Top-notch team
We are a collective group of entrepreneurial warriors, mentors, community influencers, policymakers, and ecosystem builders. We live and breathe entrepreneurship and are dedicated to helping entrepreneurs all over the globe transform their dreams into reality.
Charles Ross, CEO
Over the past 15 years, Charles has worked with communities of various shapes and sizes to build and sustain vibrant entrepreneurial ecosystems. His experience spans across several innovation-related disciplines to include entrepreneurship, business incubation, economic development, and investment management. He has provided strategic leadership for organizations within the public, private, and nonprofit domains and has directly mentored and coached founders/CEOs at over 30 high-growth companies.
Before joining the InBIA management team, Charles was responsible for driving economic impact for local communities through senior leadership positions at Kennesaw State University and the Georgia Institute of Technology. In these roles, Charles connected universities’ talent, know-how, and assets to businesses and communities to increase economic prosperity and to improve quality of life.
Prior to his assignments in higher education, Charles directly worked with entrepreneurs to launch and grow technology businesses. As Vice President of the Telecommunications Development Fund, Charles sourced, structured, and managed investments in several early-stage communications companies, and as a Director of Ameritech’s venture capital division he identified and executed strategic technology investments.
Charles joined InBIA as a member in 2006, was elected to its Board of Directors in 2011 and served as Chair in 2017. Charles holds an undergraduate degree in electrical engineering from Marquette University and an MBA from Indiana University.
Email: [email protected]
Lindsay Schuenke, Senior Director of Community
Lindsay Schuenke has been with InBIA since December of 2004, when she joined the training and events team. In her time with the association, Lindsay’s responsibilities have primarily focused on coordinating content and details for events, including the annual conference, the fall training, and the advanced summits. She was involved in the inception and launch of the Business Incubation Management Certificate Program and has helped plan more than a dozen conferences and several smaller tours and events. Over the years, Lindsay has managed hundreds of speakers, written thousands of session and course descriptions, managed dozens of tours, and been involved with countless other aspects of planning and executing the conferences and other events. She has a degree in English from Ohio Wesleyan University. Lindsay works remotely from her home office in Maine, where she lives with her husband and four children.
Email: [email protected]
Lisa Brennan,
Membership Coordinator
Lisa started her career in the defense industry as a Competitive & Market Intelligence (CMI) Analyst at BAE Systems in Arlington, VA. She later worked for Pier1 in Texas and took some time off professionally to start a family. She joined InBIA in June 2022 as the Membership Coordinator supporting InBIAs delivery of customer benefits in membership, convening & training as well as supporting organizational goals. Lisa has a Business Degree from Ohio University with a focus in Marketing. She resides in Ohio with her husband and three kids.
Email: [email protected]
Molly Mordocco, Training Manager
Molly Mordocco started her career in the hospitality industry as a sales and catering manager at the University Plaza Hotel in Columbus, Ohio, and later at the DoubleTree Worthington. She also acted as assistant manager at an apartment complex for college students for more than two years. First joining InBIA (then NBIA) in 2013, Molly stepped away in 2016 to take some time with family. She rejoined InBIA as the Business Coordinator in 2019 and in this role she is responsible for executing the training program, coordinating the online member community, managing the virtual support networks, and more. A graduate of Ohio University, Molly lives in Ohio with her husband and three sons.
Email: [email protected]
InBIA Board Members
Chair
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Linda Fowler President, Regionerate LLC |
Linda Fowler, President of Regionerate LLC, a small, woman-owned consulting firm, specializes in high-impact consulting with diverse stakeholders to activate and support transformative regional partnerships for inclusive growth. Linda has guided regional prosperity and revitalization efforts in several emblematic U.S. cities. Linda supports communities to build cohesive and integrated strategies across a diversified portfolio of investments, including entrepreneurship. Currently, she is working with incubation and acceleration programs in Georgia, Michigan, New Jersey and Virginia. Prior to launching her firm, Linda worked in private industry and served in federal government (U.S. Departments of Labor and Commerce).
First Vice Chair
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Eric S. Smith Executive Director at UA Center for Innovation |
Eric brings with him a decade’s worth of technology commercialization experience and a passion for entrepreneurship. Eric came to the UA Center for Innovation after serving as the commercialization network manager for Tech Launch Arizona (TLA), UA’s technology transfer unit. While at TLA, he built and leveraged a 1600-person world-wide mentor network and managed TLA’s NSF I-Corps Site program. An entrepreneur in his own right, after Eric started, developed and sold his first company, he embarked on a career in technology startups. Eric holds a BSBA in business management and entrepreneurship and an MBA from the University of Arizona.
