David Bridges is vice president of the Enterprise Innovation Institute (EI²) at the Georgia Institute of Technology. EI² is the largest, oldest, and most successful university-based economic development organization in the country. It is home to more than a dozen economic development programs which (1) build and scale startups, (2) grow existing small and medium-sized enterprises, including manufacturing firms, and (3) energize ecosystem builders (communities, governments, universities, and non-profits). These programs serve the State of Georgia, the Southeast, the United States, and globally.

Prior to his appointment as vice president, Bridges was director of EI²’s Economic Development Lab. That group works with communities in Georgia and globally on projects including workforce development, fiscal and economic impact analyses.

Since joining Georgia Tech in 1994, Bridges has worked in various practice areas. He has been a Principal or Co-Principal Investigator on $20M+ in grants and authored, co-authored, or significantly contributed to $40M+ in winning proposals. Bridges has won 100+ proposals from U.S. federal agencies, plus universities, governments, and non-profits from around the world. He is a frequent lecturer and speaker in China, South Africa, and across Latin America on nascent, innovation ecosystem building.

Prior to joining EI², he was a management consultant and a brand manager at three consumer package goods companies. Bridges earned his Bachelor of Business Administration from Emory University and Master of Science in Marketing from Georgia State University.

Duriya Farooqui is a board member and former C-suite leader with a proven track record of business transformation and innovation, and extensive experience guiding Fortune 500 and FTSE 100 global public companies. Farooqui has served in a variety of leadership roles, including COO for the City of Atlanta and President of Supply Chain Innovation at Georgia Pacific. Farooqui currently serves as a Board Director of Intercontinental Hotels Group (NYSE: IHG) and Intercontinental Exchange (NYSE: ICE). She also serves on the boards of the New York Stock Exchange. In addition, she co-chairs the NYSE Board Advisory Council that is committed to advancing diversity on corporate boards.

Farooqui is the 2021 recipient of OnBoard’s 19th annual Lettie Pate Whitehead Evans award in recognition of her transformative endeavors serving on public boards and championing diversity.

Most recently, Farooqui was President of Supply Chain Innovation at Georgia Pacific. In this role, Farooqui drove supply chain transformation and led a center for innovation where over 40 companies collaborated to solve supply chain challenges.

She earned a Bachelor of Art’s degree in Economics and Mathematics from Hampshire College and a Master of Public Administration in International Development from Harvard University.

In 2017, as an undergraduate student at Georgia Tech, Kolby founded ULTRAVIEW Archery. In just five years, ULTRAVIEW has become a brand known worldwide for providing best in class products trusted by world champion archers. Since inception, ULTRAVIEW has experienced over 300% year-over-year revenue growth, has been featured in Newsweek, and most recently was recognized as one of Regional Inc. 5000’s fastest growing private companies. 

Before founding ULTRAVIEW, Kolby was a world renowned compound archer. He started archery when he was 10 years old and was on the Junior USA Archery Team by the time he was 16. From a young age, Kolby displayed an entrepreneurial spirit. To fund his archery career he would make and sell paracord bracelets at school, and sell water bottles at events. When he became frustrated with the inadequate archery equipment on the market, he utilized the Georgia Tech Invention Studio to design his own. His archery competitors took notice and began inquiring where they could purchase his custom equipment. Seeing the opportunity, he launched the Starlight scope system, the product that won the 2018 Georgia Tech InVenture Prize.

Outside of ULTRAVIEW, Kolby is a mentor in the ALC Hornet Archery program, a member of the CREATE-X Council, and a pet foster for local Georgia animal rescues.