Meet our

OUR EXPERTS

About Us

Meet the HKC Entrepreneurs-in-Residence

The Entrepreneur-in-Residence Program was developed to bring highly successful entrepreneurs, lawyers, and other professionals on campus to work with current students, faculty, and staff seeking advice on launching their own entrepreneurial venture.

EIR Profiles

Patrick Drew is a Partner at
Next Step Capital.

Amanda Eakin is the Marketing
Director of Sputnik ATX.

Kevin Fishner is Chief of Staff
at HashiCorp.

Ryan Robinson is the founder
of Search Theory and Gyde

Matt Thomas is the Co-founder of
Academic Works.

Brian Hall is an Attorney at
Traverse Legal PLC.

Kathryn Turpin is a Partner at
Richards Rodriquez & Skeith LLP.

Brian Hall

Brian A. Hall is a practicing attorney with Traverse Legal, PLC (Hall Law) and the managing partner of its Austin, Texas office. He is the founder of TraverseGC.com, a monthly fixed-fee subscription-based provider of fractional General Counsel services to companies. Brian has served as outside general counsel to private, venture backed companies, public companies and venture capital funds. Since 2015, he has been General Counsel to Notley Ventures, an Austin-based social impact company. He primarily represents founders, startups and enterprise technology companies, with a focus on Intellectual Property, Internet Law, including such areas as digital and social media, advertising and promotions, privacy and data matters, and Business Law issues. Brian regularly advises clients on the acquisition of, enforcement of, licensing and monetization of intellectual property, and he has extensive experience with countless multi-million dollar corporate transactions involving an entity’s business-critical IP. Brian has also litigated cases across the United States involving trademark, domain name, copyright, software trade secret, online defamation and privacy/personal rights issues. Brian has been chosen by his peers as a Rising Star in Intellectual Property, as rated by SuperLawyers, for 2019 and has received the highest peer rating for level of professional excellence, AV Preeminent, by Martindale-Hubbell.

Brian regularly mentors and advises entities at all stages of the startup ecosystem, including as an investor. His experiences range from being a limited partner in StartupRunner, a seed stage venture capital fund, to an angel investor with the Central Texas Angel Network (CTAN). He is an active member and former Board member for Entrepreneurs’ Organization (EO) Austin and is the Vice-Chair of the Board of Directors for PeopleFund, an Austin-based CDFI.

Brian is also a regular author and speaker on legal topics of particular interest to technology companies given his background as an IT Consultant with the global IT firm Accenture. Brian has provided trademark legal commentary on Fox 7 News (Austin), authored Coach’s Corner for foundingAUSTIN and the Founders’ Friday blog series, and presented CLE on a variety of topics.

Brian lives in Central Austin with his wife and two daughters. He comes from the Midwest but loves the Southwest spirit.

INSPIRATION

RESOURCES

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ENCOURAGE

EDUCATE

EMPOWER

HKC ADVISORY COUNCIL

l

Meet our

OUR EXPERTS

Meet the HKC Entrepreneurs-in-Residence

EIR Profiles

Patrick Drew is a Partner at Next Step Capital.

Amanda Eakin is the Marketing Director of Sputnik ATX.

Kevin Fishner is Chief of Staff at HashiCorp.

Ryan Robinson is the founder of Search Theory and Gyde

Matt Thomas is the Co-founder of Academic Works.

THE HERB KELLEHER CENTER exists to encourage engagement with entrepreneurship, educate through experiential learning, and empower the next innovators.

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Patrick Drew

Amanda Eakin

Kevin Fishner

Ryan Robinson

Matt Thomas