Second Vice Chair
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Lisa Smith, Executive Director, Bowie Business Innovation Center |
Lisa Smith has been a thought leader, consultant incubator manager and ecosystem developer for the business incubation industry in the U.S. and internationally during her 22 years as an InBIA member. Lisa is the founding Executive Director of the Bowie Business Innovation Center (Bowie BIC), a public/private partnership, hosted by Bowie State University, supporting underserved technology companies and government contractors. During her consulting career, Lisa advised 30 US. Communities on the creation of entrepreneurial development initiatives. Her international work included establishing the first networking of technology business incubators in the U.S. for Scotland’s economic development agency.
Treasurer
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Anthony Durante, Director of New Ventures, Office of Strategic Partnerships, Innovation, Resources, and Engagement |
Anthony Durante currently serves as the Director of New Ventures for the Office of Strategic Partnerships, Innovation, Resources, and Engagement at the University of Maine. In this role, he is responsible for the development and implementation of strategy, initiatives, and programs that advance the commercialization of innovations developed within the University of Maine System and partner research organizations.
His previous roles in the entrepreneurial ecosystem include having served as the Manager of Entrepreneurial Support for the Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania, where he managed Ben Franklin TechVentures, a 129,000-square-foot technology-focused business incubator. Prior to that, Anthony served as the Program Manager for the Allentown Economic Development Corporation (AEDC), where he managed the Bridgeworks Enterprise Center, a 64,000-square-foot manufacturing business incubator.
Anthony has been a long-time member of the International Business Innovation Association (InBIA) and earned his Entrepreneurship Center Management Certificate. Anthony has presented at multiple conferences and is part of the teaching cadre for the Entrepreneurship Center Management (ECM) Certificate Program. Anthony joined the InBIA Board of Directors in 2022 and leads the Awards Task Force.
Before his endeavors in business incubation, Anthony spent more than 20 years fulfilling various technical and managerial roles in the electronics and measurement science fields supporting the aerospace, defense, automotive, and medical device industries. Anthony previously served in the United States Marine Corps, supporting Marine Corps aviation and attaining the rank of Sergeant, before being honorably discharged in 2003 after 12 years of service.
He earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics Management from Southern Illinois University and a Master of Business Administration degree with a Certificate in Corporate Entrepreneurship from Lehigh University.
Anthony is originally from Queens, New York, and resides in the Greater Bangor region in Maine with his wife Tara, while his stepson Sam is blazing his own successful path in Connecticut. He is an avid bicycler, cat wrangler, and hobby photographer in his spare time.
Secretary
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Kristin Burton, Entrepreneurship Professor, Purdue University Northwest |
Dr. Kristin Burton is a Professor of Entrepreneurship at Purdue University Northwest. In this role, she is an entrepreneurial academic charged with
assisting students in developing their entrepreneurship skills and connecting them to the vibrant start-up community in Northwest Indiana. Dr. Burton is heralded as an inclusive ecosystem builder. Her research focuses on advancing opportunities for women and minorities in entrepreneurship. This research is used to create innovative programs and pathways to help alleviate barriers, so entrepreneurs can continue
building communities that flourish. Throughout her 20- year entrepreneurial career, Dr. Burton has co-founded several start-up companies, led two university entrepreneurship centers, and created a regional
business incubation hub.
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Gloria Ware, CECM Founder, GTB Advisors |
As the founder of GTB Advisors and Get The Bag, Gloria M. Ware and leverages her 30 years in finance, ecosystem building, innovation, early-stage investing and philanthropy to help more new majority communities secure the relevant financial information, financial capital and social capital they need to grow successful businesses. In the last decade, Gloria has been instrumental in the development and funding of inclusive programs, financial products and services for business support organizations across the State of Ohio. Her finance experience includes business product development, market research, providing capital and strategic advice to business owners, non-profits and public sector entities. In her professional and community leadership roles, alongside her own entrepreneurial pursuits, she has worked with hundreds of small businesses and non-profits to create equitable access to high value resources and relationships.
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Lynnette White-Colin, Senior Vice President, Small Business Growth, New Orleans Business Alliance |
Ms. White-Colin is the Sr. Vice President of Small Business Growth at the New Orleans Business Alliance (NOLABA), a public-private partnership with the City of New Orleans. The organization works to deliver economic development for the city through efforts supporting business attraction and retention; talent and workforce development; strategic neighborhood development and small business growth, which is led by Ms. White-Colin. Lynnette develops and implements strategies toward alleviating barriers to growth for underrepresented founders, and works to ensure the local small business ecosystem encompasses resources necessary for overall small business growth, which includes advocacy and support for entrepreneurial support organizations. This work includes development of electronic tools, designed to help business owners make better informed decisions for their entities. Lynnette holds a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from the University of New Orleans and serves on the boards of the New Orleans Redevelopment Unlimited and the New Orleans Regional Black Chamber of Commerce.
