Center for Entrepreneurship and Community Development Welcomes New Executive Director
Michael Eckert takes the helm of the CECD in January
(New Orleans – December 9, 2019) College of Business Dean Michael L. Capella announced today that New Orleanian Michael Eckert will be the new executive director of the Center for Entrepreneurship and Community Development at Loyola. In this role, Eckert will lead day-to-day operations of curricular enrichment programs, strategic development and community outreach for the CECD, a leading entrepreneurial development and teaching hub within the city.
“I was honored when Dr. Michael Capella, Dean of the College of Business at Loyola offered me the opportunity to lead Loyola’s Center for Entrepreneurship and Community Development,” Eckert said. “This is an exciting opportunity to leverage my knowledge and experiences as an operator, university fellow, mentor, and early-stage investor to help build and enhance a culture of entrepreneurialism at Loyola, and to strengthen Loyola’s profile in the New Orleans early-stage innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystem. Loyola’s commitment to a culture of entrepreneurialism is compelling.”
Mike Eckert is a seasoned business executive with particular skills in start-up businesses and early-stage investing and financing. Professionally, he was a member of the launch team of The Weather Channel and served as its President and CEO for 14 years. He also served as Chairman and CEO of Pathfire, a technology start-up that grew into a leading digital asset management and distribution provider to media companies.
Mike currently is actively engaged in various facets of the early-stage business and investing ecosystem: as Chairman of the NO/LA Angel Network in New Orleans, a member of the Investment Committee of the New Orleans Start-Up Fund, and a member of the LP Advisory Council of the Louisiana VC Fund.
He also served as Chairman of the Atlanta Technology Angels, leading the turn-around of a near defunct angel investing group and building it into one of the major angel investing groups in the US market; served two terms on the Board of Directors of the national Angel Capital Association, as Chair of its Public Policy and Strategic Planning Committees; as a Fellow at Georgia Tech’s VentureLab, on the Mentor-Steering-Committee at the Advanced Technology Development Center in Atlanta, on the Executive Committee of Start-Up Atlanta, as Executive in Residence at the Idea Village entrepreneur center and Executive Mentor at the Propeller Accelerator in New Orleans. He also is an active angel investor and a limited partner in a number of venture capital funds.
Mr. Eckert starts work at Loyola in January.