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Darian Harris
DIRECTOR
Darian is a multi-exit founder across several verticals including marketing services, education, and sports tech. His passion is helping entrepreneurs take their business to the next level and connect the dots for scalable ventures. Prior to joining Fuel, Darian worked at Walmart as a Merchant, Account Manager at The Harvest Group and as a serial entrepreneur. He is a former student-athlete at Creighton University and Oral Roberts University where he received his M.B.A.
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Tom Douglass
ENTREPRENEUR IN RESIDENCE
FORMER DIRECTOR OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES AT WALMART
Tom is widely considered an expert in identifying and implementing emerging technologies within the world’s largest enterprise. While at Walmart, he vetted hundreds of technologies annually and pulls on his experience and network to help startups succeed. He is also the founder of Catapult Consulting where he works with startups to elevate their business with fractional C-level leadership where needed, long and short-term strategy development, emerging tech assessment and demo validation, coaching and educational programs and access to our extensive network in a variety of disciplines.
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Grace Gill
OPERATIONS MANAGER
Grace has served the Fuel team since 2022. Grace has previous experience in non-profit and marketing from working at Mary R. Koch Arts Center (Wichita, KS), as well as starting on the Startup Junkie marketing and events team. She graduated with honors from the University of Arkansas and has a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Strategy, Entrepreneurship, and Venture Innovation from the Walton College of Business. Additionally, Grace is a championed powerlifter, being a 2x world record holder, 3x national record holder, Arkansas' 2022 Best Female Powerlifter and 2023 American Pro competitor.
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Caleb Talley
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, STARTUP JUNKIE FOUNDATION
Caleb Talley joined the team in 2019 as the marketing and events director, where he was responsible for planning and carrying out the foundation's portfolio of events and workshops geared to serve the local entrepreneurial community. Caleb is a graduate of the University of Arkansas with degrees in journalism and political science, having cut his teeth as a reporter, photographer and then opinion editor of the Times-Herald in Forrest City, Ark. During his time with the Times-Herald, he received national recognition for his work, including multiple Associated Press Managing Editors Awards for best hard news reporting and best news photography.
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Sajan Gautam
ENTREPRENEUR IN RESIDENCE - CYBERSECURITY
FORMER CISO OF ARVEST BANK & FORMER SVP OF GLOBAL INFORMATION SECURITY AT CITI GROUP
Sajan is a cybersecurity executive turned advisor/investor who has spent 20+ years in various information security roles with progressive responsibilities. He led and managed global teams and worked very closely with startups, investors, and educational communities.
Most recently, Sajan was the Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) for Arvest Bank where he was responsible for developing and executing Information Security, Physical Security, and Business Continuity Programs. He also spent his prior years in institutions such as Citi and EY. He has a MBA and ‘CISO – Executive Education’ and numerous professional certifications such as CISSP, CCSP, CISM, and CIPP/IT. An educationalist at heart, he has instructed, and guest lectured at universities on Cybersecurity topics and has also served as an advisory board member on a few. Lately, he is focusing his time and energy in establishing and developing cybersecurity venture ecosystems in high-potential geographies.
Fuel is run by the Startup Junkie Foundation. Mentorship is provided by experienced entrepreneurs, investors, and subject matter experts from several of the largest enterprises in the world.
Startup Junkie Foundation has facilitated 15 previous accelerator programs with over 150 alumni companies. They engage thousands of entrepreneurs in the Northwest Arkansas region through a vibrant startup culture. Their clients have raised $664.2 million in private investment capital and scaled to a collective $924 million in annual revenue.
As an entrepreneurial support organization, Startup Junkie Foundation is the drumbeat for activity in the local startup ecosystem. Specifically, Startup Junkie Foundation helps entrepreneurs start and grow ventures through 1:1 consultation, events, workshops, and programs like this accelerator.
Startup Junkie Foundation knows what it takes to be a small team going after multi-million dollar enterprise contracts. Backed by the Walton Family Foundation and the U.S. Economic Development Administration, Startup Junkie Foundation has been awarded long-term funding to provide high-quality services at no cost to the entrepreneurs they serve.
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Catapult Consulting is led by founder and CEO, Tom Douglass. Tom uses his unique experiences in small business, Fortune 500 Enterprises, and deep domain experience in business strategy to bring companies and ideas to the forefront and create the next generation of disruptive businesses.
As a result, Catapult Consulting launches companies to the next level. Tom works with them to elevate their business with fractional C-level leadership, long and short-term strategy development, emerging tech assessment and demo validation, coaching and educational programs and access to his extensive network in a variety of disciplines and enterprises.
Prior to founding Catapult Consulting, Tom was the Director of Emerging Technology at Walmart Stores Inc., where his team acted as a Technology Transfer Office and had an impact in a variety of areas including, but not limited to, in-store robotics, wireless power, RFID, and in-store IoT. His ability to manage this team and spot technology relevant to the enterprise earned him the 2014 Strategic Services Leader of the Year Award. This experience and associated network gave Fuel a competitive advantage and exponential success while Tom served as the Entrepreneur in Residence since 2019.
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We Help Companies Develop Worldwide Strategic Partnerships
Working with the world’s largest companies is the key to your strategic advantage in the marketplace. These potential strategic partners already have the distribution channels, brand recognition, engineering/support infrastructure and geographic coverage that can help you achieve global market leadership with unparalleled speed.
With over 25 years experience as a strategic partnership consultant and commercialization expert we have built an extensive network of key decision makers and can connect you with the partners you need to accelerate revenue and investment and drive success.
Led by Albert Behr. Albert is an innovator and leader focused on technology commercialization. Born in Winnipeg, Behr has been in the technology industry for more than three decades. His experience spans high-level marketing, operational, and financing roles across leading technology companies and startups around the globe.
While based in the U.S. and Asia, Behr held executive leadership roles with technology giants such as AT&T, Fujitsu, and Symantec. While in Canada, he served as Chief Strategy Officer for BorderWare Technologies, COO of NRG Group, Senior VP for Platform Computing and most recently CEO of BehrTech.
For the past 25 years, Behr has been at the helm of the technology commercialization consultancy he founded, advising more than 1,100 tech companies. During that time, he led numerous large-scale strategic partnerships and funding efforts for some of the most promising IT, clean tech, and material sciences firms in North America and Europe. In early 2017, he began devoting time to speaking engagements around the globe and curriculum development for one of Canada’s top universities, where he is a professor in the faculty of engineering and teaches a course focused on entrepreneurship, innovation, and technology commercialization strategies.