The vision focuses on “addressing the lifecycle of our community” to help cultivate and grow local businesses of all sizes within the region.
Orlando, Fla. –The Orlando Tech Council (OTC), a core component of the Orlando Economic Partnership, announced a new vision for the group, “Addressing the Lifecycle of our Community.” Built upon the successes of the OTC to this point, the new vision hones the focus of the OTC to target each stage in the lifecycle of a business.
Through this new vision, a committee is assigned to each of the standard stages of company growth – startup, growth and enterprise – to help cultivate and grow local businesses of all sizes within the region.
Helmed by local industry veterans and self-proclaimed doers and go-getters, each committee will identify the most pressing needs of local companies in each stage of growth and create or connect entrepreneurs to resources and programming to meet those needs. The backbone of the OTC will be a fourth committee focused on membership, which will drive OTC enrollment, aide in the creation of marketing materials, facilitate a calendar of events and programming, and more.
“The new structure and direction of the Orlando Tech Council will help provide direct resources to Orlando companies in all stages.”
Charlie Lewis, Founder and CEO of BlueWave Resource Partners and Orlando Tech Council Chair
“We will be working directly with regional companies to identify specific needs and, as a Council, work to address them,” said Charlie Lewis, founder and CEO of BlueWave Resource Partners and Orlando Tech Council chair. “We have the opportunity to make a big impact on the local tech and innovation ecosystem and I’m excited to see what we accomplish this year.”
Supporting Lewis and driving the committees include the following Orlando regional tech leaders:
Membership Committee
Chair: Tom Capone, VP of Business Development, Concepta
Co-Chair: Troy Parker, CTO and Co-founder, Codefirm
Startup Committee
Chair: Ken Hall, VP, DeepWork Capital
Co-Chair: Gordon Folkes, CEO Archer First Response Systems
Growth Committee
Chair: Rekha Ramesh, Chief Digital & Information Officer, Tupperware Brands
Co-Chair: Drew Sorrell, Shareholder & Chair, Data Governance Group, Lowndes
Enterprise Committee
Chair: Carlos Carbonnell, CEO, ECHO
Co-Chair: Jennifer Barrows, Business Development Executive, Withum
“This new focus gives OTC leaders and members a hands-on approach to creating more onramps and pathways to growth for our region’s start-ups while also supporting the development of scaling companies and helping mature companies evolve,” said David Adelson, executive director of innovation at the Orlando Economic Partnership.
“Helping companies of all sizes in our region’s innovation ecosystem succeed advances the diversification of our economy and reinforces Orlando’s growing reputation as a global tech hub.”
David Adelson, Orlando Economic Partnership Executive Director of Innovation
Since its inception in early 2020, the OTC focused on strengthening the Orlando’s innovation ecosystem by convening and connecting the region’s tech resources and startup community. Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, OTC achieved successes that include creating a new innovation website, facilitating the Orlando Tech Grant, hosting the return of Synapse Orlando, as well growing membership to include CTO and CIO-level executives from many of Orlando’s largest and most innovative employers, enterprises and startups.
Former OTC Chairs Adam Scheinberg, Vice President of Information Technology at Massey Services, and Rajiv Menon, Founder/CEO at Informulate, worked with Orlando Economic Partnership staff and OTC membership to drive the mission and growth of the Council.
For more information on the Orlando Tech Council, please contact David Adelson at David.Adelson@Orlando.org.
