Mark Tebbe

About the CEC The Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center (CEC) is a non-profit organization that supports entrepreneurs on their path to building high-growth, sustainable businesses that serve as platforms for economic development and civic leadership. Its flagship project, 1871, fulfills CEC’s vision of a central address for entrepreneurs in Chicago. CEC runs and operates the workspace, develops programming, organizes events and ensures that the culture of 1871 allows entrepreneurs the greatest opportunity for success. What We Do CEC promotes and grows the startup community in Chicago. We develop programs, establish partnerships and run projects that provide entrepreneurs with the tools they need to build successful, sustainable businesses. Who Supports Us CEC is funded through private entities and corporations. It is also supported by numerous emerging and successful entrepreneurs, established businesses and academia that recognize the importance of entrepreneurs and the impact the CEC has on the local economy.

Driving inclusive economic development. Follow us for news about Chicagos business community.

About the CEC The Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center (CEC) is a non-profit organization that supports entrepreneurs on their path to building high-growth, sustainable businesses that serve as platforms for economic development and civic leadership. Its flagship project, 1871, fulfills CEC’s vision of a central address for entrepreneurs in Chicago. CEC runs and operates the workspace, develops programming, organizes events and ensures that the culture of 1871 allows entrepreneurs the greatest opportunity for success. What We Do CEC promotes and grows the startup community in Chicago. We develop programs, establish partnerships and run projects that provide entrepreneurs with the tools they need to build successful, sustainable businesses. Who Supports Us CEC is funded through private entities and corporations. It is also supported by numerous emerging and successful entrepreneurs, established businesses and academia that recognize the importance of entrepreneurs and the impact the CEC has on the local economy.

Lake Capital is a private equity and venture capital firm specializing in investments in buyouts. The firm also invests in add-on acquisitions, organic and acquisition-enhanced growth, management buy-outs, partial recapitalization, and growth capital. The firm seeks to invest in middle market companies and specialized start-ups. It prefers to invest in service based businesses with a focus on marketing services, financial services, operation and infrastructure related services, specialty services, telecommunication services, healthcare services, specialty consumer services, technology services, and business process outsourcing services. The firm seeks to invest between $40 million and $75 million in companies with EBITDA of minimum $4 million and revenues between $25 million and $75 million. Lake Capital was founded in 1998 and is based in Chicago, Illinois.

Merrick Ventures LLC is a PE investment company based in Florida focused on technology companies. Merrick Ventures was founded by Michael Ferro in 2007 after selling one of the companies he founded, Click Commerce, for $292M. One of the notable investments was Merge Healthcare, acquired by IBM for $1B in 2015.

Hello, current, past, and prospective employees and clients! This page is no longer active as we now go by a different name. In case you haven’t heard, we merged our legendary brands into one global organization back in 2019. So without further ado, welcome to Publicis Sapient—a digital business transformation partner of choice. Join our global LinkedIn community by clicking the “Learn more” button next to our tagline.