Stories of Technology, Innovation, & Entrepreneurship in the Southeast

Here are out news briefs from the past week.

• The Biz Foundry in Cookeville will hold a networking happy hour from 5 to 7 p.m. CDT tomorrow at its Cookeville location. To register, click here.

 

• The Sync Space Entrepreneur Center in Kingsport has announced the availability of an “On-Demand Marketing Bootcamp.” The seven-module course takes participants through several fundamental areas of marketing, including building an enticing brand and cohesive sales strategy.  The marketing bootcamp is available at no-cost to all start-ups and small businesses in the Appalachian Highlands region. Upon registration, participants can journey through this self-paced curriculum to gain insight from some of the region’s top marketing experts. For more information, click here.

 

• James Rosebush, Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GrowthStrategy Inc., has assumed the role of Chief Strategy Officer at Veteran Ventures Capital. He is a former Deputy Assistant to President Ronald Reagan and former Chief of Staff to First Lady Nancy Reagan who has a history of building and managing corporate and philanthropic organizations and serving as an outsourced CEO and senior advisor for wealthy families and family offices.

 

• CGI has announced two top executives for its newly opened technology center in Knoxville. According to this article in ExecutiveGov, Lori Ortega and Matt Kittrell have been selected to lead the federal and commercial operations respectively. Ortega has worked for CGI Federal for 12 years in program and information technology portfolio management, strategy development and business operations for space and government health agency clients. Kittrell spent the past seven and one-half years at Concentrix and was with IBM for nearly 14 years before that.

 

• Thomas Zacharia, Director of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, has been recognized with a corporate leadership award from the National Graduate Education for Minorities (GEM) Consortium. The award recognizes his influential leadership, commitment and passion for public service, and dedication to creating better opportunities for members of underrepresented groups in STEM-related fields.

 

• Pellissippi State Community College’s Laura Overstreet, Director of the Tennessee Small Business Development Center in Knoxville, has received the “State Star” in Tennessee, the highest honor available from her peers. The recognition was celebrated this past week at America’s Small Business Development Center’s annual conference.  Overstreet joined the Center in 2013 as a business specialist, after owning and operating her own retail business for 17 years. Click here to learn more.

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