ImageCorson “Corky” Ellis is our speaker this Friday, and will share with us his experiences in building an internationally-known software firm in Portland that almost no one in Maine knows about, but whose products are sought out by major global manufacturers. Corky’s firm writes the software drivers that provide instructions to robots at Harley-Davidson, General Electric, Rockwell, and virtually every auto manufacturer.

Corky Ellis is Chairman and Founder of Kepware Technologies. Corky founded the company in Maine in 1995, after moving from New Jersey to Maine in search of a new home to raise his family. He found that Maine perfectly suites its state slogan, "The Way Life Should Be." Today, Kepware is located in historic downtown Portland, employs almost 100 people, and is the world leader in developing communications solutions for the Automation industry.

Corky's main focus is on Kepware's long-term success through strategic acquisitions and organic growth. Outside of Kepware, Corky is deeply involved in statewide efforts to encourage economic growth through a focus on secondary and high school education, and in environmental issues throughout the state. He is Vice Chair of the Maine Small Enterprise Growth Fund, and a board member of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute, an organization that combines scientific research on the health of the Gulf of Maine and middle school education on marine science. He has also recently helped start the Robotics Institute of Maine, an organization that encourages and funds high school and middle school robotics teams at schools in Maine. Corky believes that education is critical to the health of Maine's economy—and the nation's—and works hard to spread this message. He also invests heavily in the University of Maine, providing scholarships and aid to engineering students, many of whom he hires upon graduation.

Corky graduated from Amherst College and received an M.D.B.P. degree from Columbia University.