Tulane Innovation Day Announces Speaker Lineup for March 11 Event During New Orleans Entrepreneur Week

Bong Suh (left) and Brett Hurt (right) are featured speakers at Tulane Innovation Day 2026.

February 19, 2026

Tulane Innovation Day will take place on March 11, 2026, during New Orleans Entrepreneur Week at the Tulane University A.B. Freeman School of Business. The event features a distinguished lineup of speakers and panelists representing innovation, venture capital, and artificial intelligence.

The event will open at noon with an engaging conversation between two accomplished startup and technology leaders, Bong Suh, a seasoned CFO and tech operator, and Brett Hurt, CEO of Love Conquers Fear and author of The Entrepreneur's Essentials. 
 
Bong Suh brings decades of experience guiding startups and established companies through growth, capital strategy, long-term value creation, and market volatility—from the dot-com era to today’s AI-driven economy. He has held senior leadership roles, including board member, CEO, CFO and senior vice president, at companies such as Dynamic Signal, CNET, BuyDirect, Coremetrics, Wine.com, World Golf Tour, and Beyond.com. Alongside his business career, Bong has spent more than 30 years supporting sustainable agriculture through economic development and entrepreneurship for smallholder farmers, serving as a board member, advisor, mentor, and philanthropist across numerous organizations. Earlier in his career, he worked as an investment banker, private equity professional, and legislative advocate in Washington, D.C.
 
Brett Hurt is an entrepreneur, investor, and author known for building and scaling multiple successful technology companies. He is the CEO of Love Conquers Fear and was most recently CEO and co-founder of data.world, which raised over $150 million before being acquired by ServiceNow in 2024. Hurt previously co-founded Bazaarvoice, leading the company through a unicorn IPO, and Coremetrics, which was acquired by IBM for $300 million. Hurt co-owns Hurt Family Investments (HFI) and manages a diverse portfolio of 147 startups.
 
Both entrepreneurs share a special connection to Tulane as proud parents—Suh of three alumni and Hurt of a current student.

Kimberly Gramm speaking at Tulane Innovation Day 2025.

The program continues with a panel on venture funding featuring Kimberly Gramm, managing partner of Tulane Ventures, and Jesse Lee, Tulane alumnus and founding partner of East Dune Holdings. They will be joined by the founders of two Tulane Ventures portfolio companies: Chris Millan of BekenBio and Rahul Gopal of CampusKnot.
 
CampusKnot, an AI-powered teaching assistant platform for higher education, recently raised $1.1 million to expand across the United States. The platform helps university instructors track participation, automate grading and feedback, and summarize discussions while providing clear visibility into student engagement. CampusKnot’s investors include Tulane Ventures, Boot 64 Ventures, Invest Mississippi Impact Fund, Momentum Fund, Greaux Innovation Ventures, and private angel investors.  

BekenBio, founded by Tulane alumnus Chris Millan, has developed patented technology that uncovers hidden cancer signals by studying how tumor cells behave in environments that mimic the human body. By recreating tumor-like conditions, Beken's technology tricks cancer cells into behaving naturally, revealing biological messages that can be detected through simple blood tests—even before cancer spreads. Using artificial intelligence to interpret these signals, BekenBio aims to enable the detection of ovarian, pancreatic, lung, and colorectal cancers at much earlier stages than current methods allow. The company has raised $750,000, including recent seed funding from Boot64, the New Orleans BioFund, and 1834 Ventures.
 
The panel discussion will highlight how AI is reshaping higher education and healthcare through real-world applications and venture investment. Gopal and Millan will share their fundraising experiences, while Gramm and Lee will offer insight for founders interested in venture capital.
 
The Tulane Innovation Day panel will run prior to the Taylor Changemaker Institute Showcase at 1:05 p.m., where Tulane changemakers will present social and environmental impact ideas for feedback.
 
At 2:15 p.m., the Tulane Innovation Institute $50K Demo Day, sponsored by the Burton D. Morgan Foundation, Stone Pigman, and 1834 Ventures, will feature aspiring entrepreneurs from Tulane and the New Orleans region competing for startup funding. The top prize is $25,000; second place is $15,000; and third place is $10,000.
 
The day will conclude with a celebration of entrepreneurship featuring networking, refreshments, and the announcement of the $50K Demo Day winners and the inaugural Green Wave Innovation Mentor awards.  Tulane Innovation Day is free and open to the public, but space is limited. Advance registration is encouraged for those interested in entrepreneurship, venture capital, and applied AI.