Building on our recognized success as a hub for creating interdisciplinary and multi-institutional teams, the CLEI will be an increasingly prominent leader and vital partner in entrepreneurship and innovation endeavors. The CLEI will achieve this through a community-centric and technology-enabled approach to providing direct services for entrepreneurs and organizations; offering projects-based service learning opportunities; co-developing and sharing best practices through networks and digital platforms; leveraging technology to increase access to justice; and building vibrant local, regional, and national communities of practice for research, policy, and action initiatives.
What the Center Offers :
The UMKC Center for Law, Entrepreneurship, and Innovation engages in five major categories of activities, all involving interdisciplinary and multi-institutional collaborations:
- Access to Justice and Legal Services for Entrepreneurs / Innovators
- Law & & Entrepreneurship Education for Students & Entrepreneurs
- Developing Local, Regional, and National “Community of Practice” Networks
- Facilitation of UMKC and Regional Technology Commercialization
- Access to Justice and Legal Services for Other Community Members
CLEI Leadership Team:
Anthony (Tony) J. Luppino
Rubey M. Hulen Professor of Law and CLEI Director
Barbara Glesner Fines
Rubey M. Hulen Professor of Law and Dean Emerita
Danielle Merrick
Clinical Professor and Director of Entrepreneurial Legal Services Clinic
Ayyoub Ajmi
Director of Legal Innovation and Technology
Evan Absher
Assistant Clinical Professor of Law
CLEI Fellows:
The CLEI Fellows are a group of UMKC faculty and staff members from a wide range of academic units and programs with passion for entrepreneurship and innovation and interest in exploring interdisciplinary collaborations and team building on projects and initiatives within one or more of the Center’s five pillars. These CLEI Fellows are:
Eric Anderson
Director of UMKC’s Office of Technology Commercialization and Adjunct Professor with Law School and Instructor with Bloch School of Management
Jeff Blackwood
Director, Commercialization Ecosystem at UMKC Innovation Center and Technology Venture Studio
Katherine Bloemker
Assistant Dean and Teaching Professor, UMKC School of Science & Engineering
Caroline (Molly) Davies
Associate Professor, Earth and Environmental Sciences, UMKC School of Science and Engineering
Phillip Gonsher
Assistant Director and Mentor Program Director, Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, and Teaching Professor at UMKC Bloch School of Management
Andrew Heise
Managing Director of Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, and Assistant Teaching Professor in Dept. of Entrepreneurship & Management at UMKC Bloch School of Management
Alex Holsinger
Associate Dean and Professor in the Criminal Justice and Criminology Department at UMKC School of Humanities & Social Sciences
Shannon Jackson
Professor of Anthropology and Chair of the Department of Sociology & Anthropology, UMKC School of Humanities & Social Sciences
Peter Koulen
Professor, Felix and Carmen Sabates / Missouri Endowed Chair in Vision Research, Director of Basic Research, Vision Research Center at UMKC School of Medicine and biomed/healthcare entrepreneur
Maria Meyers
Executive Director, UMKC Innovation Center, Founder of SourceLink and UMKC Associate Vice Chancellor for Economic Development
Laura Moore
Senior Program/Project Manager, Regnier Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation at UMKC Bloch School of Management
Brent Never
Associate Professor in Public Affairs at the Bloch School and Chancellor-appointed leader of UMKC’s Data Science Institute (IDEAS)
Dina Newman
Director of UMKC Center for Neighborhoods
Susan Opp
Victor E. and Caroline E. Schutte Professor Chair, Department of Public Affairs at UMKC Bloch School of Management
Lori Sexton
Associate Professor of Criminal Justice and Criminology and an affiliate of the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Program at UMKC School of Humanities & Social Sciences
John Spertus
Professor, Daniel J. Lauer / Missouri Endowed Chair in Metabolic and Vascular Disease Research at UMKC School of Medicine, and Clinical Director of Outcomes Research at St. Luke’s Mid-America Heart Institute; biomed/healthcare entrepreneur
Greg Vonnahme
Associate Professor in Political Science at UMKC School of Humanities & Social Sciences
Jacob Wagner
Associate Professor of Urban Planning and Design at School of Science & Engineering and faculty founder of the UMKC Center for Neighborhoods
Jerry Wyckoff
Professor and Chair, DPPS, and Director of Research and Graduate Studies, UMKC School of Pharmacy; former Chair of UMKC Faculty Senate; biomed/healthcare entrepreneur
Barbara Zabawa
Associate Professor of Law, UMKC School of Law
CLEI Advisory Board:
The CLEI Advisory Board, comprised of individuals with diverse credentials and experiences relevant to the Center’s missions, provides strategic advice and mentorship, and connections to potential collaborators and resources, to enhance the positive impacts of CLEI programs and projects. The CLEI Advisory Board members are:
Danielle Atchison
Business Immigration Lawyer, Mdivani Corporate Immigration Law
James Baxendale
Founder & President, Innovation Transfer, LLC
Chris Brown
Virtual Entrepreneurship Attorney, Pixel Law
Kate Burns
Executive Director, MetroLab Network
Melissa Roberts Chapman
Acting Regional Innovation Officer, KC BioHub, BioNexus KC
Patrick Courtney
General Counsel-Business Operations, Terracon
Abigail Eccher
Chief Information Officer, City of Lincoln and Lancaster County, NE
Adrienne Haynes
Managing Partner, SEED Law; Founder, SEED Collective; Chair, KCMO Emerging Technology Board
Kristin Kenney
Product Counsel, Google
Robin Perkins
Partner and Founder and Chair of e-Discovery Practice Group, Kutak Rock
Nate Ruby
President, Illicit Gardens and From the Earth Miissouri
Ilya Tabakh
Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Black & Veatch
Tony Van Trece
Public/Private Real Estate Development Attorney
Kyle Vena
Vice President of New Campus Development, American Royal
Ralph Wrobley
Of Counsel, Husch Blackwell
