Bud has been involved in Mines Entrepreneurship and Innovation since 2016, starting by leading business model workshops for students competing in industry-sponsored innovation challenges. At the Beck Venture Center, he works with founders to coordinate support from mentors, advisors, and fractional executives, many of whom are Mines alumni. He helps build partnerships with other players in the startup community, including government, corporations, industry associations, and investors.

Previously Bud has been the CEO/President or owner of four companies, three of which were sold to outside investor groups. His track record for managing growing enterprises has been profiled in several case studies used in the MBA program at both Stanford and Harvard, where he earned his MBA following an undergraduate degree at Lehigh. Bud is also the Managing Partner of the Traxion Venture Network in Golden that has provided more than 70 companies, several of which were led by Mines alumni, with education, advisor support, and access to capital.

With over 30 years of leadership experience in sales, marketing, and business development, Rodney’s experience includes both consumer products and medical devices. He has held commercial roles in multinational corporations, such as Procter & Gamble, Johnson & Johnson, and Covidien, LLC. Most notably, Rodney led the launch of minimally invasive surgery for women’s healthcare and surgical products with a combined market valuation exceeding $3.8 billion today. He also has held senior leadership positions at four venture-backed, start-up companies with two successful exits exceeding $500 million in valuation. As an officer in these companies, he played a key role in strategic planning, go-to-market planning and execution, market development, fundraising, and exit strategy. He completed the Johnson & Johnson Advanced Management Program at Northwestern University and undergraduate studies in marketing at Washington State University.

James Taylor is the Founder of Analytical Data Systems, a SaaS, Data Engineering, and AI/ML technology solutions provider.  Before that, he successfully exited Symbiotic Engineering (acquired by ICF), a quantitative AI data analytics platform provider that optimizes energy consumption across large areas of the United States. He has spent 20 years building and scaling technology companies across the entire delivery lifecycle with experience in FinTech, MarTech, Energy, Scientific, and Government industries. James is a long-standing resident of Golden, CO, where he lives with his wife and four children, two current students at Mines. He enjoys inventing, hiking, and playing acoustic guitar in the Golden area in his spare time.