Rick Warther, president and CEO of Vanguard ID Systems
and a Kent State University alumnus, will speak about how
to become an entrepreneur on Friday, Sept. 25, in Taylor
Hall.

Kent State University's College of Communication and Information will host a lecture led by Vanguard ID Systems President and CEO Rick Warther at 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 25, in Room 146, Taylor Hall. The lecture is free and open to the public.

Warther, a 1979 Kent State School of Communication Studies alumnus, will share tips for becoming an entrepreneur and advice about patenting your work during his lecture titled “Become a ‘Solutioneer’ Entrepreneur.”

“As I have met with alumni of the college these past couple of months, the importance of entrepreneurship and knowing how to protect creative work is a topic that comes up a lot,” says Amy Reynolds, Ph.D., dean of Kent State’s College of Communication and Information. “Rick has a wealth of expertise and experience in this area, and I am grateful that he is willing to share his knowledge with Kent State students.”

Warther has patented 20 bar-coded, magnetic-striped and radio-frequency (RFID) transaction devices. He was the first to laser print on plastic, creating the first bar-coded membership identification card, and he invented the first bar-coded key tag. He founded Vanguard ID Systems in 1987 to manufacture transaction cards for customer loyalty, membership, gift and debit programs, and access control.

“Rick is an innovator,” Reynolds says. “His inventions and his company are great examples of the global success our students can achieve with their College of Communication and Information degree. We are excited to welcome him back to campus and learn from his many accomplishments.”

For more information about Kent State’s College of Communication and Information, visit www.kent.edu/cci.