Mark Warner, the former Governor of Virginia and a venture capitalist, will speak on "Investing in Virginia's Energy Future" as part of the speaker series sponsored by the Virginia Tech Deans' Task Force on Energy Security and Sustainability. The presentation on Friday, April 13 at 11 a.m. in Latham Ballroom C at The Inn at Virginia Tech and Skelton Conference Center, is free and open to the public.

Warner, who left the Virginia governor's office in early 2006 as one of the most popular governors in the commonwealth's history, often speaks on the importance of entrepreneurial growth.

In the 1980s, Warner co-founded Nextel (now Sprint Nextel) and later became a founding partner of Columbia Capital Corporation, a technology venture fund in Alexandria, Va., and Waltham, Mass. He has helped create more than 70 telecommunications and information technology companies, many of which later went public. "Supporting and growing emerging companies, and providing an environment to foster their development is fundamental to our country's success," Warner said.

A native of Indianapolis, Warner graduated from George Washington University in 1977 and from Harvard Law School in 1980.

Other speakers in the series are Hans B. Püttgen, inaugural director of the Energy Center at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, who will speak at Virginia Tech also on Friday, April 13, at 2:30 p.m. in 3100 Torgersen Hall; and Marilyn A. Brown, a member of the National Commission on Energy Policy and chair of Energy Policy at the Georgia Tech School of Public Policy, who will speak on Friday, April 20. Learn about energy research at Virginia Tech.

For more information about the speaker series, contact Ben Sovacool at (540) 231-5196. For more information about Warner's visit, contact Jack Lesko at (540) 231-5259.

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