Media Contact:
Mary Lynn Fernau
Rice Alliance for
Technology & Entrepreneurship
713-348-5374
mlfernau@rice.edu

George Foreman to speak on entrepreneurship and sign latest book - Knockout Entrepreneur

Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship Kickoff Celebration September 3, 2009

HOUSTON - (Aug. 25, 2009) - George Foreman, the Knockout Entrepreneur, will give guests a one – two punch, combining secrets of his winning boxing career with his successful entrepreneurship technique at the 10^th Annual Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship Kick-off Celebration, Thursday, Sept. 3, at 6:30 pm, at the Jones School of Business, Rice University.

Foreman, who went from King of the Ring to King of the Grill, will share his secrets of success at both endeavors at the event and sign copies of his latest book, Knockout Entrepreneurship, My Ten-count Strategy for Winning at Business at the event. The first 400 registrants will receive a free copy of Foreman’s book which hit bookshelves this month.

Foreman, first known as the two-time Heavyweight Boxing World Champion, is today, best known as an entrepreneur and philanthropist, recognized as the smiling pitchman for the best-selling electrical appliance in history: George Foreman’s Lean Mean Fat-Reducing Grilling Machines. His portfolio today boasts the George Foreman Grill, George Foreman's Knockout Cleaner, a line of clothing with Casual Male, fitness videos, Elgin watches, and many more. He is a frequent speaker at nationwide events and a New York Times bestselling author. George is also an ordained minister and father of ten.

George Foreman, born in Marshall, Texas, had an impoverished childhood, but was saved by the Job Corps, a program for troubled youth.  In 1968, he won an Olympic Gold Medal in boxing.  He won his first world heavyweight title in 1973 by beating Joe Frazier.   He regained the title in 1994 at age 44, the oldest fighter ever to win the heavyweight crown.  By the end of the 1990’s, he was well on his way to a successful business career, first by marketing the George Foreman Lean Mean Grilling Machine which has sold over 100 million units to-date.

Foreman’s third son, George III, holds a Rice University connection having received a degree in business which he used to serve as the business manager of his father's empire and executive vice president of George Foreman Enterprises, Inc. George II recently embarked on his own boxing career and has a record of 2 -0.

The public is welcome to attend the event and can register at www.alliance.rice.edu. Cost for public is $45 for advanced registration by Sept. 1 or $55 at the door.

The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship

The Rice Alliance for Technology and Entrepreneurship is Rice University's flagship initiative devoted to the support of entrepreneurship. The Rice Alliance's mission is to provide entrepreneurship education and to support the commercialization of technology innovations and the creation of new companies in the Texas and Houston region. Since its inception in 2000, the Rice Alliance has assisted in the launch of more than 230 new technology companies, which have raised more than half a billion dollars in early stage funding. Of these, approximately 35 companies have been launched based on technology developed by Rice faculty and researchers and licensed from the Rice Office of Technology Transfer.

Unique among many entrepreneurship centers, the Rice Alliance was formed as a strategic alliance of three schools at Rice University: the George R. Brown School of Engineering, the Wiess School of Natural Sciences and the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management.

In 2009, the Rice Alliance was named the Outstanding Specialty Entrepreneurship Program for technology entrepreneurship in the U.S. by the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship and Houston’s Greatest Economic Development Ally by the Greater Houston Partnership.

In 2008 and 2007, Rice University was recognized as having one of the top 25 graduate entrepreneurship programs in the U.S. by The Princeton Review and Entrepreneur magazine (No. 16 in 2008). In 2007, the Rice Alliance was recognized as the No. 1 university entrepreneurship center in the U.S. for enterprise creation by the Global Consortium of Entrepreneurship Centers.

For more information about the Rice Alliance, visit www.alliance.rice.edu.

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