Author Seth Godin to keynote EntreFEST

Best-selling author, entrepreneur and marketer Seth Godin will keynote EntreFEST 2015, May 20-22 in multiple venues throughout downtown Iowa City.

Godin, known for writing and speaking on the way ideas spread and the post-industrial world, is the author of 18 books that have been best-sellers. He also founded Yoyodyne, which used online games and scavenger hunts to market companies, and Squidoo, a community website that donated a portion of the profits to charity.

Godin joins a list of conference speakers that will include Ben Milne, CEO and founder of Dwolla; Julie Lenzer Kirk, director of the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the U.S. Department of Commerce; Trevor Owens, author of the Lean Enterprise; Cameron Ewing, creative director of Facebook; Sarah Kunst, venture capitalist and partner at Fortis; and Patrick Riley, CEO of the Global Accelerator Network.

John Pappajohn, retired venture capitalist and philanthropist, also will be speaking at the conference. Pappajohn, a 1952 graduate of the University of Iowa, organized Equity Dynamics, a financial consulting group in 1969.

Pappajohn and his wife, Mary, have funded multiple additions to the UI campus, including a $26.4 million for the Pappajohn Biomedical Discovery Building. The latter opened last fall.

EntreFEST 2015, a business innovation gathering, is expected to attract about 1,000 people.