The selection committee of the 2024 edition of the Community Foundation of Louisville’s Vogt Invention and Innovation Awards will be overseen by a name well known among founders in the metro area: Maggie Harlow.
Harlow, the president and CEO of Signarama Louisville Downtown, has officially taken over the position, per a news release, after serving as a chair elect to Monique Quarterman, the executive director of KY Innovation, among other titles.
Harlow will lead a team of judges to select ten finalists for the award, before ultimately deciding what early-stage companies will be named as one of six award recipients — to be unveiled in July.
The accelerator will start in August, and will end with a demo day on Oct. 10. Note: Applications are currently open, with a deadline of May 28.
“It’s a huge honor to be asked to air and a lot of responsibility,” said Harlow, in the release. “To be handed this legacy where I [can] take it and pass it on to someone else is just a real profound honor. The vision the Vogt family had to do this is pretty extraordinary. It’s an opportunity to be part of that legacy and pass it on to the next generation. It’s really exciting.”
Lisa Bajorinas — who serves both as the Vogt Awards program director and the executive director of the six Kentucky innovation hubs for the Kentucky Science and Technology Corporation (KSTC) — said Harlow was an ideal choice for the position given her background as a founder, overall community involvement and previous efforts tied to the Vogt Awards.
She was one of 26 selection members for last year’s awards — and has been a recognized as a member of our Enterprising Women class for 2024, a guest on the Access Louisville podcast and the story subject from a profile that we wrote in 2023. She also happens to be the mother of one of Louisville's favorite sons, rapper/entertainer Jack Harlow, who received the Thomas A. Edison Award from Greater Louisville Inc. (GLI) in 2023 for his own commitment to the city.
“Maggie has been a long-time entrepreneur in the Louisville community. She has served on multiple nonprofit boards, is an active community volunteer, mentors community leaders and founders, and is leading The Jack Harlow Foundation,” Bajorinas said in the release. “Maggie has the combination of entrepreneurial experience and knowing what it takes to scale and grow a company.”
Established in 1999 by Henry Vogt Heuser, Sr., the Vogt Awards will choose up to six startups that will be awarded non-dilutive grants of $25,000 each. One stipulation of those who enter is that they have their headquarters within a 13-county footprint of the Louisville metro area.
The fund had a starting principal of $5 million, which is still intact after 108 grants totaling more than $3.9 million have been distributed. Some 38% of those grants have gone to Black, Brown or female founders, according to an earlier news release.
