Full Name
Robert Vera, MBA
Business Title
Entrepreneur, Co-Creator of the STAR™ Model of Corporate Innovation, Venture Capital Partner, and university professor
Company
Grand Canyon University's Canyon Ventures Center
Speaker Bio
New York Times and Amazon #1 best-seller and author of A Warrior’s Faith and co-author of Perfectly Wounded.
An accomplished entrepreneur, speaker, university professor, startup investor, mentor, economic development catalyst, best-selling author, and adventurer.
Robert serves as the Founding Director of Grand Canyon University’s Canyon Ventures Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship where he is also a professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The center serves as a model for the selection and rapid development of startups. He has mentored and led
38 entrepreneurs through the accelerator program to expertly launch ideas into successful companies. Since its founding in 2019, the accelerator has assisted in raising over $13 million in equity for its ventures and has launched five new companies into the Arizona business community with a combined
valuation of over $70 million. Robert is the Co-Creator of the STAR® model of Corporate Innovation. This universal model empowers organizations to discover and launch new market-dominating products, services, and solutions. The STAR® model’s universal blueprint for innovation is taught to learners in
Grand Canyon University’s Doctor of Business Administration program. He is a published best-selling and award-winning author of multiple books including, A Warrior’s Faith (Harper Collins/Thomas Nelson 2015). The story chronicles his friendship with a wounded Navy SEAL. The book earned the 2016 Illumination Publishers Award for Best Memoir. He is the co-author of Perfectly Wounded (Hachette/Twelve 2020). The book was selected as an Amazon Editor's Pick for best memoir.
A former collegiate athlete Robert walked on and earned a role on Boston College’s Division I football team and was a member of the 1986 Hall of Fame Bowl Championship Team. An avid endurance athlete and adventurer, each year Robert leads a small group on a 48-mile non-stop trek across the Grand Canyon from the South Rim to North Rim and back to the South Rim. He is a mentor to military veterans and has led groups of wounded veterans to the 14,411-foot summit of Washington States Mount Rainier. He has piloted a tandem bike team with a disabled veteran stoker 6 days over 620 miles from San Francisco to San Diego, California in the Challenge Athletes Foundation Million Dollar Challenge. Robert is an Ironman Triathlete and has completed multiple 140.6-mile races in Idaho and Arizona. He has been a top finisher in the Mt. Washington Auto Road Hill Climb, billed by Bicycling Magazine as one of the most difficult hill climbs in the world.
Robert began his professional career as a Staff Assistant to United States Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts where he managed military and veteran constituents' services. He worked as an analyst evaluating infrastructure projects in Latin America, and as a champion of entrepreneurs to structure and
close growth financing. In 2007 Robert launched Lifestyle Health, a tech startup. The company offered individualized heart rate zone training and meal plans to corporate wellness clients. Lifestyle Health was one of several organizations across the nation selected to deliver the President's Challenge, an initiative of the US Department of Health and Human Services. Robert exited the company in 2014.
Robert serves his Arizona community on a number of boards. He is a former Honorary Commander of the 161st Arizona Air National Guard Copperheads Air Tanker Squadron. Robert earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Boston College, a master’s degree in business administration from Grand Canyon University (GCU) and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Organizational and Industrial Psychology at GCU. Robert is married and is the proud father of two teenagers. Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, he moved to his home in Phoenix, Arizona in 2000. Robert speaks decent Spanish and is working to learn Portuguese.
An accomplished entrepreneur, speaker, university professor, startup investor, mentor, economic development catalyst, best-selling author, and adventurer.
Robert serves as the Founding Director of Grand Canyon University’s Canyon Ventures Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship where he is also a professor of Innovation and Entrepreneurship. The center serves as a model for the selection and rapid development of startups. He has mentored and led
38 entrepreneurs through the accelerator program to expertly launch ideas into successful companies. Since its founding in 2019, the accelerator has assisted in raising over $13 million in equity for its ventures and has launched five new companies into the Arizona business community with a combined
valuation of over $70 million. Robert is the Co-Creator of the STAR® model of Corporate Innovation. This universal model empowers organizations to discover and launch new market-dominating products, services, and solutions. The STAR® model’s universal blueprint for innovation is taught to learners in
Grand Canyon University’s Doctor of Business Administration program. He is a published best-selling and award-winning author of multiple books including, A Warrior’s Faith (Harper Collins/Thomas Nelson 2015). The story chronicles his friendship with a wounded Navy SEAL. The book earned the 2016 Illumination Publishers Award for Best Memoir. He is the co-author of Perfectly Wounded (Hachette/Twelve 2020). The book was selected as an Amazon Editor's Pick for best memoir.
A former collegiate athlete Robert walked on and earned a role on Boston College’s Division I football team and was a member of the 1986 Hall of Fame Bowl Championship Team. An avid endurance athlete and adventurer, each year Robert leads a small group on a 48-mile non-stop trek across the Grand Canyon from the South Rim to North Rim and back to the South Rim. He is a mentor to military veterans and has led groups of wounded veterans to the 14,411-foot summit of Washington States Mount Rainier. He has piloted a tandem bike team with a disabled veteran stoker 6 days over 620 miles from San Francisco to San Diego, California in the Challenge Athletes Foundation Million Dollar Challenge. Robert is an Ironman Triathlete and has completed multiple 140.6-mile races in Idaho and Arizona. He has been a top finisher in the Mt. Washington Auto Road Hill Climb, billed by Bicycling Magazine as one of the most difficult hill climbs in the world.
Robert began his professional career as a Staff Assistant to United States Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts where he managed military and veteran constituents' services. He worked as an analyst evaluating infrastructure projects in Latin America, and as a champion of entrepreneurs to structure and
close growth financing. In 2007 Robert launched Lifestyle Health, a tech startup. The company offered individualized heart rate zone training and meal plans to corporate wellness clients. Lifestyle Health was one of several organizations across the nation selected to deliver the President's Challenge, an initiative of the US Department of Health and Human Services. Robert exited the company in 2014.
Robert serves his Arizona community on a number of boards. He is a former Honorary Commander of the 161st Arizona Air National Guard Copperheads Air Tanker Squadron. Robert earned his bachelor’s degree in political science from Boston College, a master’s degree in business administration from Grand Canyon University (GCU) and is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Organizational and Industrial Psychology at GCU. Robert is married and is the proud father of two teenagers. Originally from Boston, Massachusetts, he moved to his home in Phoenix, Arizona in 2000. Robert speaks decent Spanish and is working to learn Portuguese.
