St. Louis entrepreneur and philanthropist Jim McKelvey, co-founder of the mobile payment platform Square, is coming to Missouri S&T next month to lead what he calls a “rapid fire” discussion about technology, startups, glassblowing and other topics.

McKelvey will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 6, in Leach Theatre of Missouri S&T’s Castleman Hall, 10th and Main streets in Rolla. The event is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. Tickets are available at the Leach Theatre Box Office and are limited to four per person. The box office is located in the vestibule inside the main entrance of Castleman Hall, facing 10th Street, and is open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday.

McKelvey’s presentation is titled “Rapid Fire: An Open Discussion with Jim McKelvey About Technology, Startups, Silicon Valley, Glassblowing, Engineering or Economics. Beware: He’s Hiring!” His visit is sponsored by the Missouri S&T chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity.

McKelvey co-founded Square in 2009 with Jack Dorsey, the co-founder of Twitter, to enable small businesses to run their storefronts on a mobile device. Square has since grown to more than 2,500 employees and a $25 billion valuation.

McKelvey also founded the St. Louis-based non-profit LaunchCode, a non-profit that helps people seeking careers in technology. A 1987 graduate of Washington University in St. Louis, McKelvey is also a master glass artist and author, having written the world’s most widely read text on the subject, The Art of Fire.

McKelvey’s other endeavors include St. Louis-based Third Degree Glass Factory, one of the nation’s main centers for glassblowing arts, and Mira Digital Publishing, an early digital technology startup, where Dorsey interned before launching his own tech career and founding Twitter.

McKelvey’s newest project, Invisibly, addresses the world’s need for quality content through an attention economy which sustainably monetizes digital content and improves consumer and marketer experiences online.

In addition to teaching at his alma mater, McKelvey authored three textbooks. In 2017, McKelvey was appointed as an independent director of the St. Louis Federal Reserve. He and his wife, Anna (a programmer and attorney) have two children.

For more information about this event, contact the Leach Theatre Box Office at 573-341-4219 or at leachtheatre.mst.edu.