Wayne State VP Tapped As New TechTown President And CEO
By Edward Cardenas
DETROIT (CBS Detroit) - TechTown Detroit appointed Wayne State University vice president for economic development, Ned Staebler, president and CEO of TechTown Detroit.
TechTown's board of directors approved the appointment Monday, and announced that Staebler would continue to serve in his current position after he starts his new position March 9.
"My expanded role provides an opportunity to more closely align the innovation efforts of Wayne State University and TechTown," said Staebler, in a release. "In addition to the university's existing entrepreneurship programs, we will soon be launching the Anderson Engineering Ventures Institute in our College of Engineering. This is the perfect time to build on the already close relationship between the university and the city's business innovation hub."
TechTown is a Detroit business accelerator and incubator founded in partnership with the Wayne State University in 2000. Staebler succeeds outgoing president and CEO Leslie Smith, who was named president of the new Entrepreneurship-Powered Innovation Center in Memphis.
TechTown supports both technology-based and traditional businesses through programs such as SWOT City, Retail Boot Camps and the Detroit Technology Exchange. Between 2007 and 2014, the organization has served 1,026 companies, which raised over $107.26 million in startup capital and contributed 1,190 jobs to the local economy.
"TechTown is an incredibly effective conduit for transferring the economic power and innovative energy of a public research university directly to the people in our community," said Wayne State President M. Roy Wilson, in a release. "Ned's leadership at TechTown will strengthen the connection Wayne State has to our community as an economic driver."
Prior to joining Wayne State in 2011, Staebler served as the vice president for capital access and business acceleration at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation,
Staebler, a Detroit native who graduated from the University of Detroit High School, earned a B.A. from Harvard University with a concentration in government and an M.S. in comparative politics from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
He currently lives in Ann Arbor where he is vice chair of the Local Development Finance Authority. Additionally, he serves also serves on a number of boards including Midtown Detroit Inc., NextEnergy, MichBio and the Detroit Historical Society.