Connect

Connect is a non-profit serving the San Diego and Southern California region. Connect elevates innovators and entrepreneurs throughout their growth journey by providing educational programming, mentorship, networking events, and access to capital. The current CEO is Mike Krenn. Background Founded at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), Connect spun out of the university in 2005. Connect was founded in 1985 by Irwin M. Jacobs, co-founder and board member of Qualcomm Incorporated; Richard Atkinson, president emeritus, University of California (and former chancellor, UC San Diego); Lea Rudee, founding dean, UC San Diego School of Engineering; Mary Lindenstein Walshok, associate vice chancellor of extended studies and public programs at UC San Diego; Buzz Woolley, president of Girard Capital/Girard Foundation; David Hale, chairman of Hale BioPharma Ventures LLC; Dan Pegg, former president and CEO of San Diego Regional Economic Development Corporation; and Bob Weaver of Deloitte & Touche. In 1986 UC San Diego recruited William (Bill) Otterson, chairman and CEO of Cipher Data Products, to head Connect. Over the following 13 years, Otterson built Connect by bringing together local entrepreneurs, academics and out of area venture capitalists through a variety of programs centered on innovation. Today CONNECT is an internationally renowned program that has now been modeled in almost 40 regions around the world including New York City, the UK, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, and Australia. In May 2019, Connect merged with San Diego Venture Group (SDVG), led by then SDVG President, Mike Krenn.