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Brian Kornfeld starts every day thinking about how to make Florida the world’s next great innovation community. The Tampa Bay native isCEO&Co-Founderof Synapse, a 501(c)(3)nonprofit that is the guidefor Florida’s innovation communities.
Brian Kornfeld starts every day thinking about how to make Florida the world’s next great innovation community. The Tampa Bay native isCEO&Co-Founderof Synapse, a 501(c)(3)nonprofit that is the guidefor Florida’s innovation communities. Through Synapse, Brian is creating the nexus for businesses to easily find what they need and share what they have to accelerate success and create thriving economiesin Florida.
Brian’spassion for technology began at an early ageand continued through college,culminating in a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in aerospace engineering from The University of Michigan and the University of Florida, respectively, officially making Brian a rocket scientist.
Early in his career, Brian worked on amazing technology projects from handheld encryption devices to fighter jets to cutting-edge satellites. Brian has managed global development teamswith project budgets over $25M, and worked on integrating a$1B acquisition.
While completing his MBA, Brian’s entrepreneurial endeavors began as he founded his first startup.As a first-time founder, Brian discovered learned from the school of hard knocks critical lessons to business in his late 20s, including building a team, discovering gaps, product/market fit, story telling, and efficient execution.
To overcome many challenges Brian saw with early-stage founders, Brian launched Popkorn Apps, a mobile application development company and mini-incubator to help entrepreneurs turn their visions into reality. As CEO of PopKorn Apps,Brian clearly saw the connectivity issues of the Tampa Bay and Floridaregions.
He later teamed up with Marc Blumenthal and Andy Hafer, along with the support of many others in the community, to formSynapse, the framework for connecting Florida’s innovation communities. Brian quickly transformed his passion from enabling individuals with good ideas to empowering Florida’s entire innovation community to become the best place to build and grow a business.Brian loves to be an enabler, helping others to innovate and understand possibilities when everybody is enabled to reach success.
Brian isan accomplished keynote speaker, having spoken at multiple conferences, events, and commencements. Brian is the President of the USF Executive MBA Alumni Advisory Council and supports many local missions and companies as an advisor, board member, or partner. He is a Six-Sigma Black Belt, Lean Expert, and Certified Scrum Product Owner. Brian is a 2018recipient of the prestigious Tampa Bay Business Journal’s40 Under 40:Business Up and Comers of Tampa Bay. He is also nationally recognized in The Business Journals’Influencers: Rising Starsas one of the top 100 business executives across the country who are having apositive impact relatively early in their careersand in Forbes’Next 1000as a rising entrepreneurial star.
In his spare time, Brian enjoys having fun with his wife Marcy, his twin sons Jacob and Micah, his dog Brooks, and being an avid Tampa Bay sports fan.You can often find him coaching his kids at baseball, out to eat at a local restaurant, or cheering on his beloved Wolverines, Bucs, Lightning,or Rays.
@synapsefl
