'Lehigh Valley Companies Innovating Amid COVID-19' event announced

CENTER VALLEY, Pa. — Lehigh Valley LaunchBox presents “Lehigh Valley Companies Innovating Amid COVID-19," featuring three CEOs of local companies discussing how they are transforming and contributing to their communities during this time.

The event will be held virtually from noon to 1 p.m. on Tuesday, May 19.

The program is being presented through Lehigh Valley LaunchBox in collaboration with Community Outreach and Education, the Arts Project and Virtual Education.

The May 19 event features the following speakers:

Rolf Schlake, president and CEO of Applied Separations in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Schlake’s company is providing clean suits that have been baked in a company furnace, for re-use by first responders, paramedics, and others who are on the front lines fighting COVID-19.

Ron Belknap, co-founder, president and CEO of ProtoCAM in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Belknap’s company is working with Lehigh Valley Health Network (LVHN) to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 by developing, producing and testing 3D-printed biocompatible medical masks featuring a replaceable biosoluble filter material with a MERV 14 rating. The goal for the masks is to develop a reusable, sterilizable protection device that can be cleaned and utilized multiple times.

Chad Butters, founder and CEO of Eight Oaks Farm Distillery in New Tripoli, Pennsylvania. Butters’ company began manufacturing hand sanitizer and has donated more than 60,000 eight-ounce bottles of sanitizer to hundreds of mission-critical organizations.

The event moderator is Liz Keptner. Keptner is an Emmy award-winning broadcast journalist, lecturer in communication arts and sciences, and director of the Multimedia Innovation Center at Penn State Lehigh Valley.

To register, visit the event website. For more information on Lehigh Valley LaunchBox, email LVLaunchBox@psu.edu or call 610-285-5208.

Lehigh Valley LaunchBox (LVLB) is an early-stage business accelerator program for entrepreneurs. As a signature program of Invent Penn State, LVLB partners with a network of community and university partners to offer continuing support to small business owners and guides them through every step of their startup journey.

Information regarding the Invent Penn State initiative is available online.