Register Now at https://tinyurl.com/3rdM2M2025
For the first time ever, Merced To Market offers a dual-track experience along with our inaugural Company Showcase Pitch Competition.
Track 1, the Community Innovation And Entrepreneurship Track, will dive into crucial topics for entrepreneurs, including team formation, marketing strategies, funding opportunities, and the essential steps in startup development.
Track 2, the Organizational Innovation And Collaboration Track, in collaboration with the Department of Management of Complex Systems, explores how collaboration drives innovation, featuring everything from public/private partnerships with NASA to gamification, governance, and commercialization strategies for UC Merced researchers.
The day will culminate in an exciting Company Showcase Pitch Competition, where UC Merced startups will compete for over $10,000 in prizes!
Erick Serrato
Executive Director for Merced County Department of Workforce Investment, Workforce Development Board
Erick’s innovation, leadership, and passion to help those in need have contributed to leading the department staff to meet the needs of job seekers, businesses, and youth. With a staff of only eleven, the department leveraged every resource to put grant funds in the hands of small businesses, move more rural residents into good jobs, and help young people thrive again. The impact has been incredible—workers have bounced back, and hundreds of thousands of dollars have gone to local businesses. In a sign that the department is a worthy investment, it secured $2.2M in grants this fiscal year so far.
Prior to coming to Merced County, he was the Assistant Executive Director of Pacific Gateway Innovation Network, the workforce board of the greater Long Beach Area—a service area covering the Los Angeles and Long Beach Port complexes. In his ten years at Pacific Gateway, Erick worked to expand the organization’s service blueprint to now include numerous cross-disciplinary partnerships, a non-profit, and a $17M budget. In this role, Erick was part of the City’s Economic Development Department leadership team, working on a host of opportunities at the nexus of workforce and economic development.
Apart from his work with the City of Long Beach, Erick has consulted extensively, currently completing projects with the City of Detroit Workforce Board and West Valley Community College, where he is helping those organizations reimagine career development services and business engagement. He has also presented widely at the California Workforce Association and National Association of Workforce Boards as a subject matter expert in workforce and design thinking.
Prior to entering workforce development, Erick worked in fund and organizational development in numerous education, arts and culture, and legal aid non-profits. Erick is originally from the Central Valley, where he spent his youth in the back of his family’s small business in Modesto before leaving to study architecture at Woodbury University in Southern California.
Location: UC Merced Conference Center, 5200 N Lake Rd, Merced, CA 95340
- 08:30 AM - 09:15 AM || Breakfast/Registration
- 09:15 AM - 09:30 AM || Welcome Remarks
- 09:30 AM || First sessions begins
Track One: Community Innovation And Entrepreneurship
Location: Dr. Vikram and Priya Lakireddy Grand Ballroom
Schedule:
- 09:30 AM - 09:50 AM | Igniting Innovation: The Entrepreneurial Pulse Of Merced County
Keynote Speaker: Erick Serrato, Executive Director for Merced County Department of Workforce Investment, Workforce Development Board - 09:55 AM - 10:40 AM | Entrepreneurship Unfiltered: The Good, The Bad, And The Unexpected
Panel:- Dominic Milano, CEO, Co-Founder, Milano Technical Group, Inc.
- Dr. Minami Ogawa, Chief Scientific Advisor, Co-Founder, Optimized Foods
- Dr. Lilian Davila, CEO, Co-Founder, COBI
- Asiyah Awais, CTO, Co-Founder, PosTrue
- Lourdes Uranday, CEO, HR Principal Consultant, Lourdes Uranday Consulting;
Founder, Be Anything Museum and Business Resource Center.
