Mentors
Innovation Incubator Mentors (Primary & Secondary) serve multiple roles:
Role Model
An effective mentor is invariably accomplished in their professional role. They are generally admired and respected in their position, and their achievements in that position. Clients will often look for a set of habits, approaches, style and skills that the mentor exhibits and that the mentee wishes to emulate and practice.
Sounding Board
Good mentors have to be good listeners. They need to foster confidence in the Client. Primary Mentors, who provide opportunities for their charges to articulate and develop ideas without fear of pre-judgment, criticism or ridicule, contribute real value to the relationship.
Guide
Mentors can offer guidance. Guidance is different from leading – it allows discovery. You do not provide answers directly. The subject range is broad and can, for instance, relate to career development or strategies and tactics for achieving particular professional goals.
Skills Developer
It is valid for a mentor to assume a teaching or coaching role around a particular skill set, helping the Client to learn quickly, in the format and style of the culture. This role should be specific, short-lived and not performed by proxy.
Advocate and Champion
Good mentors may choose to do more than just interact with their Client. They must actively and wisely foster support for the client across the community, influencing and promoting the mentee’s reputation, capabilities, and worth.
Every new Mentor you introduce to your client is an opportunity. Invite them to other meetings you deemed important such as industry, community or professional events.
Secondary Specialist Mentor Referral
On an as-needed basis, the Lead Mentor should refer a Secondary Specialist Mentor to assist the Client in areas where the Lead Mentor is not a subject matter expert, similar to a general physician referring a podiatrist when the patient needed help with a foot injury. The Secondary Specialist Mentors serve areas like Marketing, Social Media, IT, Legal, HR, and Finance, plus specific industries such as food, textiles, and manufacturing.
Our Mentors do not tell our Clients what to do, we only recommend. We do not do the work for our Innovation Incubator Clients. Instead, we establish accountability milestones and Mentors hold clients accountable for doing whatever the client promised to do or accomplish during coaching sessions.
APPLY TO BE A MENTOR
Innovation Incubator Primary Mentors
Secondary Mentors- Subject Matter Experts (SME)
| Secondary Mentors | Specialty |
| Nannneke Dinklo | Marketing |
| Joe Donnini | Franchise Atty |
| Tonya Haynes | Management |
| Mark Hiraide, JD | Securities/ CrowFd |
| Maurice Kogon | Exporting |
| Bree Nguyen | Social Media |
| Brett Parker | Supply Chain/ Logistics |
| Steve Rochman | Financial |
| Miklos Ringbauer | CPA |
| Silvia Van Dusen | HRM |
| Elizabeth Yang, JD | Intellectual Property |
Faculty/ Academic Mentors: Subject Matter Experts
If you would like to become a mentor, please complete our quick application form.