Howard A. Tullman

Howard A. Tullman is an American serial entrepreneur, venture capitalist, educator, writer, lecturer, and art collector. He is the former Executive Director of the Ed Kaplan Family Institute for Innovation and Tech Entrepreneurship at Illinois Tech in Chicago. He is the former CEO of 1871, the Managing Partner of G2T3V, LLC, and the Managing Partner of Chicago High Tech Investment Partners LLC, both early stage venture capital funds based in Chicago.
Early life.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1945, Tullman was raised in a family of eight. He is the son of an apparel salesman and a stay-at-home mother (who later ran for public office in New Jersey) and the eldest of six siblings.
By age 10, Tullman built a candy racket and a magic performance business in his free time. Tullman and his family moved to Highland Park, Illinois in 1955. Tullman graduated from Highland Park High School in 1963.
Education.
Tullman attended Northwestern University for his undergraduate degree, graduating "cum laude" in 1967 with a B.A. in Mathematics and Economics. He went on to receive his J.D. from Northwestern's School of Law where he graduated with Honors in 1970. During his time at Northwestern, Tullman was elected to the Order of the Coif and served as the Chairman of the Editors of the Law Review. He was selected as a Ford Foundation Fellow and developed, along with James R. Thompson, former Governor of Illinois, a national Ford Foundation program for the study of criminal law. Tullman practiced law from the time he was admitted to the Bar in 1970 until 1980, specializing in large-scale class action cases and Chapter 11 bankruptcy cases. In 1974, he was admitted on special petition to the Bar of the United States Supreme Court. He retired from law to found CCC Information Services.
Entrepreneurial career.
As of May 2011, Tullman has started 12 companies, including Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy, CCC Information Services, Tunes.com, the Rolling Stone Network, Imagination Pilots, Experiencia, and others. Tullman has held senior executive positions at Coin Inc., Worldwide Xceed and Kendall College, where he helped save the school from going into bankruptcy in 2003.
1871 Chicago.
In January 2014, Tullman became CEO of 1871, a non-profit startup hub located in The Merchandise Mart in Chicago and of its parent, the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center (CEC). 1871 was founded in May 2012 and is home to over 495 digital startups.
Tullman helped establish The Bunker, a veteran-run startup incubator.
Written works.
Tullman has written, lectured and been interviewed on a number of legal and career issues. He has contributed chapters to several books, including "Life After Law" and "Innovating Chicago Style". He wrote the preface for "You Need to be a Little Crazy" by Barry Moltz, and his business ventures are included in Robert Jordan's book "How They Did It".
Tullman writes "The Perspiration Principles", which appears weekly on Inc. Magazine's website, Inc.com. The articles published on Inc. served as the foundation for Tullman's book series, "The Perspiration Principles". He is the author of "HindSight", a newsletter on current topics of interest to entrepreneurs and managers.
Howard A. and Judith Tullman art collection.
The Howard A. and Judith Tullman art collection is among the largest and most diverse collections of contemporary realist art in America. The collection contains upwards of 1,300 pieces, more than 250 of which line the halls of Tribeca Flashpoint Media Arts Academy.
In addition to being an active collector, Tullman has lent and donated art from the Tullman Collection to museums including:
Tullman has worked closely with various artists and created a limited edition work of art in collaboration with the internationally known artist, Christo, which was used as a fundraising project for the Museum of Contemporary Art, where he previously served as a Trustee. The Tullman Collection has been featured in numerous catalogs including a major publication of 61 paintings from the Collection by the Mobile Museum of Art.