Gov. Tom Vilsack announced that Mary Lawyer will serve as acting director of the Iowa Department of Economic Development. Mike Blouin resigned from the position last week to launch his campaign to become the state's next governor.

After nine years as deputy director of the National Science Foundation, Dr. Joseph Bordogna is resigning. He will return to the University of Pennsylvania as Alfred Fitler Moore Professor of Engineering.

Pauli Jacobi, director of the Louisiana State University System Research and Technology Foundation, is resigning her position but will remain an LSU employee.

Darrell Kelley, CEO of Enterprise Florida for the past three years, will retire on Aug. 1.

Technology specialist David Levine, hired by Gov. Joe Manchin in March, is leaving the governor's office to become executive director of the Robert C. Byrd National Technology Transfer Center.

Ed Morrison, formerly with the Weatherhead School of Management in Cleveland, opened the Institute for Open Source Economic Development. He will continue to maintain the EDPro weblog.

Richard Overmoyer, deputy secretary for technology investment at the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development, is leaving to join the lobbying group, GSP Consulting.

The Puerto Rico Senate recently confirmed Jorge Silva-Puras as the new executive director of the Puerto Rico Industrial Development Company. He previously served as secretary of the Department of Economic Development and Commerce.

The Board of Directors of the EAST (Environmental And Spatial Technology) Initiative invites applications for the position of President/Chief Executive Officer. The EAST model, a result of a collaboration between business and education, is intended to provide K-16 students with access to resources not available in the traditional educational setting.

Your kids may not be bored of summer yet, but if you're an avid bird watcher, you know the season has already changed to fall as Yellow Warblers and several species of shorebirds begin their migrations south by July 4.

Publisher's Note Since 1999, SSTI has reviewed each of the governor's State of the States and inaugural and budget addresses for references involving tech-based economic development. Since 2001, we've provided relevant excerpts as part of the SSTI Weekly Digest. This year's coverage begins with this issue, and as you'll see, it's clear that innovation and workforce are playing a major role in this year's speeches.

Americans increasingly recognize the nation's status as the world's economic superpower is threatened, based on research findings released by the Business Roundtable last Thursday.

A new report from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) places North America at the top, in terms of participation in high-expectation entrepreneurial activity. The report looks at the prevalence of high-expectation activity internationally and analyzes bivariate relationships between high-expectation prevalence rates and entrepreneurial framework conditions.

The challenge for industry, academic leaders and policymakers in Massachusetts over the next few years is to translate the competitive strengths of the state's economy into new companies and new jobs, the ninth annual Index of the Massachusetts Innovation Economy indicates.

The Department of Economic and Workforce Development at the University of Southern Mississippi is seeking someone to fill a tenure-track assistant professor position. Specialization in regional workforce development is preferred; however, other areas of specialization, such as disaster recovery, entrepreneurship, rural development, technology transfer, or low-income communities, will be strongly considered.

David Archer is the new managing director for Nevada's Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology.

Robert Chernow was appointed to the newly created position of vice provost for entrepreneurship at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

David Archer is the new managing director for Nevada's Center for Entrepreneurship and Technology.

Robert Chernow was appointed to the newly created position of vice provost for entrepreneurship at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

The Greensboro, N.C.-based Nussbaum Center for Entrepreneurship has a new president, Michael Hentschel.

Sandy Johnson was promoted to CEO of the Mid-America Manufacturing Technology Center.

Donna Kent is the new president and CEO of the Arizona Technology Council.

Dan Lynch was named president of the Greensboro Economic Development Partnership.

The Information Technology Association of Wisconsin, formed in June 2005, selected Jim Rice as its president and CEO.

The Southern Arizona Tech Council announced it will merge its programs into the recently created Tucson Regional Economic Opportunities Inc., an integration expected to be mostly completed by June 30, 2006.

Amit Yoran replaces Gilman Louie as In-Q-Tel's new CEO.