Eastern Shore Entrepreneurship Center expands outreach in rural Delaware

Eastern Shore Entrepreneurship Center (ESEC) in Easton, Maryland very much serves rural Delaware entrepreneurs — and it’s making efforts to expand its offerings on the Delaware side of the Eastern Shore.

The nonprofit, which includes the F3 agtech accelerator, coworking, mentoring and a revolving loan fund, has appointed three new board of directors members, including Nikko Brady, deputy principal assistant at the Delaware Department of Agriculture.

Brady joins Delaware-connected board members Rob Nicholson, innovation solutions integrator for the Delaware Department of Technology and Information, and board secretary and University of Delaware extension agent William McGowan.

The new board members were selected as part of an effort to increase industry diversity to the team. The other new members are Walter Chase, a leading political and minority voice on Maryland’s Eastern Shore focused on increasing service to underrepresented entrepreneurs and innovators, and Neil Davis, Maryland Technology Development Corporation’s former senior director of entrepreneurial development.

Brady will help ESEC expand its connections and program offerings to rural Delaware, as the organization aims to impact to all of the rural Delmarva Peninsula.

“We are thrilled to have these highly qualified professionals join our efforts to better help and understand the entrepreneurial spirits in our community,” said Tony Kern, ESEC board president, in a statement. “They each bring their respective strengths and network to helping ESEC achieve its mission of serving high-growth, innovative, and scalable startups on Maryland’s Eastern Shore and the entrepreneurs and innovators that dream them up.”