ETC, one of Baltimore’s oldest entrepreneurship incubators, is getting a new executive director

After a period of leadership transition and strategic planning, the organizations behind one of Baltimore’s longest-standing entrepreneurial communities have appointed a new executive director to take it to the next level.

On Tuesday, the Baltimore Development Corporation (BDC) and Maryland Technology Development Corporation (TEDCO) jointly announced the appointment of Arti Santhanam as the new executive director of the Emerging Technology Centers (ETC Baltimore).

Santhanam most recently served as executive director of TEDCO’s Maryland Innovation Initiative (MII), a public-private effort to promote academic research commercialization across the state.

“Concrete plans” on how ETC will work with TEDCO and BDC are still being finalized, Santhanam said, but she wants to gain a deeper understanding of the range of needs for entrepreneurs in the ecosystem at every stage. leveraging her expertise in startups, venture capital and life sciences.

“In the first 30 to 60 days, I want to reach out to the ecosystem partners,” Santhanam told Technical.ly, asking them questions like, “What are you? Who are you working with? And how can I help? What are the gaps that you have filled? And what are other gaps that you’re still looking to fill for the [an] entrepreneur to be successful?”

Armed with that info, she said, she’ll be able to better ensure ETC puts effort into resources and programming that local companies and entrepreneurs really need.

One of the earliest organizations serving the local startup and tech scene, ETC had faded somewhat over the past couple of years as the scene matured. Veteran executive director Deb Tillett left in October 2022, and things wound down even further when ETC shut down its coworking space on North Haven Street about a year after Tillett’s departure.

Now, there’s a new director — and a new strategic plan.

Santhanam’s Feb. 1 start date coincides with a new “public-private operational model” to strengthen the organization’s support of local tech entrepreneurs, according to the announcement, developed as part of the strategic plan finalized last August and publicly released in October. The plan, created in collaboration with HR&A Advisors, included case studies for potential public-private models that ETC could follow. One example was 43North, a Buffalo-based fintech startup that provides funding and an accelerator for local companies.

Santhanam: A ‘good fit’ for ETC’s renewed model

BDC President Colin Tarbert said that the organization received “a number of applications” for this position. ETC Baltimore is one of several ventures supported by BDC, a city-contracted, quasi-public nonprofit HQed in Downtown Baltimore; others include Made in Baltimore, the Baltimore BASE (Business Assistance and Support for Equity) network and Baltimore Together.

Santhanam considers TEDCO and BDC to be longtime partners, and Tarbert said that her hire was not “a poaching situation.”

“It was a really, like, ‘Hey, we’re trying to do this to take this vision of ETC in this direction. Who would be a good fit, who has the background and experience and desire to do it?’” he told Technical.ly. “So that’s kind of how we [BDC and TEDCO] came to connect.”

“Dr. Santhanam’s dedication to TEDCO, MII, and Maryland has known no bounds,” said TEDCO CEO Troy LeMaile-Stovall in an announcement. “We are extremely grateful for her leadership, which has expanded MII’s program and the growth of Maryland’s diverse and innovative ecosystem. Her new position at ETC is an extension of this dedication, and we’re delighted to support her in this journey.”

Arti Santhanam (left) speaking on a panel. (Courtesy ETC Baltimore)

Santhanam told Technical.ly that LeMaile-Stovall aims to bring the ecosystem partners closer together.

In addition to implementing a new model, ETC is exploring a future venture studio under Santhanam’s leadership.

“[The idea] would be to create public-private partnerships, and one of those partnerships will be a venture studio that would help end-growth stage companies,” said Santhanam, who also highlighted the challenges faced by companies that may have secured funding and are trying to plan for growth.

ETC wants its venture studio to assist those companies in navigating processes, increasing their valuation and attracting better investments in subsequent rounds. Santhanam ultimately wants companies to “stay in Baltimore.”

“The outcome of it is going to be making sure that these companies stay in Baltimore, they grow in Baltimore and they’re able to thrive here,” she said.

Historic importance, ongoing relevance

According to a description on LinkedIn, ETC Baltimore has primarily provided tech-focused entrepreneurs with opportunities for potential growth since 1999.

“Over more than 20 years, the Emerging Technology Centers (ETC Baltimore) has remained a cornerstone of Baltimore’s innovation community by evolving to meet the moment, and providing entrepreneurs with the resources they need now,” said Margaret Roth Falzon, ETC’s board chair and COO of Squadra Ventures.

BDC board member and business advocate Paul Taylor, who also serves as the director of the Mayor’s Office of Small, Minority & Women Business Development, reflected on how Baltimore’s entrepreneurial landscape changed around ETC.

“They were the one of the first incubators in Baltimore City, right? And now, there are incubators and accelerators everywhere, right?” said Taylor. “So maybe maybe they outlived their usefulness by being the catalyst for a lot. … And that might be the story for a lot of the other incubators and accelerators that formed after they got started and after they were up and running. Because it did take a significant investment from the Baltimore Development Corporation to keep that going for the years that it did start and kept going.”