Matt Wisdom, CEO of TurboSquid, joined Aneesh Chopra, CTO and Associate Director for Technology in the Obama administration, and five New Orleans business leaders in a roundtable discussion Tuesday about how to use technology to spur the next generation of entrepreneurial leadership. The discussion, which took place at the Idea Village in downtown New Orleans, focused on strategies to foster new entrepreneurship and innovation that will lead to more jobs and a better economy.
Aneesh Chopra
The conversation eventually turned to U.S. immigration law and how it can create obstacles for companies who want to bring in unique technology talent from abroad. It’s a topic Matt is very familiar with since TurboSquid is currently trying to arrange a work visa for Jonathan Lloyd, who joined the company as part of our new partnership with his company Falling Pixel. Despite the fact that Jonathan, who is from England, has run a stock 3D site for five years and is arguably one of the most qualified people on earth to work in this industry, it’s been more difficult than expected to get him permission to work in the U.S.
After the discussion, Matt and some of the other participants went out to dinner with Rich Karlgaard, the publisher of Forbes, and had a great time talking about issues like the growth of the world economy. Matt was “thrilled and honored to be included in discussions with such knowledgeable people,” he said. “These are issues I really care about. I learned a lot, and I hope I contributed something too.”