Connecticut Technology Council President Matthew Nemerson is the leading candidate for a newly created CEO position at the state’s quasi-public venture funding arm Connecticut Innovations, sources familiar with the situation said.
Nemerson, a chief voice for the state’s technology sector, is the choice of Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Catherine Smith, who is pushing for an expanded role of Connecticut Innovations (CI), sources said.
But Nemerson’s potential appointment may face some roadblocks. There is not yet full support from CI’s 14-member board, which must ultimately approve the selection. Some members have raised concerns about how Nemerson’s personality would fit in with leading the organization, said sources, who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation.
There is also no timetable for a decision because Smith has asked CI board members to table the appointment process, sources said. And a potential appointment will likely not come until after state employees approve or reject Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposed $1.6 billion concessions deal. If the concessions deal is rejected for a second time, and state employee layoffs occur, it could politically complicate the ability for CI to add a chief executive officer, sources said.
No salary range for the CEO job has yet been made public. CI’s next board meeting is Sept. 27.
Through a spokesman, Smith declined to comment on personnel matters.
Several CI board members also declined to comment for this story.
The Hartford Business Journal recently reported that Smith wants to ramp up activity of Connecticut Innovations, saying the organization has “a very important role to play” in helping spur job creation, particularly in the technology industry, where hundreds of millions of dollars are being invested in the coming years to try to make Connecticut a larger player in areas like bioscience.
The larger role includes potentially more than tripling CI’s annual investment output to make more capital available for start-up companies and having the organization play a more central role in stirring collaboration between the research systems and entrepreneurs in the state.
And Smith wants a new chief executive officer to lead the organization’s expanded role.
What this may all mean for CI’s longtime president and executive director, Peter Longo, remains unclear. Longo, who has headed CI since 1995, declined to comment on the story.
In a previous interview Smith said Longo has done a good job leading the organization in its current state.
By some standards, Nemerson may be a logical choice to head CI. As president and CEO of the Connecticut Technology Council, he leads a technology association that represents over 2,000 companies and is well known within the state’s technology sector.
The outspoken Yale School of Management graduate also has the industry contacts, networking wherewithal, and influence in the state legislature. And he is president of The Technology Councils of North America, giving him insight into how other states are positioning their economic development efforts.
In the past, Nemerson has served as the president and CEO of the Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce and had a hand in helping develop Yale’s famed incubator and research corridor Science Park.
Smith’s choice of Nemerson to lead CI, however, did not immediately generate full support from the board. There have been concerns raised about his style, personality, and interpersonal skills, sources said.
In a written statement Nemerson declined to comment on “any speculation concerning who might fill the CI CEO position,” but he said he assumes “it will be someone who has a deep knowledge of the state’s institutions, unique needs and a familiarity with ‘technology and innovation based economic development.’ ”
Nemerson also said he endorses Smith’s vision for CI being the “state’s hub and focal point for innovation policy and program leadership,” as well as a venture funding arm.
CI is already the most active funder of early and seed stage companies in the state. But Smith, who is the former CEO of Windsor-based ING U.S. Retirement Services, says her goal is to eventually triple CI’s annual investment output from its current $15 million level, to up to $50 million a year.
The organization invests largely in pre-seed and early stage companies and has several different funds. Since its inception, CI has invested over $150 million in about 100 companies and has leveraged over $1 billion in private capital. CI’s portfolio is dominated by start-ups in energy, biotechnology, information technology, and photonics.
Besides venture funding, CI has helped launch several incubator programs and is involved in other economic development activities.
Over the past five years, CI has not made more than $15.2 million in new investments in any single year.
And in 2002, the state took $17.5 million from CI to help fill a budget gap, which negatively impacted the organization’s investment ability for a period of time.
