Keith Orris
Upon graduating from Franklin & Marshall College in 1981, Keith Orris embarked on a career intertwining the public, private, and innovation sectors holding senior positions in health care, higher education, and business. He is recognized for his talent of accomplishing bold visions through his passion of connecting strategic ideas, people, and capital.
In 2019, Keith founded The Endurance Group, to provide advisory services to early-stage and startup companies in business development, strategic partnerships, and finance. His clients benefit from leveraging Keith’s wide network of resources for refining and implementing their strategic initiatives.
In 2021, Keith began collaborating with Ken Eaton, to provide agent services for growing companies in need of procurement and expanding their product(s) distribution. They formed PennsArk and today represent several food companies and Worry Free Plastics, a global distributor of a patented plastic additive that provides a true end-of-life solution for plastic waste products. Ken and Keith are tapping their large network of manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to introduce Worry Free Plastics’ transformational additive to the market.
In addition, Keith is an advisory board member of Microshare, a global data-sharing firm; advises Orange Maker, an early-stage 3D Printing company, lead strategist for Right Brain Bio, developer of a Parkinson’s Disease therapeutic, and is continued to be sought out by real estate developers and institutional nonprofits.
Some of Keith’s professional accomplishments include establishing a unique university accelerator combining a technology commercialization program ranked in the world’s top 50 for patent issuance, with a new incubator earning top honors for funds raised, and a platform for supporting a community of serial and young entrepreneurs, national venture capitalists and start-up talent. He has led large teams for designing and launching very complex urban 3P real estate and TOD projects. Examples include: Schuylkill Yards, a university innovation district in Philadelphia (20-year, 4.8MM SF/$3.5 billion); The 30th Street Station District Plan, a rail yard air rights project in Philadelphia (35-year, 18MM SF/$10 billion); and the Northwest Gateway Project, an urban brownfield project converted into a new city and college gateway in Lancaster, PA (13-year, 75-acre/$75MM); and managed capital projects for institutional non-profits’ totaling $120MM+.
Keith resides in Haverford, PA with his wife and enjoys golf, gardening, and continuously widening his network of colleagues interested in tackling bold ideas.