Urban Innovation21 president to leave after 10 years at post
William Generett, the first president and chief executive of Urban Innovation21, will step down after a successor is found to run the nonprofit economic development agency.
Mr. Generett, 46, said he informed the board of directors that he was leaving after 10 years in the job and plans to stay on until the organization completes a national search for its next chief executive. He declined to discuss details of his future plans.
“I have a few exciting things in the pipeline, but now want to focus on finding the right person to take my place and making sure things continue on seamlessly.”
A lawyer whose background also includes teaching and starting his own business, Mr. Generett said he had expected to stay at the organization for three years when it was launched in 2007.
“But I loved it and and stayed a lot longer,” he said. “After 10 years, I feel it’s time and it’s good to get new people engaged and involved. Often with nonprofits, people stay too long and treat them like their own private corporations and they are not. We do this work on behalf of the public.”
Urban Innovation21, based at the Energy Innovation Center in the Hill District, is a public-private partnership that aims to spread entrepreneurship, technology and
innovation to at-risk and low-income communities that wouldn’t typically benefit from the region’s post-industrial economic growth.
The organization’s annual budget is $1.8 million. It has nine employees and administers an internship program for about 150 students a year who are matched with jobs at companies, community development agencies and other nonprofits.
It was launched as the Pittsburgh Central Keystone Innovation Zone by Duquesne University, UPMC Health Plan and the Hill House Association, with an initial goal of expanding the tech and innovation economy from the city’s university hub in Oakland to the Uptown and Hill District neighborhoods.
The organization later expanded initiatives to Homewood, Sharpsburg, North Side and other communities. It administers the state’s Keystone Innovation Zone program, which includes helping companies get access to tax credits, grants and funding for interns.
Other Urban Innovation21 initiatives include funding competitions for local enterprises, paid internship placements for a diverse group of college students, free legal services for community businesses enterprises, a minority business accelerator, the Kiva Pittsburgh loan program, and the Citizen Science Lab.
In February, the organization said it would commit $1 million to a partnership that will bring technology and innovation programming to Nova Place, a collaborative working space on the North Side.
The city’s Inclusive Innovation Week that wraps up Friday had its roots in an early model developed by Urban Innovation21, Mr. Generett said.
Although the region has made some strides in including more diverse communities in the new economy, he said, there is more to be done.
“It’s a tough issue. Doing inclusionary work in Pittsburgh is like pushing the boulder up the hill. We need to make sure women, Asians, African-Americans and others are incorporated into the economic mainstream. At least a lot of folks and organizations are pointed in the right direction.”
Mr. Generett said he is pleased that during Urban Innovation21’s first decade, it has assisted non-tech businesses as well as technology firms.
“In 2007, there was a heavy, tech, tech, focus in Pittsburgh. If you were not a technology company, you were sort of looked down upon. We’ve been able to recalibrate and say we have to look at more than tech such as mom-and-pop retail businesses. It’s important to put resources in them and invest in communities outside of the technology hotbeds.”