Two weeks ago, I let the SSTI Board of Trustees know that I wanted to step down as President & CEO and that a search for a successor be launched. After leading the organization since its inception in 1996, I had come to the conclusion now was the right time for a new chapter both for SSTI and for me. The job posting for the new President & CEO can be found at https://ssti.applytojob.com/apply/OSDVL6j7zk/President-CEO with a pdf of the full description at ssti.org.
I won’t be going away entirely and more on that later.
I have been involved in this field that has become known as tech-based economic development (TBED) for almost four decades, both speaking for and to the field as the head of SSTI for the last 28 years. TBED was largely a new field when I started in it in 1985, but even then the hallmarks of the field were evident:
- We were learning from each other, happily sharing information across state lines to make our work better;
- We worked to evaluate our programs and the impacts they were having, so we could improve our outcomes;
- The beneficiaries of the work were at the table designing the programs and putting their money into the efforts as well; and,
- As economic and societal conditions changed and program evaluations were conducted, we changed our approaches to respond.