James McKelvey is the co-founder of Square, a mobile payment platform. A revolutionary service that enables anyone to accept credit cards anywhere. His other company Mira, started out as a software company. Eventually, Mira was refocused as a digital publishing company, providing services and conferences. Currently, the company provides online submission management, peer review, conference planning services and traditional print and electronic publishing services for more than 100 organizations from numerous disciplines.

James serves as his own patron of the arts, using proceeds from his successful commercial enterprises to fund his passion glassblowing. For 20 years, he has worked to capture the magic of glass in his art. As Chairman of the worlds largest gathering of glass artists in 2006, he strove to surprise and challenge other artists with his innovative glass faucets.

Combining energy with his practical experience working with executives and various companies, James provides audience member with real world solutions to real business problems.

James high-energy style and power-packed presentations have built his reputation as a speaker who really delivers.

Among the Ferris Bueller comebacks, slingshot babies, and polar bears, one famous St. Louisan made a quick appearance in one of this year's national Super Bowl commercials. Jim McKelvey, the St. Louis innovator who co-founded Square and Third Degree Glass Factory, appeared in Best Buy's Super Bowl commercial that paid tribute to the technololgy industry's game-changers. About 12 seconds into the commercial (see below), McKelvey says, "and I turned [your smart phone] into a bank," referring to his mobile banking innovation Square. Other innovators featured in the spot included camera phone inventor Philippe Kahn, text-to-speech inventor Ray Kurzweil, SMS message innovator Neil Papworth, Instagram founder Kevin Systrom, Shazam creators Chris Barton and Avery Wang, and Words With Friends game creators Paul and David Bettner.

Innovation, Science & Technology, Entrepreneurship, Social Media, Internet & Technology Industries