Amplify Louisville recently announced a new member has joined its team, as David Lopez becomes its most recent entrepreneur in residence.
Lopez currently serves as the founder and principal consultant of Valor Insights LLC that focuses on the aspirations of underrepresented founders. He also serves well as the chair of the Louisville Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, according to a post on LinkedIn by Amplify.
The client list for Valor Insights LLC includes the Jack Harlow Foundation, Wesley House, the West End Opportunity Partnership and the Center for Nonprofit Excellence.
“I started to talk to folks in the community about the vision for this consulting firm,” Lopez told me, “And I think [Amplify Louisville CEO] Larry [Horn] really loved it.. He loved the idea of my focus on underrepresented founders, underrepresented CEOs. And so he started to talk to me about, ‘Hey, maybe there’s a role at Amplify as an EIR where you can do that for the Amplify network of founders, and particularly for the underrepresented part of that network.”
Added Horn via a statement: "His joining this team is an important step forward in our ongoing efforts to develop an even more inclusive and diverse entrepreneurial ecosystem. David’s lived experiences uniquely qualify him to align and mentor our emerging talent in much the same way that many of our founders have. As he takes the helm in developing a sustainable program model for the support of Latin Hispanic and newcomers to our community, we are confident that his leadership will inspire and yield action towards actual change.”
Lopez has more than 20 years of professional experience, both in the for-profit and nonprofit sectors, according to the post.
When he was named as one of our Forty Under 40 winners in 2021, he was serving as the chief development officer for Metro United Way, a position he held for a little more than four years (2018-2022), according to his LinkedIn profile.
Lopez spent many years growing up both in San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico, before moving to Louisville in 2018 to be closer to his wife’s family in Henderson, Kentucky, near Evansville, Indiana.
“I needed a full-size city, having grown up in San Diego,” Lopez said of his reason for choosing to move to Derby City.
In the big picture, Lopez wants to position Louisville as more of a destination for underrepresented entrepreneurs and investors to move to the area or to business.
“Louisville is already a major destination for immigrants that either move to a larger city like Miami or New York or Los Angeles first, and then move here — as well a lots of immigrants come directly here,” Lopez said. “And we’re already attracting immigrants, but we’re not doing as much to intentionally attract immigrant entrepreneurs and immigrant investors.
“And I think we can really leverage some of our assets like the Derby, like bourbonism [and] the growing ecosystem that we do have around entrepreneurial ventures.”
On a related note, Lopez has already orchestrated — in conjunction with the chamber of commerce — an event from 3 to 9 p.m. on May 1 at the new Story location in NuLu to host an event featuring members of Angeles Investors, which Lopez said was the largest Latin Hispanic investors’ group in the U.S. The event is $35 a person.
Lopez also is busy planning a years’ worth of programming for Amplify, he said.
Lopez replaces the entrepreneur-in-residence spot left by Lydia Henshaw, who began in 2022. He becomes the organization’s fifth entrepreneur in residence, joining Henshaw, Kela Ivonye, Natalia Bishop, and Angelique Johnson, who is still serving in that role, with that distinction. As the framework goes, EIRs may serve a maximum of two years.
Amplify Louisville is one of six innovation hubs located throughout Kentucky that are part of the system of KY Innovation, the entrepreneurial arm of the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development.
