Baltimore Power Moves: bwtech@UMBC expands its in-house entrepreneurship expertise

From regional universities to the private sector, Maryland’s biggest city and its surrounding counties witnessed some major leadership changes last month.

While the biggest news affecting this world is undoubtedly the Economic Development Administration’s (EDA) Tech Hub program not granting the Baltimore bid Phase 2 funding, that hasn’t stopped the levers of staffing changes from turning.  Read on for more details about these power moves.

To start, though, see what skills local companies have in the highest demand, as well as how those vacancies have changed since last month, in this chart:

Meet bwtech@UMBC’s newest entrepreneurs-in-residence

The research and innovation park at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) announced last month that it brought five entrepreneurs on to join this team of leaders. Their backgrounds span such industries and roles as life sciences, sales, product strategy and operations.

Entrepreneurs-in-residence (EIR) typically help universities and affiliated centers or hubs commercialize technology from their faculty or students. Given UMBC’s prominence as a state institution, these advisors also work with founders across the state; for instance, new entrepreneur-in-residence Chris Haug recently co-developed an accelerator program between bwtech@UMBC and Startup Grind Maryland, which he leads.

“Our expanded EIR program exemplifies bwtech’s dedication to transforming innovative ideas into successful businesses,” said bwtech@UMBC Executive Director Aaron Miscenich in an emailed statement. “This team will help us further develop our community of collaborators and drive economic growth in Maryland.”

Meet the new additions joining existing entrepreneurs-in-residence Richard Chipkin from Chipkin Pharmaceutical Consulting, Cell Targeting's David Fink and Hillel Glazer, principal at Entinex:

• Chris Haug, founder and CEO of 360° Venture Management Group
• Chris White, cofounder of PreSquared
• Fehmida Kapadia, president of Kapamed Consulting
• Chris Ewing, CEO of Flexicharge
• Christina Holt, president of ExecuSense

The Pava Center promotes associate and assistant directors

The Pava Marie LaPere Center for Entrepreneurship hired Paul Davidson and Sephora Saint-Armand as associate and assistant directors, respectively, according to center director Josh Ambrose.

Davidson moved into this position after two assistant director stints at the center, one of which focused on student ventures and the other on life design. Saint-Armand comes to her new role from another at the center as a manager of student programs. Both leaders’ tenures at the Johns Hopkins University-affiliate innovation hub date back at least two years, when it was known as FastFowardU. (The Remington building was since rededicated in honor of LaPere, the late cofounder of EcoMap Technologies who helped establish the university’s current student entrepreneurship structure.)

More local power moves

• Locust Point-based Baltimore tech mainstay Mindgrub appointed Branddy Spence and Kevin Giffhorn as new directors of marketing and education engagement, respectively.
• Big Four accounting firm EY recognized several Baltimore-area founders among its 2024 Mid-Atlantic Entrepreneur of the Year winners, including Josh Matthews of Apkudo, Kyle Hanslovan of Huntress, Prashant Agrawal of Impact Analytics and Sarela Herrada of SIMPLi. EY also named Mary Kate Federico its new Baltimore office leader.
• KCI Technologies, one of the region’s largest engineering firms, hired Christopher Griffith to be its new CEO.
• State-affiliated early-stage investor TEDCO named its FY2025 board of directors, which includes College of Southern Maryland Vice President Ellen Flowers-Fields as its new chair. TEDCO also named Abishek Kulshreshtha the new executive director of the Maryland Innovation Initiative.
• Inner Harbor-headquartered Fearless built on recent appointments by launching a new advisory board featuring a mix of veteran investment, consulting, federal IT and university partnership leaders.
• Douglas Kelly Jr. joined government contractor RELI Group, which has offices in Windsor Mill and Catonsville, as its new chief strategy officer.

This article mentions Fearless and TEDCO, both of which are Technical.ly clients. Those relationships had no impact on this report.