Mitchell H. Saranow
Director and Chairman
Jules F. Knapp Entrepreneurship Center

Since its founding in1984, Mr. Saranow has served as Chairman of The Saranow Group, L.L.C. In this capacity he has held the positions of Chief Executive Officer of several companies with operations in North America, Europe and Australia all of which were founded by The Saranow Group. He has also served as Chairman of the Board and Co-Chief Executive Officer of Navigant Consulting, Inc. from November 1999 until May 2000.

As Chairman of The Saranow Group, he has founded several successful businesses including Fluid Management, L.P. and he directed its national and international growth into the world’s leading manufacturer and distributor in the colorant formulation industry. As Chairman and Managing Partner of Fluid Management, L.P., Mr. Saranow directed the global expansion of this operation and ultimately the successful divestiture of the organization to the IDEX Corporation in 1996. The Saranow Group also founded Mid Atlantic CATV and helped direct its growth into the nation’s largest “private cable” operator and the successful divestiture to Comcast Corp. in 2000.

Mr. Saranow currently serves as the Director and Chairman; The Knapp Entrepreneurship Center – Illinois Institute of Technology; Chicago, IL.  Umbrella organization for entrepreneurial activities at IIT.

Prior to founding The Saranow Group, (early in his career) Mr. Saranow served as: Vice President of Finance and Chief Financial Officer for CFS Continental, Inc. then the second largest full-line food service company in the United States (1979-1983); Assistant Vice President for Warburg, Paribus, Becker, Inc., an investment banking firm where he specialized in financing cable television start-ups and acquisitions (1973-1975); and an attorney practicing corporate law for Mayer, Brown and Platt (1971-1973).

Mr. Saranow currently serves on the Board of Directors of Lawson Products, Inc. (LAWS) and Telephone Data Systems, Inc. (TDS). In 2001 he served on the faculty of the Harvard Business School as the “James Collins Senior Lecturer”

Honors:
He served as President of the Juvenile Protective Association from 2001 until 2003. In 1995 he was inducted into the Chicago Entrepreneurial Hall of Fame; sponsored by William Blair, Arthur Andersen and the University of Illinois. In 1994, Mr. Saranow was named the Merrill Lynch, Inc. Magazine and Ernst & Young “Illinois-Indiana Manufacturing Entrepreneur of the Year”

Education:
Mr. Saranow received an undergraduate degree with highest honors from Northwestern University, and graduated with honors from Harvard University where he received an MBA degree from Harvard Business School and a J.D. degree from Harvard Law School

Mr. Saranow is a Certified Public Accountant, having passed the examination with honors including the “Elijah Watt Sells Award” – Top 100 nationally

Nik Rokop
Managing Director
Jules F. Knapp Entrepreneurship Center

Nik is Managing Director of the Jules F. Knapp Entrepreneurship Center at the Illinois Institute of Technology. As a life-long entrepreneur, advisor to and investor in entrepreneurial ventures, Nik has a passion for creating new businesses and helping others succeed.

Nik is past President & CEO of nLake Technology Partners, a management, business development and technology commercialization group specializing in nanotechnology. He has 30 years successful entrepreneurial experience in engineering, manufacturing, sales, marketing and international operations. His career spans the iron and steel industries, manufacturing, consulting and the Internet.

Nik is involved in support of the entrepreneurial community as founding member and current President of the Chicago Microtechnology & Nanotechnology Community, founding member of the BIG Idea Forum, Vice Chair of the MIT Enterprise Forum of Chicago, and member of the Steering Committee of the Technology Commercialization Task Force. Nik was named one of i-Street Magazine's Top 100 in Technology & Economic Development in 2002.

Nik has given lectures on entrepreneurship and the impact of nanotechnology at Northwestern University, DePaul University, Illinois Institute of Technology and for organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences, the Economic Development Council and the National Investment Bankers Association. He was the project executive on the US-Israel NanoBiotechnology seminar series held in Chicago in 2004. He is involved in business development and consulting for several local technology companies.

Nik holds a Professional Engineer’s license in PA and earned his BS in Mathematics from Carnegie Mellon and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.