(July 7th – July 16th Session Only) Founder and CEO of MassChallenge, John Harthorne, to address students attending LeadAmerica’s Business and Leadership conference at Babson College. John Harthorne is the founder and CEO of MassChallenge, a startup accelerator and competition designed to catalyze a startup renaissance by connecting high-impact startups from around the world with the resources they need to launch and succeed. John received his MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management in 2007. While at school, John received the Grand Prize in the 2007 MIT $100K Business Plan Competition and received the 2007 Patrick J. McGovern Award for impact on quality and visibility of entrepreneurship at MIT. He also led the 10th annual MIT Global Startup Workshop (GSW) held in Trondheim, Norway. In September 2011, the Boston Business Journal identified John as one of “Boston’s 50 Most Influential Business Leaders” alongside the CEOs of Akamai Technologies, Blue Cross Blue Shield and the Boston Celtics. John is a life-long Massachusetts resident and an avid Red Sox fan.