Insights

Board will help CED in its mission to assist entrepreneurs in the Triangle.

RTP, NC, July 1, 2019 — The Council for Entrepreneurial Development (CED), the largest and longest-running entrepreneurial network in the nation, today announced its 2019-2020 Board of Directors. In order to strengthen North Carolina’s entrepreneurial ecosystem, CED provides resources and services to propel companies into highly successful businesses. The newly-elected Board of Directors includes a mix of entrepreneurs, investors, and strategic partners who are committed to furthering CED’s mission. Entrepreneurs make up at least one-third of the Board members, providing experience and wisdom from some of the most successful entrepreneurs in the state.

The Board unanimously elected, Brad Schomber, CFO of Diveplane, as its Chair. Schomber will take over for Stephen Fraser, Co-Founder, Spoonflower who served as Board Chair for the past two years.

“I’m very excited to have the opportunity to serve in this role and help CED in its mission to assist entrepreneurs in the Triangle.  CED has been a key part of the Triangle’s entrepreneurial ecosystem for over 35 years and continues to evolve as it looks for the best ways to support companies on their path to success.  I’m also very appreciative to Stephen Fraser, the departing chair, for the leadership and guidance he showed as chair, and for his assistance in helping me prepare for the role.

I look forward to working more closely with CED’s fantastic team, led by Ravila Gupta.  They are continuously looking for new ways to provide great services to the community.  To that end, the team just created and executed the Accelerate Series, a modular based program series that explores the critical skills needed to grow and scale a company.  It’s events like these that highlight the value CED brings and I’m enthusiastic about all the benefits CED can create for entrepreneurs in the future.” Schomber said.

Newly elected directors serving two-year terms on CED’s Board include: Neil Bagchi, Bagchi Law; Matthew Cook, Davis Moore; Tim Fleishman, Deloitte; Alston Gardner, Fulcrum Equity Partners; Phil Gruber, Gruber Ventures; David Le Strat, Citrix; Tim McLoughlin, Cofounders Capital; Doug Meier, NK Patent Law; Tony Parham, Fidelity Investments; Ben Pattison, US Trust/BOA; Than Powell, GSK; Kyle Rasbach, Pappas Capital; Tim Wilson, SAS; Bradley Woolridge, Manning Fulton & Skinner

Directors re-elected to another two-year term include: Tom Allen, Wyrick Robbins; Paul Boucher, Parion Sciences; Patty Briguglio, PFB Connect; Russ Cobb, IronNet Cybersecurity; Mike Elliott, Noro-Mosely Partners; Rusty Kelley, Foundation Fighting Blindness Joe, Lee, JP Morgan Chase; Matt McCleary, Grant Thornton; Daniel Pomp, UNC-CH; Pat Scheper, Live Oak Bank; Drew Schiller, Validic; Kurt Schmidt, Sidekick Industries; Richard Shea, Eldec Pharmaceuticals; Vinay Tannan, RTI International; Anita Watkins, Rex Health Ventures; Lesley Wilson, PNC Bank; James Avery, Adzerk; Meredith Friga, EY; Matt Godwin, Wells Fargo; Ranya Hahn, Participate; Sanjay Pal, IBM; David Rhode, Vaco Raleigh; Mike Saber, Smith Anderson; Brad Schomber, Diveplane; Mark Self, Entigral Systems

The Board elected Garret Tripp as Treasurer and Michael Saber as Secretary to serve as officers with Brad Schomber. They will join Paul Boucher, Patty Briguglio, Stephen Fraser, Alston Gardner, Phil Gruber, Sanjay Pal, Mike Saber, Brad Schomber, and Anita Watkins, on the executive committee of the Board of Directors. Officers and members of the executive committee serve one-year terms. 

Media should contact Kristina Sandine at ksandine@cednc.org with questions.