Chicago BDPA: Black Entrepreneurial Excellence

Presenter – Ashton Clark

Ashton Clark is a Data and Analytics leader/intrapreneur and nationally award-winning entrepreneur who started his first successful business at the age of 13. He is the Co-founder and CEO of Ticket Falcon, an online event registration and management platform with direct payouts for general admission and reserved seating events.

Ashton is an alumnus of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Business and Engineering and Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management. At Kellogg, Ashton earned The Dean’s Distinguished Service award for his tenacity, commitment to scholastic excellence and most importantly, community impact for recruiting over 40 African American students to Northwestern’s evening and weekend MBA program. He was President of Kellogg’s Evening and Weekend Black Management Association.

Ashton firmly believes that service is the rent we pay for living and exemplifies this by giving back. He most recently served on the Board of Directors for the National Black MBA Association (Atlanta) as Vice Chair of Advancement and Development.

Ashton is a member of the 100 Black Men of Chicago and lifetime member of the illustrious Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. where he recently served as President of Mu Mu Lambda Chapter.

Presenter – Ryan Clark

Ryan believes that success means nothing unless you bring others along the way, which is why he has and continues to mentor and give back as often as possible.

Ryan, a 2x Microsoft MVP is the Chief Solutions Architect at Mr. SharePoint, a consulting firm he founded that helps organizations better leverage Modern Workplace and Digital Process Automation investments. Ryan is also the co-founder of Equity Twins, a residential real estate company he started with his twin brother in Chicago, and Ticket Falcon, a black-owned event registration and management platform with direct payouts for general admission and reserved seating events.

Ryan earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accountancy with a Minor in Technology and Management from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He also earned an MBA from the Kellstadt Graduate School of Business at DePaul University. Ryan is a lifetime member of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., and a member of the 100 Black Men of Chicago where he helps improve the quality of life and enhance the educational opportunities of African American youth throughout the Greater Chicago area.

In his spare time, Ryan, also known as DJ KMBRK, DJs across a range of venues in the Chicagoland area, extending even to national platforms. Gifted with the innate ability to read the pulse of a crowd, he crafts sets that perfectly resonate with his audience. Deriving his moniker from the iconic Kimbark Avenue in East Woodlawn, Chicago, DJ KMBRK (Ryan) is deeply rooted in the local culture.