02.16.22
The NIIC Announces Growth to Better Serve Business Owners
Tammy Allen, Director | Marketing & Programs, The NIIC
Shown left to right: Donna Evans, Anne Marie Labenberg, Rosalina Perez, Jami Thomas
February 16, 2021, Fort Wayne, Ind.—Increased access, expanded resources, training, and connectivity are on the horizon for Northeast Indiana entrepreneurs. The NIIC (Northeast Indiana Innovation Center) is optimizing team member roles to serve the entrepreneurial community better. The results so far are three new staff members and one promotion.
“We’re reconfiguring our team to serve business builders and our community better,” said Mike Fritsch, President and CEO, The NIIC. “We are driven to support stakeholders in our community to work together to help small businesses succeed. This team is making it happen.”
Additions to the team include:
Donna Evans is the new Concierge/Administrative Support Staff. She is the first face people see upon entering the front doors. “I’m fascinated by the ideas our clients have to start and grow businesses. There is a passion and an enthusiastic spirit to help business owners at The NIIC. I’m excited to be challenged, to grow, and to help impact our region in my new role,” said Evans. Before joining The NIIC, she worked in the special education department in Fort Wayne Community Schools and was the Educational Supervisor and secretary for a local private school.
Anne Marie Labenberg is the new Operations Manager for the Community Navigator Pilot Program, formed through a $1 million award from the U.S. SBA and began December 2021. Labenberg leads the program, where The NIIC serves as a hub, working with five partners/spoke organizations. These include: Allen County Public Library, Bankable, Fort Wayne Urban League, Purdue University Extension Community Development, and Region 3a Development and Regional Planning Commission. The Community Navigator Pilot Program focuses on serving women entrepreneurs, minorities, and rural communities. “This program unites my passion for building access to resources and growing networks in communities historically marginalized. It also leans on my experience growing businesses here in Northeast Indiana to help communities develop programs to wrap around entrepreneurs and grow businesses of their own,” said Labenberg. Before joining The NIIC, Labenberg was a tech start-up co-founder and a serial entrepreneur in Northeast Indiana. She also served as a business coach and mentor for WEOC WBC (Women’s Business Center).
Rosalina Perez, WEOC WBC Program Manager, works with Leslee Hill, Program Director, to serve female founders. “I am excited about extending The NIIC’s resources and support to our Hispanic community and to helping immigrants to realize their dreams of business ownership,” said Perez. Perez also focuses on serving rural communities. Before joining The NIIC, Perez was a WEOC WBC client. She helped to form and manage a Fort Wayne-based immigration law firm to represent immigrants in their removal proceedings.
The NIIC promoted Jami Thomas to Business Development Manager. In her new position, she focuses on sustaining and growing relationships with partners and community stakeholders, including through The NIIC’s signature annual Ideas@Work event. She continues her role as Kiva Northeast Indiana Capital Access Manager, a program formed in partnership with The City of Fort Wayne, SEED, and the Indiana Economic Development Corporation. “This is an exciting opportunity to support the valuable role we play in the success and growth of entrepreneurs in Northeast Indiana. I’m particularly interested in introducing The NIIC to those who may be unaware of what we do and what we offer to the entrepreneurial and greater community,” said Thomas. For the past two years, Thomas was the Grants Compliance Specialist and Kiva Capital Access Manager.
About The NIIC
499 new products launched, 196 patent applications submitted or granted, and 2,351 jobs created—that is what entrepreneurs have achieved through The NIIC since its inception two decades ago. The NIIC has also connected Northeast Indiana companies to $100.4 million in grants and capital.
The NIIC is a non-profit, vibrant entrepreneurial community designed to advise entrepreneurs to plan, launch, and grow successful business ventures. The NIIC bolsters innovative companies to move ideas into action. The NIIC is located in a designated U.S. Small Business Administration HUB Zone. In April 2018, Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb designated The Northeast Indiana Innovation Park Campus as an Opportunity Zone through the U.S. Treasury. The NIIC is the country’s only ISO9001:2015 registered business incubation and acceleration program. Additionally, the International Business Innovation Association (inbia.org) recognized the NIIC as the 2020 Entrepreneur Center of the Year – Mixed-use and awarded it one of the two prestigious industry awards – the 2020 Dinah Adkins Award. TheNIIC.org.
