Codemkrs Founder Honored at White House Open Government and Civic Hacking Champions of Change Event

Serial entrepreneur Travis Laurendine has experienced tremendous success and positively impacted many communities through his ventures including LA Labs, Codemkrs and Volnado, all New Orleans-based companies. Today, he is being recognized at the White House as an open government and civic hacking “Champion of Change” event.

Alongside other entrepreneurs, innovators, organizers and community leaders, Laurendine will be highlighted at the event for building high-tech tools to help, “health workers and disaster-response crews better serve communities; piloting innovative programs to involve traditionally disengaged communities in local governance; using new technologies to enhance government transparency and collaboration; and more,” according to a statement made by the White House.

When presenting his new management agenda earliWhite Houseer this month, President Obama said, “… We the people recognize that this government belongs to us, and it’s up to each of us and every one of us to make it work better…We all have a stake in government success — because the government is us.”

Laurendine will be honored alongside 14 other leaders and organizers from across the country including: Steve Spiker, Director of Research & Technology at the Urban Strategies Council; Scott Phillips, Co-Founder and CEO of Isocentric Networks; George Luc, Co-Founder and CEO of GivePulse; Craig Michael Lie Njie, CEO, Kismet World Wide Consulting; Christopher Whitaker, Project Management Consultant at the Smart Chicago Collaborative; Jessica Klein, Co-Founder of Rockaway Help; Caitria O’Neill, Co-Founder of Recovers; Steven Clift, Founder of E-Democracy; Gerrie Schipske, Councilwoman on the Long Beach City Council; Brad Lander, New York City Council Member; Robert Davis, Co-Founder of RadSocial; Alderman Joe Moore, City of Chicago, 49th Ward; Anita Brown-Graham, Director of the Institute for Emerging Issues at NC State University; Deborah Parker, and Tulalip Tribes Vice Chair.

The Champions of Change program was created to highlight individuals, businesses and organizations whose stories and accomplishments continue to positively impact our communities.

The White House sent out a press release about the event, which included a great bio for Laurendine:

“Travis Laurendine doesn’t fit in the typical bio box any more than his hair fits into the typical hat. As a serial entrepreneur he has been on the cutting edge of both the web startup and entertainment industry for nearly 10 years. He launched his first web startup while an Economics major at Vanderbilt University, where he was also selected as the first Vanderbilt student with a film to make it in the Nashville Film Festival. When Hurricane Katrina struck his hometown of New Orleans, he stayed back in the city and found himself wearing the hats of startup CEO, concert promoter, restaurant general manager, standup comic, film/video producer and director, MTV News journalist, band manager/agent, investor, hackathon organizer, Entrepreneur-In- Residence, and cultural ambassador. Recently, he founded Louisiana’s first hackathon organization, CODEMKRS, which is currently being transformed into Louisiana’s only modern code school. This summer he has organized hackathons for giant music festivals JazzFest and Bonnaroo and is currently planning San Francisco’s Outside Lands’ first hackathon. His official job is being the founder and CEO of LA Labs, a startup laboratory focused on the marriage of entertainment and technology that uses New Orleans as the ultimate creative incubator. He is thankful for his loving family and friends and the daily inspiration he gets from the great city of New Orleans.”

For more information about the White House Champions of Change program, visit whitehouse.gov/champions.