Mark Gehring, a serial entrepreneur who has founded and grown a series of medical imaging and digital health companies, will receive the 13th annual Ken Hendricks Memorial “Seize the Day” award at the 2016 Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference in Madison.

Mark GehringThe award, which celebrates entrepreneurial leaders who have been crucial to Wisconsin’s economic growth, is named in honor of the late Ken Hendricks, a Beloit businessman and 2006 “Seize the Day” award winner who died in an accident in late 2007.

Gehring will accept the award and speak at noon Tuesday, June 7, during the 2016 Wisconsin Entrepreneurs’ Conference in Madison. To register for the luncheon or the full two-day conference at the Alliant Energy Center, visit www.WiTrepsConference.com.

A biomedical engineer and self-taught software developer, Gehring co-founded Geometrics in 1992 to commercialize radiation treatment planning software he developed at UW-Madison. The Pinnacle software has been used to plan 25 percent of all radiation treatments worldwide since the mid-1990s. It is used today to plan treatments for 150,000 U.S. patients alone each year. Pinnacle is now owned by Philips, which maintains an office in Fitchburg.

In 2000, Gehring co-founded and served as chief executive officer of UltraVisual Medical Systems, a radiology imaging system that merged with another startup and went public in 2005 in a $400 million initial public offering. In 2006, he co-founded Sharendipity, a programming environment for non-programmers that failed in the financial recession in 2009.

Gehring co-founded Propeller Health in 2010, a digital therapeutic for asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease patients. That company has raised $23 million. Clinical trials have shown that Propeller Health users reduce rescue inhaler use and experience significantly fewer emergency room visits.

Today, Gehring is a co-founder and chief strategy officer of HealthMyne, an oncology imaging analytics company where he has the opportunity to work again with the co-founders of Geometrics and UltraVisual.

“Mark Gehring is a successful entrepreneur who also knows what it means to fail and come back, which is always at the heart of the ‘Seize the Day’ award,” said Tom Still, president of the Wisconsin Technology Council.

Produced by the Tech Council, the Entrepreneurs’ Conference is one of the largest events for entrepreneurs and early stage investors in the Upper Midwest. More than 500 people are expected to attend the two-day conference, to be held June 7-8 at the Alliant Energy Center, 1919 Alliant Energy Center Way, just off Madison’s South Beltline Highway. Other highlights will include:

  • Pat Quirk, UW graduate and software expert whose companies have been involved in more than $10 billion in exits over time;
  • Erik Iverson, the new managing director of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation;
  • Representatives from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation;
  • Panels and seminars for emerging companies on how to “Launch, Grow and Succeed;”
  • Diligent Dozen: Top 13 finalists from the Governor’s Business Plan Contest square off;
  • Innovation Showcase featuring more than 40 companies from around the state; and
  • Plenty of chances to connect with seasoned entrepreneurs and investors over food and refreshments

Sponsors so far include: Aberdean Consulting; Advanced Materials Industrial Consortium; Alliant Energy; Altapure; American Family Insurance; American Transmission Co.; Ascendancy Advisors; AT&T; Baird Capital; Baker Tilly; BDO; BloodCenter of Wisconsin; BMO Harris Bank; Capitol Bank; Carroll University; Center for Technology Commercialization; City of Fitchburg; Dedicated Computing; DeWitt Ross & Stevens; Findorff; First Business Bank; Godfrey & Kahn; Google; HealthX Ventures; Hewlett Packard Enterprise; Madison College; Madison Gas & Electric; Makin’ HEY! Communications; Marquette University; Michael Best & Friedrich; Midwest Prototyping; Murphy Desmond; Neider & Boucher; New Horizons of Wisconsin; Quarles & Brady; RDC National; Red Arrow Production; Reinhart Boerner Van Deuren s.c.; Rockwell Automation; Uber; University Research Park; UW-Madison Discovery to Product (D2P); UW-Madison Office of Corporate Relations; UW-Madison Office of University Relations; UW-Milwaukee Research Foundation; Venture Investors; WERCBench Labs; Whitewater University Technology Park; Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek; WIPFLI; Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation; Wisconsin Economic Development Corp.; Wisconsin Technical College System; World Wide Technology; and WTN Media.

For more information, visit www.witrepsconference.com or call 608-442-7557.