Cliff Holekamp ’96 to Deliver Keynote at ODK Initiation Ceremony On March 27, the entrepreneur and W&L trustee will address 35 new initiates of W&L’s Alpha Circle of ODK.

Washington and Lee University’s Alpha Circle of Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK), the national leadership honor society, will welcome three honorary and 32 student initiates during its spring induction ceremony at 4 p.m. Friday, March 27, in Grace Episcopal Church (123 W. Washington St., Lexington).

The ceremony is open to the public and a recording of the event will be available.

Cliff Holekamp ’96, co-founder and managing director of Cultivation Capital, will deliver the keynote address at the ceremony, titled “Leading Beyond Achievement,” and be inducted as an honorary ODK member. Holekamp has been a member of W&L’s Board of Trustees since 2018.

Cultivation Capital is ranked as one of the most active early-stage venture capital firms in the United States, and Holekamp has been named to Business Insider’s Seed 100 top early-stage investors list and recognized as the top startup investor in South Carolina. Previously, Holekamp was the founder and president of Foot Healers and a professor of practice and academic director for entrepreneurship at Washington University’s Olin Business School, where he was named one of the top 100 entrepreneurship professors in the world and led the entrepreneurship program to a top world ranking.

Holekamp’s work is centered at the intersection of entrepreneurship and economic development, and he has been a leader in developing the entrepreneurial ecosystem in St. Louis and now Greenville, South Carolina. He has served on several entrepreneur community boards, including an appointment by the Missouri governor to the state’s Development Finance Board and current board service on the Clemson University Research Foundation, NextGEN and the South Carolina Research Authority (SC Launch).

Holekamp holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from W&L and an MBA from Washington University, where he currently serves on the National Council for Entrepreneurship. He also serves as the vice chair of Christ Church Episcopal School in Greenville.