News & Notes | Longtime economic development leader has died
Zebra Technologies Corporation acquires Knoxville-based Elo Touch Solutions Inc. for $1.3 billion in all-cash transaction.
From Knoxville:
A longtime player in the economic development arena died on July 20. According to his obituary, Allen Neel succumbed to cancer at the age of 79.
He served as the Executive Director of the East Tennessee Development District for nine years before moving to Nashville, where he served for the next eight years as Deputy Commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development during the administration of Governor Ned McWherter. Neel returned to Knoxville where he served as the President and Chief Executive Officer of the East Tennessee Economic Development Agency for 27 years before his retirement in December 2020.
Neel is survived by his wife of 55 years, Martha; son, Michael Neel of Knoxville; granddaughter, Ragan Neel of Nashville; nephews, Todd Neel of Saluda, NC; Eric Neel of Asheville, NC; nieces, Anna Neel Biederman of Santa Monica, CA., and Lauren McGowin of Mobile, AL. He was preceded in death by his son, David Neel of St. Petersburg, FL.
A celebration of life was held at the Church of Ascension on August 10.
Zebra Technologies Corporation, a global leader in digitizing and automating frontline workflows, announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Elo Touch Solutions Inc., an innovator of solutions that engage customers, enhance self-service, and accelerate automation across retail, hospitality, quick service restaurants (QSR), healthcare, and industrial markets for $1.3 billion in cash.
With complementary portfolios and similar go-to-market strategies, together, Zebra and Elo will deliver a comprehensive portfolio that meets the evolving needs of their customers in close partnership with leading Independent Software Vendors (ISVs), payment solutions providers (PSPs), value-added resellers (VARs), and distributors.
Zebra’s leadership in hardware, software, and services for the frontline worker will be augmented by Elo’s suite of consumer-facing kiosks, edge computing, payment, and touchscreen solutions to deliver a more comprehensive frontline experience.
“This acquisition represents the next step in our journey to accelerate the connected frontline, which is a key tenet of our growth strategy,” said Bill Burns, Chief Executive Officer at Lincolnshire, IL-based Zebra Technologies. “An increased focus on self-service and consumer-facing workflows will expand our addressable market by approximately $8 billion and create a leading portfolio of solutions that digitize and automate the frontline of business. We look forward to welcoming the Elo team to Zebra and pursuing new growth opportunities together following the closing of the acquisition.”
John Bruck, one of the five General Partners in Market Square Ventures and the Co-Founder of 121 Tech Hub, a co-working site that has expanded three times since it opened less than a year ago, was featured in the latest Knoxville edition of the Tennessee Ledger.
“I think I really understood then how important customers are to any business. That’s what I focused on, and that’s how I was able to succeed,” he told the Ledger’s Nancy Henderson. Bruck recently stepped away from his role as Director of the Spark Innovation Center operated by the University of Tennessee Research Park.
Born and raised in Cincinnati, he sold his environmental engineering firm to a competitor in 2013 and moved to the Knoxville region two years later. Bruck has been involved initially with the Knoxville Entrepreneur Center and later with UT, Knoxville’s Anderson Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, before helping launch the Spark Innovation Center and the Spark Cleantech Accelerator.
From Memphis:
Google has selected MedHaul, a Memphis-area, Black-owned start-up dedicated to providing non-emergency transportation for medical patients, for the second cohort of the “Google for Start-ups AI Academy: American Infrastructure” program. It was one of 17 start-ups selected from multiple sectors across the country that utilize artificial intelligence (AI) to solve some of the country’s most pressing infrastructure challenges.
Founded by Memphis native Erica Plybeah, MedHaul provides non-emergency medical transportation for patients with complex needs—offering a lifeline to individuals who are often overlooked by traditional transit options. With this new support from Google, MedHaul is poised to scale its AI-powered solutions and deepen its impact across communities.
As part of the program, MedHaul will receive equity-free support, one-on-one mentorship from Google AI experts, access to cutting-edge technology like Vertex AI and Gemini, and advanced training in sales and marketing strategy.
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