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Steve Debretto Executive Director, Industrial Council of Nearwest Chicago |
Steve is the executive director of the Industrial Council of Nearwest Chicago, an economic development organization that sponsors Make City (formerly the Fulton-Carroll Center Business Incubator), a light industrial mixed-use incubator, and The Hatchery, a food and beverage manufacturing center; ICNC also houses two SBDCs in its facilities. Steve was a founding board member of The Chicagoland Food and Beverage Network and served on the steering committee of the Chicago mayor’s Plan for Economic Growth and Jobs. Steve has been an InBIA member since 2012, participating in InBIA events and serving on the 2015 Awards committee.
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Brad Rickelman, Assistant Director, Meridian Technology Center Business Incubator |
Brad Rickelman is Assistant Director of the Meridian Technology Center business incubator. Meridian Technology Center is a regional vocational education institution. Brad is past Chairman of the statewide Oklahoma Venture Forum and past President of the Oklahoma Business Incubator Association. Brad currently serves on the City of Stillwater Planning Commission. He was an YSEALI Professional Fellow to Thailand in spring 2019 teaching advanced entrepreneurship training. Brad has taught courses in the lnBlA Entrepreneurship Center Management (ECM) certificate online program. He holds a Bachelors in Business Management, and Masters in Philosophy, both from Texas A&M University. He was Grand Master of Freemasons of Oklahoma in 2013.
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Linda Ufland, Director of Entrepreneurship, Commercialization, and Innovation for the Office of Workforce and Economic Development, UT-Rio Grand Valley |
Linda Ufland is the Director of Entrepreneurship, Commercialization, and Innovation for the Office of Workforce and Economic Development at The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley located in deep South Texas. Linda is charged with providing leadership and oversight to the Entrepreneurship and Commercialization Center (ECC) with focus in business incubation, entrepreneurial development, commercialization and innovation, and incubation management consultation across the region. She drives the vision for the UTRGV ECC in assisting local and international entrepreneurs to create and scale ventures in the Rio Grande Valley that will impact our region’s economy and create opportunities for generations to come. Her focus is to develop partnerships with economic development organizations, and international organizations to envision and develop solutions for the region and beyond with a strong commercialization path. The UTRGV ECC is a founding partner of the eBridge project, largest entrepreneurial center in the region. eBridge supports the economic development of South Texas with a focus on scalable businesses. Linda was raised in Matamoros, Mexico but attended high school in Brownsville, Texas. She earned a bachelor’s in international business and a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Incarnate Word in San Antonio, Texas. Her professional drive comes from a sincere dedication to public service and to being part of a transformational economic and entrepreneurial change in our region.
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Marc Alessi, Executive Director, Business Incubator Association of New York State |
Marc Alessi is the Executive Director of the Business Incubator Association of New York State (BIANYS) and the Tesla Science Center in Shoreham, NY. He is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, and advocate for innovation. Marc’s mission is to educate and inspire through launching a museum, science center, and business accelerator at Tesla’s last lab. With a BA from SUNY Albany and a JD from Touro Law School, Marc is dedicated to empowering people in the Entrepreneurial Ecosystem.
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Dr. Sheri Marnell |
Dr. Sheri Marnell is Director of the St. Croix Valley Business Innovation Center, growing the center to 20 graduates and 19 active businesses in just four years. With over eight years in the University of Wisconsin System and a career at Target Headquarters, she specializes in leadership, innovation, and driving organizational change. Sheri holds a BS in Apparel Design, an MBA, and a Ph.D. in Business Management with a focus on Leading Innovators. She has several professional certificates, including Project Management, and thrives in leading through disruption and change.
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Pamela Rich-Wheeler |
Pamela Rich-Wheeler has been the co-founder and Executive Director of the Business Center for Entrepreneurship & Social Enterprise since 1999. Through consulting, workshops, and business support services, she has helped small businesses thrive. The center focuses on equipping businesses with the tools needed to start, sustain, and expand. Under her leadership, the center has trained over 1,000 clients, teaching them to design and implement effective business plans. Pamela’s dedication continues to drive the success and growth of deserving entrepreneurs and small business owners.
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Ned Staebler |
Ned Staebler is President and CEO of TechTown Detroit and Vice President for Economic Development at Wayne State University. He focuses on equitable community wealth through innovation, talent retention, and mobility. Staebler also serves on boards for MoGo Detroit, NextEnergy, and the Detroit Economic Growth Corporation. With a background in public service, including the Regional Transit Authority of Southeast Michigan and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Advisory Council, Staebler holds degrees from Harvard and the London School of Economics, positioning him as a leader in regional economic development.
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Jennifer Harrell |
Jennifer Harrell manages UF Innovate | Accelerate @ The Hub, driving growth for entrepreneurs through strategic leadership. She oversees occupancy, revenue, and operations, while managing facilities and coordinating events. Since joining The Hub in 2016, she contributed to its recognition as a global leader in business incubation. Jennifer holds an accounting degree from UF’s Fisher School and is Treasurer of the Florida Incubation Association. She brings a rich background in sales, hospitality, and finance, holding certifications in Incubation Management and Leadership, and she is a Leadership Gainesville graduate.