV guest on the topics of small business creation and innovation and is frequently invited by the United States Patent and Trademark Office and national trade associations to be a featured speaker on the topic of innovation.

In addition to being an inventor, Louis is also committed to inspiring others to be innovative. Louis is the creator of the Emmy® Award Winning PBS TV Show, Everyday Edisons, and serves as the Executive Producer and lead judge. The show won 2 Emmys® in four seasons and appeared nationally on PBS. In 2007, Louis became the publisher of Inventors Digest, a 32-year old publication devoted to the topic of American Innovation. In 2009, his first book, The Independent Inventor’s Handbook , was published by Workman Publishing.  In 2015, Louis was awarded the IP Champion Award by the US Chamber of Commerce.

Louis currently serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the James Dyson Foundation, the Intellectual Property Owners Association (IPO), Ventureprise, New Dominion Bank, and is President of the Intellectual Property Owners Educational Foundation (IPOEF). In 2013, Louis was appointed by the SBA Administrator, Karen Mills, to serve a three-year term on the National SBDC Advisory Board.

In 2008, Louis was appointed by United States Secretary of Commerce, Carlos M. Gutierrez to serve a three-year term on the nine-person Patent Public Advisory Committee (PPAC) of the United States Patent and Trademark Office. In 2011, he was appointed by Secretary Gary Locke to serve an additional three-year term. The Committee was created by Congress in 1999 to advise the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office on matters relating to the policies, goals, performance, budget and user fees of the patent operation. In 2013 he was asked to serve as Chairman of PPAC until the end of his term in December, 2014.

In 2011, Louis was called upon, multiple times, to brief the House and Senate Judiciary Committees on legislation related to the US Patent system and its impact on independent inventors. On September 16, 2011, Louis joined the President on-stage for the signing of the America Invents Act into law. This bi-partisan effort represented the most comprehensive overhaul to the US Patent System in over 60 years.