As a current faculty member at the University of Utah, and a former faculty member at the University of Houston, Cord Bowen is able to see the behaviors and processes that let people be successful, whether in the design or entrepreneurship space. His teaching experience allows him to create a space that not only validates successes, but also encourages embracing challenges and barriers.

Whether teaching courses in Graphic Design, Interior Architecture, or Design Entrepreneurialism, Cord helps generate iterative and replicable processes. For entrepreneurs, these processes do not just build one successful business, but build the skills to see successful paths towards any goal.

With degrees in both business and architecture, Cord brings a multidisciplinary background to his work. This background brings design thinking into his approach to Doman Innovation Studio’s work, and helps him champion the value and lessons to be learned from non-traditional approaches to entrepreneurship.

Viewing entrepreneurship through this lens lets Cord break down the traditional rigid structures of the field. This broad vision not only helps more people see themselves as entrepreneurs, but also brings in values of sustainability, stability, and health that can promote success in any business.

Cesar Sanchez knew he was an entrepreneur from the age of 10, when he launched his first business with a $20 investment from his grandfather. Throughout his professional history, he has brought the lens of entrepreneurship to everything he engages in, whether working with multinational utilities spanning 35 countries, teaching, or in his role as the Associate Director of Eccles Global.

His ability to innovate and improve processes transcends sectors, visible in his work with the Chilean government to bring the first fleet of electric buses to South America, a fleet that has put more than 1,000 buses on the streets of Santiago.

Never one to shy away from the unknown, Cesar has frequently stepped into emergent spaces. In 2015 he cofounded League of Tutors, an online tutoring company that was the first to take advantage of the then-nascent Zoom platform. This boldness informs his work at the Doman Innovation Studio, where he helps clients see past the boundaries of their own limits.

Having lived and worked in more than a dozen countries, he brings a global lens to his work, valuing a diversity of perspectives and definitions of success. His work embodies social responsibility, whether in his consulting work on sustainable development goals, or in the way he uses his current role to break down barriers to the world of entrepreneurship.

Sam Martinez’s previous work at the Whatcom Community Foundation brought an entrepreneurial lens to philanthropy and nonprofits. Working in the space of impact investing and community economic development, he has used non-traditional tools to help invest in and promote healthy and sustainable communities.

His work in food systems and affordable housing broke down his assumptions about the appropriate roles of the for-profit and non-profit sectors. The supportive communities and networks he worked in not only allowed individuals to thrive, but created the conditions for businesses to build long-term success.

At Doman Innovation Studio, he hopes to bring this community-based model to business incubation and entrepreneurship education. In the impact investing space, he has seen the new models businesses can try and the critical questions they can ask when they know they are working in a space that values these processes.

Working on projects that include nonprofits, for-profits, and government, Sam has seen the barriers created by the language and storytelling that are unique to every sector. Creating universally-understandable stories of these projects helps communicate their value in a new way, one that prioritizes people and purpose in the same way that profits and products are traditionally valued.