CEO and Co-Founder of Dwolla, Ben Milne, Announced as Key Note Speaker at this year's Innovation Expo

 

Brookings, SD – August 15, 2011- Ben Milne, CEO and founder of the Des Moines based payment network Dwolla, will be the keynote speaker at this year's Innovation Expo, which is hosted by the Enterprise Institute, a private, non-profit corporation that provides business development and commercialization services to researchers, inventors and start-up companies.

 

The Innovation Expo is a combination Inventor's Congress and Venture Capital Forum to celebrate the inventors, entrepreneurs and investors who grow new technologies and businesses in the region. The event features an Exhibit Hall for entrepreneurs, service providers and vendors as well as educational sessions on a variety of topics.

 

Tim Weelborg, Executive Director at Enterprise Institute says, “We're excited to have Milne as a keynote speaker.   Dwolla is a great entrepreneurial story that can inspire and encourage budding entrepreneurs in our region.”

 

In 2008, Ben and partner, Shane Neuerburg, approached a Midwestern bank with an idea to establish a new payment network that would upend the financial services industries. They called it Dwolla. In 2009, the privately funded Dwolla launched in Iowa and California, boasting the nation's cheapest payment platform of only 25 cents per transaction. In 2010, Dwolla introduced the first technology to empower seamless payments leveraging users' social networks, officially pioneering social payments. In 2011, Dwolla launched the world's first geo-location based mobile payments. Ben also has extensive community experience in speaking, mentoring, and leadership programs.

 

 

The one-day seminar will be held on November 2, 2011 at the Ramkota Hotel & Conference Center in Sioux Falls. The event is open to the public and costs $15 for the full conference and is free after lunch. Guests can register online at www.sdei.org .