Brite looks to continue the program with MBAC while encouraging area minority- and women-led startups to make use of its own programming and co-working space, says spokeswoman Jennifer Brindisi.
“We’re actively working on our tenants, our workshops [and] encouraging more organizations and business groups to use our space,” Brindisi says. “And we prioritize minority-owned and female-led businesses at our facility. That’s any type of business, not just energy-based.”
Reaching underrepresented populations has been a challenge, Brindisi says. Brite currently works with 10 customers that are owned, controlled or led by women, nine that are minority-owned and six veteran-owned.
“Our goal is to get those numbers up,” Brindisi says. “We’re encouraged by what we’ve seen thus far.”
To help outreach efforts, Brite appointed four new board members in March – Alexander Fitzsimmons, senior director of ClearPath; Courtney Gerowitz, startup community lead for Amazon Web Services; Jonathan Bridges, managing director of automotive for JobsOhio; and Heather Taylor-Miesle, senior vice president of advocacy and regional conservation at American Rivers.
The new members give the board a more national reach. Their diversity “gives voice to a lot of folks that we might not be in touch with all of the time,” Brindisi says.
Read the entire article by The Business Journal here about our new team members and their impact.
