CED Taps Karl Rectanus & Scott Uknes as Board Co-Chairs During 40th Year of Supporting Innovation in NC
In a move towards a shared leadership model, the CED Board elected Karl Rectanus and Scott Uknes as Co-Chairs of the Board of Directors. Uknes and Rectanus will serve a 2-year term, bringing unparalleled experience in technology and biotech.
Kelly Rowell, CED’s CEO is particularly excited about how Uknes and Rectanus will bring two unique perspectives to this role stating, “Karl and Scott are the kind of people that live and breathe our CED ethos. I’m confident they’re the right duo to help us work towards our goal of $20B in new enterprise value in North Carolina by 2034”. Rowell mentioned how critical it is to have a board, and leadership, that’s led by founders who understand navigating this ecosystem from that perspective.
Karl Rectanus added that he’s “Thrilled to be supporting CED and our innovation ecosystem in this capacity. For the last 40 years, North Carolina’s entrepreneurs have expanded opportunity, attracted investments, and invented the future at a world-class level. As we look ahead, we are excited to build on that success during our next stage of growth.”
The CED community wants to express our deepest gratitude to outgoing Chair Bill Spruill for his outstanding leadership, vision, and unwavering commitment to CED’s mission. Bill’s contributions have been instrumental to CED, and we are delighted that he will continue to serve as Chairman Emeritus, sharing his wisdom and expertise. Bill will continue to be an active board member focused on our 10 year goal.
“CED was instrumental in my own founder journey back in the 90s, so it’s a full-circle moment to be stepping into this new capacity and to be able to contribute to CED in this way. We’ve got some great momentum heading into 2025, and we’re looking forward to enhancing the founder flywheel” said Scott Uknes.
CED hopes for deeper activation across all high growth sectors, biotech included. The team would also like to extend a warm welcome to seven new board members for the next term:
Annalise Perry, Wyrick Robbins
Blair Willette, KdT Ventures
Bradley Mooring,RTI International
Brett Noel, RA Capital
Scott Bryant, Hutchinson PLLC
Susan Wall, Corevist
Toni Bucci, Sable Fermentation Inc.
You can see the full CED Board Roster here.
