About

Steven Lipscomb is best known as the entrepreneur who introduced the world to Texas Hold ‘em. His latest big bet on Texas is joining the Rawls faculty and donning the mantle of Executive Director for the Alderson and Griffin Center for Family Business and Entrepreneurship. The Center is strategically positioned at the intersection of corporate enterprise, entrepreneurial innovation and academic research. Professor Lipscomb is a huge believer in doing; convinced that the world of business creation has exploded into an exciting trend of “create and iterate.” The Field of Dreams bromide: “If you build it, they will come” has tranformed into: “If you build it, you will know pretty quickly if they will come.” The Center has a simple philosophy: “If you would like to come and help us build it … you are welcome.” We plan to be the place where innovative communities can help elevate our collective creation, progress and understanding. We firmly believe that we are building something unique and special in Lubbock, Texas that can serve as a beacon for the powerful wave of innovation that is emerging from strong regional centers like Texas Tech University.

Prior to Rawls/TTU:  Professor Lipscomb was pictured on the cover of INC Magazine and above the fold of the Wall Street Journal for creating "the Hottest Business in America.” He conceived, founded and launched the World Poker Tour, recreating poker for television, launching the world's first poker league and igniting the global poker boom. As CEO, he took the company public on the NASDAQ stock exchange and later sold the tour and its assets to social/online gaming interests. While CEO, Lipscomb wrote, produced and directed hundreds of hours of television while building the WPT into a global sports/gaming brand that continues to be the gold standard worldwide. He and his teams created award-winning consumer products, marketing partnerships and brand-building verticals; while, at the same time, seeding and launching numerous businesses, including the world's first Poker talent management company, the first televised card tour in China’s history and one of the most successful mobile phone games on the planet. 

After the WPT sale, he remained CEO of the publicly traded shell company and orchestrated a reverse merger to expand an existing energy company, quadrupling the stock price. He then became CEO of the spin off-company to oversee a private placement memorandum and the monetization of left-over WPT assets; producing over $25 Million for the new company to deploy in the domestic oil and gas industry.

As CEO of Practicrats, LLC, Lipscomb has spent years working with corporations, sports leagues and foundations to build businesses. He is Founder/Board Chair of Gamers.Vote (an organization that partners with gamers, influencers and companies to encourage voter participation) as well as GamersAct.org (an organization that activates gamers to address climate change). He spent a number of years as Managing Director of FixItAmerica.org, working to pass bi-partisan resolutions in state legislatures and Congress to change how money works in politics and end the practice of gerrymandering. 

Prior to the World Poker Tour, Professor Lipscomb was an award-winning producer and director of television and film.