Jordan Carlisle
The Greater Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce announced on Tuesday the addition of Jordan Carlisle as vice president of economic development and entrepreneurship.
Carlisle will manage programs that include business and industry recruitment, talent attraction, business retention and expansion for the Bentonville chamber. He will also coordinate direct collaboration between the Bentonville area business community and the Walton College of Business and make sure the entities remain connected.
Carlisle is an entrepreneur who says he developed a love for startups as a student at the University of Missouri.
After college, he interned with plastics manufacturer Essentra Components in Shanghai while studying mandarin at East China Normal University. Carlisle then returned home to work for Walmart Global Shared Financial Services.
From 2012-14, he launched Arkansas Startup Weekend, 1 Million Cups Little Rock, and early-stage programming for the Arkansas Venture Center. In May 2014, Carlisle joined the Little Rock Regional Chamber as its first director of entrepreneurship and innovation.
In 2015, he began to incubate his current startup, Strengthen Labs, a human performance company that uses evidence-based practices to build behavioral change software.
In 2016, Strengthen Labs partnered with Arkansas Fitness & Athletics to launch a product testing lab and build a community of health conscious people who care about changing the story of health care for the state.
Jordan has remained active in mentoring and advising small businesses and blockchain technology startups.
Beginning July 1, he will split his time between Little Rock and Bentonville. Carlisle will transition to work in Bentonville full time in late 2018.
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