John Lotz

Currently the Assistant Director of Business Engagement at Indiana State University (ISU), John earned a BA in Communication at the University of Kansas, completed his MBA, and began a career in industrial marketing with Caterpillar. After that he spent several years in the international realm of training and marketing with a division of the Swagelok companies—a group of precision valve and fitting divisions that serve industries ranging from biotech and semiconductor to off-shore oil. Simultaneously, he started his own entertainment company and ran a dinner theater in conjunction with Quail Hollow Resorts.

While that all proved to be exciting and enlightening, John was ultimately driven to help others; thus, he switched gears and has spent the last 20 years in the field of secondary and post-secondary education. In that realm, he served as an award-winning Center Director and Area Manager for the Huntington Learning Centers (Nevada & California) and as an award-winning teacher in Las Vegas and Indiana before taking on greater challenges in higher education with Indiana Statue University. In his current capacity at ISU, John supports local businesses and entrepreneurs as the Director of the Sycamore Innovation Lab, while also speaking across campus and throughout the region on topics ranging from leadership and entrepreneurship to resume writing, networking, and interviewing. Additionally, he has taught a variety of college and dual credit courses at ISU, Ivy Tech, and St. Mary-of-the-Woods College.

In just two years with ISU, John has played a pivotal role as a champion of entrepreneurship, providing education, development and interactive opportunities for secondary and college students throughout the Wabash Valley and beyond, and has, at the same time, grown ISU's student entrepreneurship programs and our Entrepreneurship minor exponentially. Additionally, as a result of his efforts during Global Entrepreneurship Week last November, Mayor Brandon Sakbun officially declared November 19th as Student Entrepreneurship Day in Terre Haute.

An experienced instructor and motivational public speaker, John loves to inspire aspiring entrepreneurs and consults with small businesses and entrepreneurial startups in a variety of different industries from industrial manufacturing to healthcare and the arts.