Melanie Okoro ‘11 Founder & CEO, Eco-Alpha Environmental and Engineering BS Biology, Johnson C. Smith University, PhD Environmental Science, UMBC 

Before starting Eco-Alpa, Dr. Okoro worked in a variety of advisory positions at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in California. As Chief Operating Officer and Founder of Eco-Alpha, Melanie successfully leads a team of expert environmental and engineering professionals – in the areas of water, transportation, utilities, commercial real estate. She is a thought leader and advocate for increasing diversity and inclusion in the STEM workforce and has served on the board of the American Geophysical Union as an early-career scientist

Eric Taft ‘13 Owner, Producer, & Engineer, Buzzlounge Recording Studio

B.F.A - Music - Music Technology

During his junior year at UMBC, Eric opened the Buzzlounge Recording Studio, which has been voted a top recording studio for several years by Washington City Paper. In 2018, Eric’s work received a Grammy nomination. Throughout his 12+ years of producing and making records, Eric has worked with a wide array of both national and international artists, including Depeche Mode, Plain White T’s, and Underoath. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Eric has shifted and adapted his business model to accommodate more artists and clientele.

Balaji Viswanatha ‘06 CEO, Invento Robotics  BS/ MS Computer Science UMBC, MBA Babson, currently in PhD program at UMBC

Baliji started his career at Microsoft hq as a software developer and worked there for 4 years before starting his entrepreneurial journey. A couple of his initial ventures didn’t work out as they were a bit early in the market, however, he learned a lot in the process! Then he was a part of a successful startup called Black Duck that got acquired. He started Invento in 2016, a robotics company using avatars in mostly the healthcare space. Their goal is to build great, likeable robots. He has successfully raised venture capital and is in the process of scaling Invento now.

The Raymond V. Haysbert, Sr. Entrepreneurship Lecture Series provides a platform for successful entrepreneurs to candidly share their experiences and insights with UMBC students, faculty, alumni and the Baltimore business community. The series highlights experiences, lessons learned and unique issues and challenges faced by entrepreneurs in the creation of a new enterprise. 

QUESTIONS? Vivian Armor armor@umbc.edu 410-455-5740