Joel Harris

Executive Director
2020
Co Director
2017 - 2020
The Ag Startup Engine believes there are two fundamental categories that need to be more robust in the State of Iowa for startups to become more successful: *Early seed round investment ($25,000-$50,000) *Organized mentorship from successful entrepreneurs and business professionals

Charter Oak Creative

2017

President
2017
Looking forward, I hope to take the extensive entrepreneur skills and meld what I’ve recently learned from the large corporate arena to into a creative problem solver with newly advanced strategic marketing toolkits through our non-traditional consulting platform, Charter Oak Creative. We are participating in the startup and entrepreneur "boom" that is occurring in the midwest.

2021 - 2022

2019 - 2021

Business Development Manager
2019 - 2021
Leads business development efforts for the Vitalize Venture Group platform, with the goal of helping VitalizeVC and IrishAngels portfolio companies be as successful as possible. Vitalize Venture Group is an early stage venture capital platform consisting of two funding entities: VitalizeVC and IrishAngels. VitalizeVC is a $16MM fund that invests in B2B software, and IrishAngels is an angel group comprised of 230 investors that invests in B2B, consumer, and medical companies. Vitalize Venture Group has invested in over 50 companies, deploying $40MM in capital since its launch in 2012.

2017 - 2018

Director of Product
2017 - 2018
Lead the product strategy and market research efforts of GlobalVetLINK responsible for identifying, analyzing and developing new product and new market opportunities across all customer types and market segments.

2015 - 2016

Associate Director, Commercial
2015 - 2016
Led the functional integration of Harrisvaccines into Merck Animal Health. Member of the executive project team to secure the first of its kind USDA Production Platform approval with Prescription Product, RNA Particle – a new rapid regulatory pathway for novel vaccine production platform technologies. Created innovative Geo-expansion strategic marketing plans for RNA Particle technology products to be launched by Merck Animal Health and MSD.

2008 - 2015

Vice President - Head of Sales and Marketing
2013 - 2015
Managing Sales and Customer Service personnel. Answer client and veterinary questions about products and services. Update social media and marketing materials. Head up business development domestically and internationally.
Vice President of Operations
2012 - 2013
Responsible for all research and development, manufacturing, marketing and public relations, sales inter-company communication and government regulatory aspects of the company.
Chief Information Officer
2010 - 2012
Oversee daily sales, marketing, and public relations for an advanced technology vaccine company for animal health biologics.
Chief Operations Officer
2008 - 2010
Oversaw the daily operations of Sirrah Bios, a veterinary service company division of Harrisvaccines, Inc. which provides vaccine services for swine diseases through veterinarians.

Two Big Gigs: Exec. Dir. @ Ag Startup Engine | CEO @ Genvax Technologies