Wednesday, February 02, 2011
Posted by
Ray Leach
I thought I would share some quick thoughts and observations from being part of the launch of the Startup America Initiative and Partnership in D.C. on Monday, January 31st near the White House.
First, I have to applaud the Obama Administration and the private and philanthropic leaders that participated not only on the event but in the initiative they have demonstrated to help make this happen.
Being from Ohio, JumpStart has the benefit of understanding and operating in an environment where robust public, private, and philanthropic partnerships have made a tremendous difference (Ohio Third Frontier, Fund for Our Economic Future, Cleveland Foundation, Burton D. Morgan Foundation, and the Greater Cleveland Partnership). This week’s event in DC demonstrated how these types of collaborations can help take the entire U.S. to the next level of economic performance by leveraging all the intellectual, human, and financial assets at our country’s disposal to create jobs via economic growth.
At the same time, I think it is incredibly important to Ohio and the country that the activities across this initiative do not get politicized. The issue that the Startup America Partnership is focused on – creating private sector jobs - is not a Democratic or Republican issue.
All in all, Monday was a great start to an ambitious collaborative partnership. JumpStart looks forward to leveraging all of our expertise to help the Startup America Partnership reach its overall goals. To learn more about JumpStart's role with the Startup America Partnership, visit www.jumpstartamerica.org.
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.