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Biographies
The Jules F. Knapp Entrepreneurship Center has amassed a formidable team of seasoned entrepreneurs and deal-makers. The Board of Directors, alone, does to business what the 1992 Dream Team did to Basketball at the Olympics in Barcelona, Spain. Take a look at some other team members you will gain if accepted by the Knapp Center.
Jules F. Knapp: “I’ve always wanted to do something special to support entrepreneurship at IIT,” said Jules F. Knapp. “Businesses are what help to make our country great and help a city like Chicago thrive. This new Center will provide relevant and practical entrepreneurial experiences for IIT students across all academic departments of the university.”
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Knapp, a member of the IIT Board of Trustees, is himself a successful entrepreneur. With his first business in 1962, United Coatings he was one of the first paint producers to market to mass merchandisers like Wal-Mart. Knapp remains an active entrepreneur today. In September 2000, he purchased Grisham Manufacturing, a maker of steel security storm doors, and turned the ailing company around by improving production and customer service and establishing new sales relationships with retail giants Home Depot and Lowe’s. “An entrepreneur is not only a risk-taker. He or she must also have the right people onboard and the ability to communicate the vision to everyone on the team,” said Knapp. “My greatest enjoyment is seeing a new product come to market and the feeling of success it brings to the people behind it.” |
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Nik Rokop
Managing Director
Jules F. Knapp Entrepreneurship Center
 Nik is Managing Director of the Jules F. Knapp Entrepreneurship Center at the Illinois Institute of Technology. As a life-long entrepreneur, advisor to and investor in entrepreneurial ventures, Nik has a passion for creating new businesses and helping others succeed.
Nik is past President & CEO of nLake Technology Partners, a management, business development and technology commercialization group specializing in nanotechnology. He has 30 years successful entrepreneurial experience in engineering, manufacturing, sales, marketing and international operations. His career spans the iron and steel industries, manufacturing, consulting and the Internet.
Nik is involved in support of the entrepreneurial community as founding member and current President of the Chicago Microtechnology & Nanotechnology Community, founding member of the BIG Idea Forum, Vice Chair of the MIT Enterprise Forum of Chicago, and member of the Steering Committee of the Technology Commercialization Task Force. Nik was named one of i-Street Magazine's Top 100 in Technology & Economic Development in 2002.
Nik has given lectures on entrepreneurship and the impact of nanotechnology at Northwestern University, DePaul University, Illinois Institute of Technology and for organizations such as the National Academy of Sciences, the Economic Development Council and the National Investment Bankers Association. He was the project executive on the US-Israel NanoBiotechnology seminar series held in Chicago in 2004. He is involved in business development and consulting for several local technology companies.
Nik holds a Professional Engineer’s license in PA and earned his BS in Mathematics from Carnegie Mellon and a BS in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.
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