SSTI Digest

Geography: West Virginia

TBED People

Karel Schubert has been appointed executive director of the Bioscience Association of West Virginia. Schubert most recently founded and is the chief executive officer of BioSynectics, a St. Louis-based bioscience firm.

Job Corner

The West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission is seeking a highly talented and experienced individual for the position of Executive Director and Chief Executive Officer for the West Virginia Regional Technology Park located in South Charleston. The selected individual will have the opportunity to help refine and implement the vision for this property and its role in technology development, economic development, education, research and innovation in West Virginia and the surrounding region.

Legislative Wrap Up: West Virginia and Wyoming Pass Budgets

Budgets recently approved in West Virginia and Wyoming will dedicate new funds for TBED initiatives in the coming year. TechConnect West Virginia is slated to receive $250,000 for its efforts to develop immediate and long-term strategies to capitalize on the state's technology strengths. In Wyoming, lawmakers allocated a portion of Abandoned Mine Land (AML) funds for construction of a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate teaching laboratory and for graduate stipends and fellowships to support students studying energy, natural resources and computational sciences at the University of Wyoming (UW).

Research Parks RoundUp

Often credited with contributing significant revenue to states' economies, research parks also house facilities for workforce training and provide resources for tech-based industries, which is especially important as the nation's employment begins to pick up steam. In West Virginia, officials are building a $15 million advanced technology-training center at the state-owned research and technology park, and in Utah, officials recently broke ground on a building that will house engineers and analysts working on the nation's Intercontinental Ballistic Missile program.

Job Corner

TechConnect WV, a nonprofit advancing technology-based economic development, is seeking an executive director and solicits interest from individuals and entities able to provide services on a contractual basis.

Research Parks RoundUp

Having the tools and resources to develop innovative concepts and products and move discoveries from the lab to the marketplace is an essential component for building tech-based economies. Research parks, a place where innovative ideas are borne, partnerships between university and industry are created, and companies grow and create new jobs, provide a foundation for the kind of economic growth necessary to compete in a global economy. Over the past few months, development plans and groundbreaking announcements from research parks across the nation have been made.

TBED People

Bryan Allinson has joined Ohio University as director of technology transfer.

TBED People

Tech Talkin' Govs, Part II

The second installment of SSTI’s Tech Talkin’ Govs’ series includes excerpts from speeches delivered in Colorado, Virginia and West Virginia. Our first installment was in the Jan 13 Digest.

TBED People and Organizations

The Piedmont Triad Research Park laid off Bill Dean, director of the park, and Nancy Johnson, marketing director. Park officials said that the park's project manager and executive assistant also were laid off.

Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter announced that he has tapped Don Elliman, director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development, to serve as the state government's first chief operating officer.

The Florida STEM Council, funded by a $580,000 grant from Workforce Florida, has been created to connect education, workforce, business and economic development leaders to identify opportunities to build and measure the state's supply of workers with skills and knowledge in these fields to support innovation in existing and emerging industries.

Malcolm Kahn has been appointed vice president for enterprise development & licensing at Stevens Institute of Technology.

Kansas Technology Enterprise Corporation has named Kevin Carr as interim CEO, replacing Tracy Taylor, who resigned last month.

Jill Kline has been named the new Wyoming Entrepreneur.Biz associate state director. Kline, previously the NE Wyoming SBDC regional director, replaces Debbie Gorski.

Jennifer Kmiec has been appointed Marshal University's associate vice president for economic development effective, July 1.

Larry Pederson has been named director of the Center for Nanoscale Science and Engineering at North Dakota State University.

Utah's Lt. Governor Gary Herbert tapped Jason Perry, the state's director of economic development, to lead Herbert's transition into the governor's role.

Frances Scarlett has been named regional director of the Small Business & Technology Development Center at the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Enterprise Florida President and CEO John Adams has announced the appointment of Crystal Sircy as senior vice president for the Business Retention and Recruitment division. She succeedsBob Rohrlack, who in April became the president and CEO of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce.

M&T Bank chairman and CEO Robert Wilmers has resigned his pro-bono position as chairman of Empire State Development Corporation (ESD). Wilmers' resignation follows, Marissa Lago'sdeparture from her post of president and CEO for the state's primary economic development agency. Dennis Mullen, has been named by Gov. David Paterson as ESD's chairman. Mullen, also assumed Lago's duties. He has been ESD's upstate president.

West Virginia Group Offers Blueprint for State Tech Economy

TechConnect West Virginia (TechConnectWV) released a new plan on Monday to build a larger and more robust technology economy. The report, West Virginia Blueprint for Technology-Based Economic Development, proposes a four-part, general strategy for TBED and targets several key industries for development.

Tech Talkin' Govs, Part VI

The sixth installment of the Tech Talkin' Govs series includes highlights from state of the state addresses from governors in Tennessee and West Virginia.

Pages