Thursday, January 08, 2009
Posted by
Ray Leach
With all of the challenges we are facing as a country it is pretty exciting to see that entrepreneurship and technology commercialization is likely to play a much more major role in our country's future public policy goals.
Between Obama's selection of a highly capable and experience leader for the SBA, the new Congress that includes 24 members that have significant small business backgrounds, and the impressive initiatives that the State of Ohio has with their own strategic plan and Ohio's Third Frontier, I could have never imagined a time when all the constituents were beginning to better align in the government, foundation and private sectors to focus on programs that result in increased commercialization of disruptive technologies, as well as assistance to aspiring entrepreneurs.
Despite all of the tremendous challenges ahead of us as a community - I have never been as excited about what we might be able to accomplish in the next year to truly transform Northeast Ohio and help this region not only catch-up but bypass other regions of the world in terms of per-capita income growth and wealth creation for everyone.
I will continue to focus on how JumpStart's programs and other initiatives in our region can make more out of this once-in-a-century opportunity!
Ray Leach is CEO of JumpStart and brings his energy and leadership experiences from founding five high-growth entrepreneurial and intrapreneurial endeavors in the last 20 years. Ray is a Sloan Fellow and earned an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He also earned a BA in Finance from the University of Akron.