- 10:40 AM - 10:50 AM | Break
- 10:50 AM - 11:20 AM | From Data To Decision: Unlocking AI’s Power For Business Growth
Speaker: Dr. Susie Pryor, Regional Director, Central California SBDC Network
- 11:20 AM - 11:50 AM | Smart Start: Navigating HR And Legal Essentials For New Entrepreneurs
Speaker: Dr. Lindsay Walczak, Associate, Berliner Cohen, LLP - 11:50 AM - 12:30 PM | Lunch
- 12:30 PM - 01:00 PM | Building The Dream Team: Key Strategies For A Winning Startup Team
Speaker: Stephen Torres, Co-founder, Managing Partner, Ellerra - 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM | Building A Brand: Tips And Tricks For Successful Startup Marketing
Speaker: Jason Hollis, Co-founder, GMP & Three - 01:30 PM - 01:40 PM | Break
- 01:40 PM - 02:30 PM | Unlocking Business Funding: SBA Loans, Microloans And Credit Solutions
Panel:- Nigel Kirk, Small Business Lending Manager, Access Plus Capital
- Chris Winek, Commercial Relationship Manager, Farmers & Merchants Bank of Central California
- George Flores, Deputy District Director, U.S. Small Business Administration's Fresno District Office
- 02:30 PM - 03:15 PM | Inside the Investor's Mind: What Investors Really Look For In Startups
Panel:- Jessica Salinas, Co-President, New Rising Ventures and New Media Ventures
- Tiq Chapa, Senior Associate, L'ATTITUDE Ventures
- Rhonda Shrader, Executive Director, National Science Foundation Innovation Corps Northwest Hub and Berkeley Haas Entrepreneurship
- Stephen Torres, Co-founder, Managing Partner, Ellerra
- 03:15 PM - 03:25 PM | Break
- 03:25 PM - 03:40 PM | 2025 SBDC Business Of The Year Award
- Jeffrey Wolf, CEO, Mother Lode Adventures Charter Services
- 03:40 PM - 04:50 PM | Company Showcase
- UNiFOODi
- COBI
- Coffi News
- ScholarSwap
- Enroutely
- 04:50 PM - 05:00 PM | Closing Remarks
- 05:00 PM - 06:00 PM | Reception
Track Two: Organizational Innovation And Collaboration
Location: Conference Room 105
Schedule:
- 09:30 AM - 10:00 AM | Commitment Through Collaboration: Indirect Idea Promotion Tactics For Technological Ideas
Speaker: Dr. Tea Lempiälä, Assistant Professor, Management Of Complex Systems, University of California, Merced - 10:00 AM - 10:30 AM | Collaboration And Innovation In Public/Private Partnerships With NASA
Speaker: Dr. Stephen K. Robinson, Director, Space Technology Research Institute For Deep Space Habitat Design, University Of California, Davis; Former NASA Astronaut - 10:30 AM - 11:00 AM | Paradoxical Identities In Innovation: Social Practices For Supporting Underrepresented Identities In The Technology Sector
Speaker: Dr. Taylor Fugere, Post-Doc, Management of Complex Systems, University of California, Merced - 11:00 AM - 11:50 AM | The Crucial, And Often Overlooked, Role Of Collaboration In Investment Decisions
Speaker: Jessica Salinas, Co-President, New Rising Ventures and New Media Ventures - 11:50 PM - 12:30 PM | Lunch
- 12:30 PM - 01:00 PM | User Testing For Startups In Autonomous Transportation
Speaker: Dr. Spencer Castro, Assistant Professor, Management of Complex Systems, University of California, Merced - 01:00 PM - 01:30 PM | Gamification 2.0 -- Drawing From Gaming Worlds To Enhance Innovative Collaboration
Speaker: Christopher Bernal, Ph.D. Candidate, Management of Complex Systems, University of California, Merced - 01:30PM - 01:40 PM | Break
- 01:40 PM - 2:00 PM | Building Commercial Partnerships: Connecting Researchers With Commercialization Opportunities
Panel: - Dr. Holly Meadows, Director, TreMonti Consulting
Dr. Steven Seltzer, Continuing Lecturer, University Of California, Merced
Open the pamphlet: https://tinyurl.com/3rdM2M2025 (if the link below does not work)
Explore our Company Showcase featuring UC Merced startups, highlighting innovations, and welcoming the future.
