to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day at Ohio Northern University, Dr. Rodney Sampson, serial innovator, entrepreneur and investor, will speak in the English Chapel on Tuesday, Jan. 20, at 7 p.m.

This event, sponsored by the ONU Office of Multicultural Development, is free and open to the public.                                          

The bestselling author of “Kingonomics: Twelve Innovative Currencies for Transforming Your Business and Life Inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,” Sampson’s definitive purpose is to facilitate the reduction of the wealth gap in America through innovation, entrepreneurship and investment. As a shaper of innovative economic policy and opportunities throughout society and culture, he is regularly called upon to advise and speak to nations, businesses, universities and corporations.

Sampson co-founded Multicast Media Networks in 2000 (sold in 2010), a live streaming platform that laid the foundation for companies like YouTube and Ustream. Not stopping there, Sampson co-founded Intellect in 2002, Intellect Inspire in 2006, and Legacy Opportunity Fund in 2007 with private equity investments in technology, digital publishing and financial services. At present, Sampson is building Opportunity Fund, a U.S.-based super-crowd fund and crowd-funding platform designed to provide underserved and under-represented communities access to investment opportunities traditionally reserved for accredited and institutional investors. He also serves on the boards of a learning company (an imprint of Pearson), a New York-based merchant investment bank, a small business development network, and a community development corporation (CDC).

For his contributions to humanity, Sampson was awarded the Phoenix Award, the city of Atlanta’s highest honor, by Mayor Shirley Franklin in 2004. In direct support of the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Sampson, his wife and a group of influencers in 2007 donated more than $50,000 to the King Papers Project, a capital campaign established to ensure that King’s papers would remain in the city of Atlanta at Morehouse College for generations to come.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at ONU on Jan. 11, 1968, in one of his final appearances on a college campus before being assassinated in April later that year.