Mercer University will open its 2015-2016 Executive Forum, presented by BB&T, with presentations in Atlanta and Macon by David Cummings, CEO of Atlanta Ventures and founder of Atlanta Tech Village, on Nov. 5.
 
Cummings will be speaking about his entrepreneurial experiences to Executive Forum members and invited guests at noon at the Capital City Club in downtown Atlanta and at 6:30 p.m. in the Presidents Dining Room inside the University Center on Mercer’s Macon campus.
 
“We are delighted and honored to welcome David Cummings to our Executive Forum. He has made an enormous impact on the startup scene in Atlanta and can be credited with helping to build this city’s reputation as a Silicon Valley of the Southeast. And he is a wonderful role model for Mercer students and innovators across Georgia,” said Dr. Susan P. Gilbert, dean of Mercer’s Eugene W. Stetson School of Business and Economics.
 
Born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida, Cummings has been a highly successful entrepreneur for more than 15 years. In 2007, he co-founded Pardot, which was recognized in 2012 by Inc. Magazine as the 172nd fastest growing company in the United States. Pardot was later acquired for $95 million by ExactTarget in one of the largest SaaS acquisitions ever of a bootstrapped company. Cummings was subsequently named the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year in the deal category, and in 2014, he was named one of the 100 most influential Atlantans by the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
 
Currently, Cummings is CEO of Atlanta Ventures, a company that invests in technology startups. He is also the founder of Atlanta Tech Village, the largest technology entrepreneur center in the Southeast. Recently, he was named entrepreneur-in-residence for Mercer’s business school in Atlanta for the 2015-2016 academic year.
 
Cummings is a member of the Southern Chapter of the Young Presidents' Organization, the Entrepreneurs’ Organization of Atlanta and the Atlanta Rotary Club. He serves on the board of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce and the Buckhead Coalition.
 
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in economics from Duke University, and this past May, he received an honorary Doctor of Commerce degree from Mercer while serving as the University’s Atlanta campus commencement speaker.