ATHENS, Ohio -- Linda Clark has been named director of Ohio University's Innovation Center, one of the oldest university-based small business incubators in the country.
Clark will oversee the activities of the center, which currently houses 16 tenants in the Technology and Enterprise Building at The Ridges on the university's Athens campus. The center provides office space, shared equipment, meeting rooms and technical assistance to help keep start-up costs low for local companies and improve their chances for success.
Before her promotion, Clark served as assistant director for business and technology development in the Technology Transfer Office and the Innovation Center, a post she held for five years. In addition to the day-to-day management of the Innovation Center, her new duties will include creating educational programs to refine the business skills of university and community entrepreneurs, developing and implementing policies and procedures, managing the incubator building and working with a wide variety of stakeholders.
Clark also will oversee the center's transition into its new building on West State Street, which will double the center's size. Construction will begin later this year, with support from the Economic Development Administration, the Appalachian Regional Commission, the federal Housing and Urban Development office and Ohio University.
"I've worked with Linda over the past three years and her leadership efforts in our Innovation Center have made extensive and dramatic improvements to that program. Her promotion is well deserved," said Gary Meyer, assistant vice president for economic and technology development, who also oversees the university's Technology Transfer Office and Innovation Center.
The Innovation Center has housed 40 companies and fostered the creation of more than 625 jobs in southeastern Ohio since it began in 1983.
Clark, a 23-year employee of the university, previously worked in the university's College of Osteopathic Medicine and Edison Biotechnology Institute. She received an associate's degree in business administration from Hocking College in 1987 and a bachelor's degree in business administration from Ohio University in 1992. In 1999, she became a Certified Business Analyst through Capital University.
Clark serves on the board of directors for Rural Action and on the statewide advisory council of the Ohio Small Business Development Center and is a member of the National Business Incubation Association and the Athens Rotary Club.
More information on the Innovation Center, which is part of the Vice President of Research division, can be found at http://www.ictto.ohiou.edu/ic/.
