This month, aimWest will have a new event format called New Tech Meetup.
Five local companies and individuals will talk about their cool
new tech. Each presenter will have 5 minutes to discuss their exiting
new technology followed by 5 minutes of Q/A.

This event will highlight 3-4 of these unique stories, followed by questions and answers from the crowd.

Details to follow.

Register

May 15, 2013
Networking Time: 6:00 pm
Panelists Take Stage: 6:30 pm
Location: The Factory – 38 Fulton Street West #400 Grand Rapids, MI 49503 (Google Maps)

We have Homeland Security to protect our country against terrorist threats but what about the hackers, phishers and the marketers! Why should individuals and businesses be concerned about their data security? Is lack of privacy a small price to pay in a world where technology makes everything “easier”/”better”? How far is too far? Big brother?

This event features leaders in internet security, privacy policy, ethics, consultants and leading technologists.

Moderator:

Jim Czerew – Founder, Senior Technology/Security Consultant at TechConnect, LLC

Panelists:

Nicole Johnson – Security Consulting Systems Engineer at Cisco

Gary Lacher – Director of Privacy at Spectrum Health

Scott Montgomery – Security Practice Manager at OST

This Event is Closed.

Sponsor
Special Thanks to Our Event Sponsors GR Current and OST.

April 17, 2013
Networking Time: 5:01pm
Location: Bar Divani
15 Ionia Ave SW (Map)

Spring is finally here! The Spring 5:01 is always a great evening out and always delivers a fun relaxed time of conversation, dialog, networking, food, and drinks.

For this 5:01 we’re teaming up with the AMA, so be sure to put on your networking shoes!

This Event is Closed.

Event Sponsor

Special thanks to our event sponsor, Gilson Graphics!

March 20, 2013
Networking Time: 5:30pm
Speakers Take Stage: 6:15pm
Location: Meijer Theater in the Grand Rapids Public Museum
Map: (Google Map)

This event is closed.

Join us for this special event co-sponsored by PRSA! We’ll begin in the Overlook Room on the third floor of the Grand Rapids Public Museum for munchies and networking at 5:30p on March 20th. We’ll move downstairs to the Meijer Theater at 6:15 for our speaker.

PRSA and aimWest members are free for this one of a kind event, and $20 for non-members. The first 140 people that sign up get seats, so sign up now.

We’ll start at 5:30 with open networking, munchies and a cash bar and then at 6:15, grab a seat for Lt. Matthew Allen’s talk on Crisis Communications from the Navy’s perspective.

Lt. Allen has acted as an operations officer and then as a media relations officer in the Persian Gulf and now sits on the Navy’s News Desk in Washington DC. He brings a unique perspective on Public Relations in today’s military.

Anyone in marketing or public relations will find this speaker informative. Everyone else will enjoy hearing awesome stories from someone sent by the Pentagon.

CHANGE OF VENUE!

Back by popular demand, Tech Trends is in its 12th year at aimWest. This time we’re handing Keith the microphone so he can answer all your burning tech questions.

Be sure to stick around for the afterparty!.

Special thanks to our event sponsor, Perficient.

This event is closed.

January 16, 2013
Networking Time: 5:30pm
Speakers Take Stage: 6:15pm
Location: The Factory – 38 Fulton Street West #400 Grand Rapids, MI 49503 (Google Maps)

This event is closed.

Last season aimWest hosted a fantastic event with Fred and Christina Keller of Cascade Engineering and the Biosand Water Filter. As a result of the excitement and buzz spurred by this conversation we are going to host another Entrepreneur and the Family event.

From big ventures to small, business leaders once wore diapers just like everyone else. Becoming a community leader starts at birth and develops over time with influences from family and community.

This year we are excited to be hosts for Craig Hall and his son Erik Hall.

Craig Hall has almost forty years’ experience in logistics, technology and information services. An early innovator, he has founded 8 successful supply chain and related technology companies including LeanLogistics and Total Logistic Control. He also co-founded two not-for-profits: MacNet the first Internet Service Provider on the Lakeshore and the Clinica Medica San Lucas, a Christian Medical Clinic in Gracias Honduras. He was the founding director of Grand Angels, a West Michigan-based band of angel investors and serves on a few corporate and non-profit boards. He is currently trying to accelerate and assist the new technology company startup movement in West Michigan thru the Grand Rapids Tech Hub and StartGarden.

Upon graduating from Purdue University in engineering, Erik Hall began his professional career in the oil fields of Wyoming. From there, he worked in many different industries filling many different roles varying from sales to design. Taking a holistic approach towards his hard and soft skills, Erik decided to round out his experiences through pursuing his MBA. While working on his graduate degree he saw a gap between university tech transfer and early stage venture funds which lead him to create Lee Shore Ventures. Erik is currently working at filling the gap between high tech/high growth technologies and early prototype/proof of concept commercialization.

Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Networking Time: 5:01pm
Location: SpeakEZ
Maps: (Google Maps)

The aimWest Holiday 5:01 is a great time to take a break, grab a drink and some tasty food and reconnect with everyone who we’ve lost touch with over the busy fall. This informal but upscale event aims to provide a comfortable networking event as we all prepare for the holidays and the new year.

Non-members are welcome!

This event is closed.

November 14, 2012
Networking Time: 5:30pm
Panelists Take Stage: 6:15pm
Location: The Eberhard Center
Maps: (Google) (Bing)

Register Now!

21st century learning has introduced innovation and entrepreneurship into the equation. Is the old model dead? Will online learning help or hinder the process?

Come to our aimWest event in November to learn from top educators how they are transforming the education culture and creating a new generation of student entrepreneurs who work, think and learn differently to prepare for the jobs of the future.

Moderator:
Mr. Matthew Patulski
Capgemini

Panelists:
Mr. Steve VanderVeen, Ph.D.
Director of the Hope Entrepreneurship Initiative, Hope College

Mr. Tony Baker, Ph.D.
Vice President of the Board, Grand Rapids Public Schools

Mr. David Buth
Summer Journeys

Prof. Szymon Machajewski
Grand Rapids Community College

Prof. Paul Wittenbraker
Grand Valley State University

Students attend for FREE with student ID

Register Now!

Wednesday, October 17th, 2012
Networking Time: 5:30pm
Panelists Take Stage: 6:15pm
Location: San Chez Banquet Room (3rd Floor)
Maps: (Google Map) (Bing)

With all the messages bombarding people on a daily basis, how do you ensure that your message to rises to the top?

Panelists will discuss how they stood out from their competitors to win elections.

Featuring

Hal Ostrow (Moderator)
Owner, The Ostrow Law Firm, and former aimWest board member.

Justin Swan
Owner of JD Consulting, a campaign operations company providing media, messaging and design solutions to candidates and issues since 2008.

Scott Brew
President/CEO at Adtegrity, a Grand Rapids advertising agency specializing in trafficking and optimizing advertising campaigns in the digital realm.

Michael Lomonaco
Director of Marketing at OST (Open Systems Technologies), a $70m full service IT & technology consulting firm. He has 12 years of experience in policy, campaign management, media relations and fundraising at the local, state & federal levels.

This event is closed.

The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated.

Come learn how media outlets are using Social to enhance and distribute their content as well as expand their audience. How are television, radio, print and online news organizations utilizing what some thought would kill them.

Wednesday, September 12th, 2012
Networking Time: 5:30pm
Panel Discussion: 6:15pm
Location: San Chez Banquet Room (3rd Floor)
Maps: (Google Map) (Bing)

Panelists

Vincent Duffy
News director from Michigan Public Radio

In his first year of leading the Michigan Radio news room, the news team won more than three dozen national, regional, and state awards, including a national Sigma Delta Chi award from the Society of Professional Journalists for a month-long series investigating education in Michigan. Duffy is also the Chair-Elect of the Radio/Television/Digital News Association (RTDNA), the world’s largest organization representing electronic journalists. @vincentduffy

John Gonzalez
MLive’s Michigan Bureau

John “Gonzo” Gonzalez is a multi-media journalist/blogger who is an innovator in the world of social media, including Twitter and Facebook, and emerging social media platforms. Since 1990 he has worked in various capacities at The Grand Rapids Press, serving as the music critic, TV writer, and reviewer. He served as Entertainment Editor for the Grand Rapids Press (1995-2011), where he began to use emerging tools of online journalism and the growing importance of Social Media.

He often shows up in Google searches above national media. He has been a guest on “Inside Edition,” “Entertainment Tonight,” and reported on Jessica Simpson’s meltdown at Van Andel Arena. He also appears regularly on West Michigan TV and radio stations. He attended Central Michigan University, where he majored in journalism and worked for the campus newspaper CM Life. He interned at the Bay City Times, Holland Sentinel and Detroit Free Press. @MichiganGonzo

Jeff Hill
Rapid Growth

Runs the business operations for Rapid Growth Media, including local p&l, fostering business and organization sponsorships, media partnerships, syndication, event hosting, marketing our own brand, identifying new markets, and growing our audience.

Tim Steele
Web Managing Editor at WOOD TV 8

Tim Steele began his career in radio and worked for years at WLAV-FM. He played more than his share of Led Zeppelin, but also began and hosted Jazz Brunch. He’s produced syndicated game shows, live events satellite-delivered to 40 countries, awards shows and corporate films/videos. He’s owned a small business, freelanced for NPR, and wrote a book that was published in 2004 by 21st Century Publishers in London. He’s also been fired more times than he cares to admit (none of which were for cause, by the way) and has managed to stay interested in what’s new. He’s been the Web Managing Editor for woodtv.com since 2006, and the last two years they were chosen The Best News Website in Michigan.

Event Sponsored by:

This event is closed.