Mr. Jeff Stinson founded and leads HealthTech Arkansas, an organization that drives provider-focused innovation programs. Its flagship accelerator, HeartX, has become known as the only accelerator program in the U.S. that guarantees hospital pilot projects and clinical trials for medtech/healthtech startup companies. HeartX has admitted 42 startup companies into its program over the past eight years, invested in each of those companies, and has facilitated nearly 100 pilot projects and clinical studies for those startups.

Additionally, Jeff founded and has led six early-stage investment funds, including Fund for Arkansas’ Future (“FAF”), which was the state’s first angel investment group. Jeff has personally invested in approximately 75 startup companies during his investing career.

Jeff served as director of UALR TechLaunch – the technology transfer office at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock – from 2012 through 2015, where he implemented a number of programs to increase invention disclosures and promote cross-campus collaboration in technology development. In 2015, Jeff founded the Delta I-Fund, a private version of the NSF I-Corps program. Since its founding, the I-Fund has trained over 300 innovators in the Delta region and invested $1 million in the development of their businesses.

After obtaining his MBA, with honors, from the Owen School of Management at Vanderbilt University, he moved to Arkansas in 1999 and has worked extensively in the private equity markets and in innovation and entrepreneurial training and development.