Ben Franklin News

Ben Franklin Technology Partners CEO to be Inducted in Business Hall of Fame

R. Chadwick Paul, Jr., President and Chief Executive Officer of the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania, will be inducted into the 2015 Lehigh Valley Business Hall of Fame. He and fellow 2015 Hall of Fame honorees Mike Albarell of Albarell Electric, Inc. and Mike Caruso of National Penn Insurance will be recognized on Tuesday evening, December 8, 2015 at the ArtsQuest Center at SteelStacks, Bethlehem.

Chad Paul is a consummate entrepreneur who truly understands the dynamics of developing new ventures and is genuinely interested in sharing that knowledge to help others. Paul has been a key player in catalyzing the Lehigh Valley economy’s transition from a focus on heavy manufacturing to technology-based sectors. He has encouraged and supported entrepreneurship in young people through Junior Achievement and Lehigh University. And he has played a pivotal role in a number of community organizations that enrich our regional economy as well as our quality of life.

Paul founded Chadwick Telephone (now Convergent) in 1976 while still in graduate school, and served as its President and CEO through 1999, when the company was merged with Executone of Pennsylvania. While building the company from a start-up to a significant multi-state corporation, Paul also founded and led allied companies including Chadwick Telecommunications Corporation (now XO Communications) and the Business Digest of the Lehigh Valley.

Since 2002, Paul has served as President and Chief Executive Officer of the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania. He led the 2007 renovation and opening of Ben Franklin TechVentures®, an award-winning incubator/post-incubator facility located on Lehigh University’s campus that tremendously expanded Ben Franklin’s available incubator space and provided much-needed wet lab space to early-stage technology companies. He also spearheaded a crucial 2011 TechVentures expansion, and is working on obtaining funding for the necessary West Wing expansion. Since 1983, the Ben Franklin Business Incubator and TechVentures have graduated 64 successful companies, grossing more than $1.2 billion in annual revenue, and creating more than 6,400 jobs in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Applying his years of experience as an entrepreneur, Paul has mentored numerous clients both in Ben Franklin TechVentures and in other parts of Ben Franklin’s service area. He has served as a Director of National Penn Bancshares and its predecessors since 1984. He was a Director of Lehigh Valley Industrial Parks, Inc. and the Bethlehem Area Chamber of Commerce. He served on the Advisory Board of Lehigh University’s Small Business Development Center and of Leadership Bethlehem.

Paul has been a member of the Bethlehem Rotary Club since 1980, and served as its President in 2000-2001. He was on the Executive Board and Finance Chairman of Minsi Trails Council, Boy Scouts of America, was a Trustee of Lehigh Valley Community Foundation, and was a Director of the Bethlehem Musikfest Association and Touchstone Theater.

“Chad Paul epitomizes the spirit and intent of the Lehigh Valley Business Hall of Fame,” said Lehigh Valley Business Publisher Mike O’Rourke. “He joins a select group of business people who have made a sustained and significant positive impact on the business and cultural community in the Greater Lehigh Valley.”