Thursday, September 25, 2008
Posted by
Ray Leach
Yesterday The Burton D. Morgan Foundation announced a $3M challenge grant to JumpStart, which will hopefully enable us to raise an additional $9M in support from public and private entities interested in JumpStart's venture development model. These resources will enable JumpStart to continue to make a significant impact, helping hundreds of companies with their business goals and linking them to the capital they need to succeed. JumpStart intends to invest in dozens of Northeast Ohio companies each year that have the promise to attract significant follow-on resources down the road. For more on this grant, see the Plain Dealer blog post.
Before I got involved in economic development at JumpStart, I had a chance to get to know Burt Morgan. He was an incredibly creative, insightful and outspoken entrepreneur. The Burton D. Morgan Foundation truly brings his vision of fostering the entrepreneurial spirit to life.
We are excited and grateful for the confidence that the Morgan Foundation has demonstrated in JumpStart with this challenge. We are also excited about the progress Northeast Ohio early-stage companies are making and the increased interest from national investors.
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.