EVANSTON – There is a technology executives group that is decidedly not for profit and has been around since before the Internet. Robert Jacobi tells ePrairie why he loves to get around the table.

eP: What is the history of the Technology Executives Roundtable (TER)? RJ: The TER is almost 20 years old. It was actually started as a chain of networking groups and roundtables. After DEQ died, the Evantson group site kept it going. Probably for the last 12 years, we tried to get a few panelists every month to talk about issues that apply to technological entrepreneurs or entrepreneurs in the technology industry.

eP: Like who? RJ: We've had Don Frye, a professor at Northwestern; a gentleman who was a vice president at 3Com (now he's working on a consumer-type device); the founder of U.S. Robotics was at TER many years ago; and Phil McGuigan (of Gordon & Glickson) has hosted a couple of panels. We have an annual venture funding panel and we try to get Mark Achler, Steve Miller and other VCs in the area to talk about their stuff.

eP: What kind of events are they? RJ: It's a dinner and a roundtable. What's sort of unique about how we set it up is the panelists sit in front of the audience for about 20 minutes, and then they sit down and join the group at a dinner table. So, you interact with the panelist during the meal, and after the meal, they go back up on the panel. It's a very interactive format.

eP: How many people show up on average? RJ: Probably about 25 on average. The venture and money panel doubles and triples that. I think we have about 40 people for the "how to re-invent yourself and get a job" panel.

eP: What’s the draw of your events as opposed to others? RJ: You really get to talk to the panelists. It's just much more in-depth communication with some pretty bright people. There's a lot of networking before the event and it just brings people together for specific topics. From technical things like an OS panel to an HR panel to a funding panel to a future vision panel, we try to rotate through a high variety of topics.

eP: What’s the goal for the future? RJ: We're hoping to keep the consistent high-quality programming. The research market is very aware of it, and we're getting people from downtown to step up and see what's going on with incubator research for companies up here. We just recently moved locations to a new hotel, and we hope to accomodate larger panels.

eP: Are you a for-profit company like your competitor (Technology Executives Club)? RJ: It's very not for profit. It's subsidized by the Technology Innovation Center. The admission really doesn't cover costs, so the incubator helps out.

eP: You went to University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, right? RJ: I was there from 1990 to 1994, right at the start of the madness.

eP: What did you think of all of it? RJ: I was in a business background. You didn't really see all the technology being developed as much as little pieces coming out here and there. I was into technology, but just not part of the technology college of engineering.

Interview by TOM ALEXANDER
Executive Editor, ePrairie