Technology council's top director resigns: Gordie Zeigler said that it was time for him to move on; he'll be going to Sycom

BYLINE: Andrew Kantor, The Roanoke Times, Va.

Apr. 26--Gordie Zeigler, whose style, connections and ubiquitous Blackberry were for many the face of the NewVa Corridor Technology Council, has resigned as the organization's executive director.

He'll be taking a post as an account manager for Sycom, a Richmond-based information technology services company with offices in Roanoke.

The NCTC, a trade organization whose members include large and small technology companies in the Roanoke and New River Valleys, will begin a search for a replacement immediately, according to Neil Wilkin, president of the council for 2007 and 2008.

"He has done a great job the last five years," Wilkin said. "He was really the right person at the right time to assist in moving the organization forward."

Since taking the executive director post in 2001, Zeigler has helped almost double the size of the NCTC, from about 90 members to more than 170, making it the third-largest technology council in the state, behind those in Richmond and Northern Virginia.

More noticeably, under Zeigler's watch, the NCTC helped deploy the first free wireless-Internet zone in downtown Roanoke in 2003; Zeigler also appeared as 'Mr. May' in the city's 2006 calendar.

Zeigler, who holds a business administration degree from the University of Toledo, said he's making the move because, simply, it was time. "It's been five and a half years," he explained. "The timing was right for the organization."

He'll continue to work with the NCTC, he said, but someone else will have to fill his shoes. "Somebody new, somebody fresh would be good," he said, then quickly added: "Not to say that I've been bad for the organization."

Copyright (c) 2007, The Roanoke Times, Va. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Business News. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.