The Boothbay Harbor Region Chamber of Commerce annual dinner at Newagen Seaside Inn on June 8 will feature Jess Knox as keynote speaker.

Knox was born in Waterville and grew up in Rome, Camden and York. He set out for Delaware, Ohio to earn his bachelor’s degree in government from Ohio Wesleyan University. He came back to Maine to pursue his master’s degree at the Muskie School in Public Policy and Public Organization Management.

Knox said his speech will be on “Grabbing the Opportunities of the Future.”

“I spent a lot of time talking to folks who live in some of the poorest parts of this country. I spoke to them, listened to them, and learned from them. I was extended so many opportunities to learn about experiences that went far beyond what my own was.”

Knox’s career and achievements are long and winding. He earned his juris doctorate from the University of Maine in 2004. A year later, he served as the senior legal advisor to the Office of the Speaker in the Maine House of Representatives. In 2008, Knox served as the campaign manager to Protect Colorado’s Future, a coalition to defeat a series of initiatives he said were detrimental to Colorado’s economic development.

Following his time in Colorado, Knox was brought on to the 2009 Presidential Inauguration Committee as director of tickets and credentials. After the four-month job, Knox became the associate administrator in the Office of Field Operations for the Small Business Administration in the Obama Administration.

He said the SBA experience, overseeing its largest department – almost half the agency– was outstanding. “But more importantly it gave me an on-the-ground understanding of what the challenges and opportunities are for growing businesses. For me, it allowed me to stop just talking about creating jobs and start working with ventures that actually do that work.”

Knox added, “I was on the front line of supporting companies, but also exposed to which programs were working, or not, for companies across the country. All of this professional experience was the foundation of my work today.”

However, after just over three years in Washington, D.C., commuting to the area every week, Knox longed for home. “My wife and I were finally ready to start a family — along with the fact that I wanted to get back to Maine, there were all sorts of motivations to come back.”

When asked if his Maine upbringing shaped his approach to professional life, Knox sort of agreed. Spending most of his childhood in York, Knox said, “Interestingly, the idea of Maine versus New Hampshire wasn’t something that registered with me. Or even Massachusetts.” Knox said that since Logan Airport was the closest airport — and because there was very little extracurricular activity — most of his outings were spent in New Hampshire.

“All of my youth sports were in New Hampshire and Massachusetts leagues. This really provided me with the understanding of the importance of regionalism. We’re adjacent to the second largest collection of talent and capital in the world in Boston — we can leverage the world out of that for our own ability not just to have summer visitors, but other job-creating opportunities.”

Since coming back to Maine in 2012, Knox has become a powerhouse for Maine startups and entrepreneurial resources and education. He has been president of Olympico Strategies since 2012; in 2014, he founded Maine Startup & Create Week; he has been the statewide coordinator for Maine Accelerates Growth since 2015; associate producer for Greenlight Maine since 2015; and he co-founded Venture Hall in 2016.

When asked for a couple random facts about himself, Knox said he was featured on Bruce Glasier's Varsity Club for playing soccer. He won two state championships in high school. “I also had a bunch of failures. For instance, I failed the bar exam two times. That was really hard for me. I was the president of the student bar association, but it gave me the opportunity to learn so much about what I wanted to do with my work. Without those failures, I wouldn’t be doing what I do today.”

Knox refers to his “inner organizational nerd” that always seems to crop up, from his time as a consultant for the Maine Speaker of the House to his time working on the 2009 Presidential Inauguration. “… I love organizations,” he said. “I’m fascinated by movements and why people own them, change their life to be a part of them, and identify so viscerally with them.”

Knox’s theme for his speech, “Grabbing the Opportunities of the Future,” fits with his love for Maine and for empowering people and companies just starting out. Knox said the best word of advice he could give a budding entrepreneur is: “Building a company is fundamentally about solving a problem that some group of people have — if you’re not solving a problem, it’s going to be very difficult to be successful. Also, build something that you believe is world class — what else is life for?”