New Orleans Entrepreneur Week gears up for fifth installment with global headliners

New Orleans native Walter Isaacson will be returning to the fifth annual New Orleans Entrepreneur Week

New Orleans Entrepreneur Week is approaching once again, filling the gap between Mardi Gras and Jazz Fest with entrepreneurial merriment, pitches, panels, educational sessions, and more.

In its fifth installment, this year’s event the week of March 16-22 promises to surpass the rest, with an anticipated 3,000 influential business leaders, financiers, entrepreneurs, and students from around the country arriving to support New Orleans entrepreneurs at more than 55 events.

This week, The Idea Village has announced its lineup of headlining events, which includes keynotes from CEOs as well as representatives from global establishments and Fortune 500 companies – just the kind of enterprises that these entrepreneurs aspire to be here in New Orleans.

Headlines include New Orleans native, author, and CEO of the Aspen Institute, Walter Isaacson; president, founder, and CEO of Chobani, Hamdi Ulukaya; and Dana Mauriello, Director of New Business Opportunities for Etsy.

Also, set to be convening at Gallier Hall this March for New Orleans Entrepreneur Week are:

• Jim Coulter: founding partner, TPG Capital, L.P.
• Donna Fenn: author; contributing editor, Inc. Magazine
• Nick Friedman: Co-Founder, College Hunks Hauling Junk, College Hunks Moving
• Patti Greene: professor, Babson College; National Academic Director, Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses
• David Hall: Revolution Ventures
• New Orleans Mayor Mitch Landrieu
• Mary Matalin: political consultant
• Kathryn Minshew: founder, The Muse
• Wendell Pierce: star of HBO’s hit show “Treme”
• Jeff Pulver: founder, FWD, VON Coalition, Vivox; Co-Founder, 3-Rings, Vonage
• Bridgette Sexton: Google for Entrepreneurs
• Margaret Spellings: Former U.S. Secretary of Education; Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Advisory Council
• Robbert Vorhoff: General Atlantic
• Alan Weinkrantz: Global PR Expert
• Tina Wells: Founder, Buzz Marketing; Huffington Post blogger; Black Enterprise columnist

To register for any of the keynotes, seminars, or sessions, visit www.ideavillage.org. The events, including one I will be moderating on PR and the media on March 20, are free and open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis.

Adriana Lopez writes about the New Orleans entrepreneur community for NolaVie.