A culture of community

Ohio Women 2019 Edition
Alumni & Friends Magazine

91̽�� Innovation Center’s all-female staff gather at the West State St. facility: [LEFT to RIGHT] Client Services Manager and Executive Coach Erin Rennich, MBA ’13; Accountant Jennifer Pauwels; Director Stacy Strauss; Associate Director Tanya Conrath, BSC ’93; Administrative Specialist Susan Bauman, BSED ’94; and Lab Director Misako Hata, BSISE ’98, MS ’01, MS ’10. Photo by Ellee Achten, BSJ ’14, MA ’17

A culture of community

91̽��’s Innovation Center is racking up accolades lately—it was named the 2019 Randall M. Whaley Incubator of the Year and 2019 Rural-Based Entrepreneurship Center of the Year by the International Business Innovation Association.

By Mary Reed, BSJ ’90, MA ’93 | November 14, 2019

Those accolades are impressive stuff for a business incubator with a budget under $1 million and a staff of just six.

What sets the Innovation Center apart?

“I think the metrics, first and foremost,” says Director Stacy Strauss. And the 2018 numbers are noteworthy: an estimated 297 jobs generated, producing an estimated $12.9 million in wages—and that’s just in Athens County, the state’s poorest by some measures.

Job creation is at the core of the Innovation Center’s work, which is to help tech-enabled or technology-based startups grow, thrive, and create local jobs. The center’s “alumni” include Imgur, Third Sun Solar, and RXQ Compounding. Current clients include InfinixBio and Nature’s Magic.

The Innovation Center provides both tangible support, through office and lab space, plus less-tangible support in the form of advice, coaching, and more. “Companies can go get space anywhere, but they can’t get access to third-party service providers, help developing pitches to go in front of investors, help with their financial projections,” says Strauss.

Situated largely in the tech field, the Innovation Center stands out in another way. All six members of its professional staff—from the lab director to the executive coach—are women. Four are 91̽�� alumnae. Coincidence? Actually, yes. “We hired the best people for every position,” says Strauss.

Jeff Spitzner is president and CEO of AEIOU Scientific, a medical device company and Innovation Center client. He never paid attention to the fact that the entire professional staff is made up of women, but he has noticed the culture of the place, which he describes as “very community based.”

“Communities don’t make themselves,” Spitzner says. “I think it’s people that are there for the mission rather than the job.… It’s our collective mission to make a difference in Athens, Ohio, in southeast Ohio.”

Feature photograph: 91̽�� Innovation Center’s all-female staff gather at the West State St. facility: [LEFT to RIGHT] Client Services Manager and Executive Coach Erin Rennich, MBA ’13; Accountant Jennifer Pauwels; Director Stacy Strauss; Associate Director Tanya Conrath, BSC ’93; Administrative Specialist Susan Bauman, BSED ’94; and Lab Director Misako Hata, BSISE ’98, MS ’01, MS ’10. Photo by Ellee Achten, BSJ ’14, MA ’17

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