Mellie Price

Mellie Price is a highly experienced innovation executive, venture fund manager, angel investor, philanthropist, data geek, and technologist who has worked in organizations ranging from non-profits to startups to publicly traded companies to state government.    

As an eight-time entrepreneur, Mellie is well known as a co-founder of the nationally recognized startup accelerator program and entrepreneurial hub, Capital Factory. She continues to serve as the voluntary Director of Diversity and Inclusion in support of her mission to increase the representation of LGBT, women, and people of color in the global startup ecosystem. In 2015, Mellie created SoftMatch, a boutique corporative innovation consulting firm that helps Fortune 1000 companies connect with emerging technology and talent and navigate this era of digital disruption.    

Mellie currently serves as the inaugural Managing Director of the Texas Health CoLab, a unique public/private sector initiative designed to commercialize transformational health products invented at the University of Texas at Austin’s Dell Medical School. Formerly, she was the Founder & CEO of Front Gate Tickets, one of the largest privately held primary market ticketing companies in the US/Canada from 2002 to 2015, when it was sold to Live Nation/Ticketmaster. 

Mellie is a widely respected thought leader on disruptive innovation and a frequent presenter and keynote speaker. She serves on the Technology Advisory Committee for Austin Mayor Steve Adler and has been honored with the prestigious Profiles in Power (2015) and Tech Titan (2014) awards. Mellie is also a member of the Board of Directors for KLRU (PBS-TV), Leadership Austin, and Mission Capital. She is a proud co-founding member and advisor to Texas Competes which has signed over 1375 pledges from businesses who recognized the importance of ensuring a fair and welcoming Texas for LGBT people.  

Mellie enjoys teaching entrepreneurship at her alma mater, University of Texas at Austin, and holds a Bachelor of Science in Biology and a Master of Science in Technology Commercialization from the McCombs School of Business.