A bestselling author and the co-founder of Square — the mobile payment company behind the device that made credit card transactions easier and less costly for small businesses — will be the guest speaker for the Christian County Chamber of Commerce’s 134th annual dinner on June 1 at the James E. Bruce Convention Center.
Jim McKelvey co-founded the company with Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey in 2009. McKelvey wrote about Square’s development in his book “The Innovation Stack: Building an Unbeatable Business One Crazy Idea at a Time.”
McKelvey was originally scheduled to speak at the chamber dinner in September 2021, but the event was canceled because of a rise in COVID-19 cases.
A self-described “serial entrepreneur, inventor, philanthropist, artist and author,” McKelvey was a glass blower when the idea for Square was born.
McKelvey then founded Invisibly, a company using an app that gives readers a way to access and pay for media content, in 2017. In addition, he serves as a deputy chair of the St. Louis Federal Reserve.
Tickets for the chamber event are $80 for members, $150 for a member couple and $100 for non-members. Table tickets, for 10 seats, are $750. A VIP table of 10 is $1,800 and includes a meet-and-greet cocktail reception.
A silent auction and cocktail reception will begin at 5 p.m. Dinner and the program begin at 6:15 p.m.
This story was updated after the chamber rescheduled the event for June 1.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
