MTI Leadership Transition
Betsy Biemann resigned her position as MTI President effective Monday, June 18. Joe Migliaccio has been named as the Interim President by the MTI Board with the full support of DECD. Joe has eleven years of experience with MTI. The current leadership transition is complete and MTI’s business is operating as usual – at the highest standards in the interest of growing Maine’s economy. DECD and the LePage Administration have confirmed their support of MTI and its critical mission. Program funding is intact and all contracts will be honored. There are no changes to the current calendar of workshops or webinars or to any programs. The next funding deadlines are July 3 for TechStart Grants and July 12 for Development Loans.
Is There A Search for a Permanent President?
Yes. A search for a new President is underway. Maine Statute sets out a defined process which includes the following steps:
– As soon as practicable – Position will be posted on maine.gov and on mainetechnology.org
– Aug 20 – Deadline for Governor LePage to appoint a candidate for confirmation
– Sept 4-5 – Legislative confirmation hearings
– Sept 6 – Senate Vote
– Sept 10 – MTI Board Vote
The search will not affect MTI activity. MTI staff and contract employees are focused on continuing to support Maine’s efforts to grow Maine’s companies, help them commercialize their products and services and add jobs for Maine people. MTI will post the job opening on its website as soon as it is available.
Is this Related to the Recent R&D Bond Funding Being Curtailed?
MTI’s core programming is unaffected. This includes the Business Innovation Program (TechStart and Seed Grants, Development Loans and Accelerator Grants and Equity Capital Funding), which supports Maine businesses bringing new technology-based products and services to market as well as the Cluster Initiative Program, which boosts the strength and scale of Maine’s high-potential technology intensive clusters.
MTI will continue to oversee its role to administer the Maine Technology Asset Fund (MTAF) through the completion of the MTAF supported projects.