Currently serving as the Entrepreneur-in-Residence (EIR) for medical device and biosensor technologies at GLIDE, BioEnterprise and JumpStart, Russell Donda has more than 25 years of management experience at both executive and entrepreneurial levels. As an EIR, he helps company founders assess the commercial feasibility of their technology; with that feasibility confirmed, he assists in creating and implementing their development plan and ushers them through the local seed funds.

National Association for Community College Entrepreneurship Promotes Entrepreneurship by Engaging Community Colleges to Join New 'Presidents for Entrepreneurship Forum'

May 11, 2012: The National Association of Community College Entrepreneurship (NACCE), the nation's leading organization focused on promoting entrepreneurship through community colleges, has announced that President Roy Church and Provost Marcia Ballinger of Lorain County Community College have joined its new Presidents for Entrepreneurship Forum. Through the program, presidents of community colleges throughout the country commit to increase the focus on entrepreneurship at their institutions and the impact these colleges have on the economic well being of the communities they serve. Officials from four other Ohio community colleges have also joined the new forum.

With the economy still lagging in many regions of the United States, more than 170 community colleges have joined the entrepreneurship forum, and by doing so, have committed to playing a greater role in stimulating economic development in the communities they serve.

"Community colleges can and should take a leading role in growing their regions' economies by placing entrepreneurship at the forefront of their offerings," said Dr. Church. "We've taken this grow-your-own approach at Lorain County Community College for more than 10 years now, supplementing our entrepreneurial education programs with a continuum of support for our region's entrepreneurs. In doing so, we are responding to one of the greatest needs within our and any community—and that's job creation."

Other Ohio community college officials joining the forum are President O'dell Owens of Cincinnati State Technical and Community College in Cincinnati; President Cristobal Valdez of Edison Community College in Piqua and Greenville; President Kevin Boys, Southern State Community College, serving Adams, Brown, Clinton, Fayette and Highland counties; and President Laura Meeks, Eastern Gateway Community College, serving Columbiana, Jefferson, Mahoning and Trumbull counties.

About the Presidents for Entrepreneurship Forum

The Presidents for Entrepreneurship Forum is in response to the Obama Administration's Startup America call to action to stimulate economic growth state by state by encouraging entrepreneurs to start their own businesses. NACCE is a founding affiliate of the Startup America Partnership, an alliance of the country's most innovative entrepreneurs, corporations, universities, foundations, and other leaders.

According to NACCE Executive Director Heather Van Sickle, the Presidents for Entrepreneurship Forum is a way for community colleges to advance entrepreneurship and create jobs across the country. Community college presidents who join the Forum make five commitments:

• Develop transparency of community college and community assets
• Create internal and external teams dedicated to entrepreneurship
• Increase entrepreneurs' engagement in community colleges
• Engage in industry cluster development
• Create broad exposure to their college's commitment to entrepreneurship

"The five commitments were developed based on NACCE's observations of what was working best on member campuses," said Van Sickle. "After observing the entrepreneurship-related activities of our members over a period of years, we started to see commonalities among the more successful institutions," she said. "One of the major things that clearly makes a difference is the commitment by leadership to entrepreneurship."

May 31, 2012: A model for entrepreneurship education and early-stage funding for startups, born at Lorain County Community College, will make its way to the national stage with the support of a $1 million grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

The partnership aims to replicate nationally Lorain County Community College's highly successful model for mentoring and funding high-growth startups, educating new founders, and, in turn, spurring regional economic growth. The project, named Innovation Fund America, will begin with a pilot in three communities around the country, to be selected in the coming months. Kauffman and LCCC aim to eventually scale the model to more schools around the country and build a national network to support them.

"Kauffman has a rich history of working with colleges and universities to build entrepreneurship education programs and curricula because entrepreneurship is a long-term strategy for job creation and economic growth," said Thom Ruhe, Kauffman Foundation vice president of entrepreneurship. "With community colleges embedded in more than 1,200 communities across the United States, we see a tremendous opportunity to employ their resources to support, educate and inspire local residents to pursue entrepreneurial ventures."

The Innovation Fund was launched by the Lorain County Community College Foundation in 2007 to support high-growth technology entrepreneurs in the historically manufacturing-centered northeast Ohio. It was founded as an extension of Lorain County Community College's existing entrepreneurial support efforts, including the Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise (GLIDE), an on-campus business incubator created in partnership with the Lorain County Commissioners and Lorain County Chamber of Commerce.

"Our partnership that created GLIDE provided Lorain County a vehicle to capture and grow new startups in high tech areas designated by Ohio Third Frontier," said Lorain County Commissioner Ted Kalo. "The Innovation Fund has been a critical outgrowth of GLIDE, creating needed infrastructure for both mentoring and funding new companies to grow jobs."

GLIDE's entrepreneurial staff has advised more than 2,600 entrepreneurs and formally mentored over 100 companies that have created new jobs in Lorain County. The incubator's success pointed out significant funding need among early-stage companies.

Since its launch in 2007, the Innovation Fund has grown in partners and scope, adding significant resources of expertise, funding and support to the process. The Innovation Fund collaborative network now spans across the region and includes partners such as: Cleveland State University, Northeastern Ohio Universities Colleges of Medicine and Pharmacy (NEOUCOM), Stark State College, The University of Akron, The University of Akron Research Foundation, Youngstown State University, and the Youngstown Business Incubator.

The Ohio Department of Development has been another key partner in the Innovation Fund. Ohio Third Frontier has provided critical matching support of nearly $4.5 million through its competitive-based Pre-Seed Fund initiative. Every dollar provided by Ohio Third Frontier was matched by local philanthropic organizations and partners, creating a total fund of over $10 million of which nearly $6 million has been awarded to promising technology start-ups.

"While Ohio Third Frontier, as a key partner, helped to light the flame by providing Pre-Seed Fund opportunities, LCCC continues to feed it by introducing programs that greatly benefit Ohio entrepreneurs," said Christiane Schmenk, Director of the Ohio Department of Development and Chair of the Ohio Third Frontier Commission. "This model is yet another example of how Ohio is getting a strong return on its investment and adding to our reputation as an innovation state."

Kauffman Foundation leaders said the Innovation Fund stood out because of the three critical components of its approach to supporting new and young firms: an emphasis on founder mentorship, experiential entrepreneurship education, and improving access to early stage funding.

In its first five years, the fund made nearly 100 awards totaling close to $6 million, leading to $62 million in follow-on funding and more than 150 internships for students.

"Despite being situated in one of the more economically depressed areas of the state, Lorain County Community College, through its Innovation Fund, has had a tremendous and positive impact on the entrepreneurial ecosystem of northeast Ohio," Ruhe said. "We believe it's a model that LCCC and Kauffman should replicate in other regions, and we will show that community colleges can, with the right resources, be at the center of local entrepreneur-led growth."

Dr. Roy Church, president of Lorain County Community College concurred, emphasizing that the collaboration between LCCC and Kauffman will lead to a new class of entrepreneurial community colleges.

"This partnership with the Kauffman Foundation places community colleges at the forefront of supporting entrepreneurship," he said. "By showcasing how this model can be replicated, we can enhance community colleges' capacity to accelerate innovation in their communities."