OVERVIEW

Greater New Orleans, Inc. (GNO, Inc.) is the regional economic development organization for Southeast Louisiana. GNO, Inc. has been consistently ranked a Top Ten Economic Development Organization in the USA, and recently was awarded a Silver Medal for the #2 Economic Development Deal in America. GNO, Inc.’s mission is to create a Greater New Orleans with a thriving economy, and an excellent quality of life, for everyone. GNO, Inc.’s vision is for the Greater New Orleans region to fulfill its potential as one of the best places in the country to grow a company and raise a family.

The Entrepreneurship and Innovation (E&I) Manager will provide crucial support to GNO, Inc.’s business development initiatives by building a cohesive entrepreneurship ecosystem across the Greater New Orleans region. The position will identify opportunities for partnerships across the ecosystem and will help catalyze a more productive environment for the founding and growth of companies. The ideal candidate will have a deep familiarity with the organizations in the Greater New Orleans entrepreneurship ecosystem and demonstrable accomplishments in executing successful initiatives to advance entrepreneurship and innovation.

In addition to the specific duties of the E&I Manager detailed below, the organization operates with a cross-functional mentality. It is a job with both significant responsibility and significant reward, including exposure to a broad range of business and economic development leaders across the region and state, and a role in the strategy and execution of the economic resurgence of a great American region. The E&I Manager reports to the Senior Vice President of Business Development.

KEY SUCCESS FACTORS

A successful E&I Manager will:

• Develop a deep familiarity with the Greater New Orleans entrepreneurship ecosystem, its resources, capabilities, and respective objectives
• Provide guidance and support to new and existing startups by connecting them to key resources along their growth trajectory
• Activate the entrepreneurial ecosystem through mutually beneficial collaborations and partnerships, that “turbo-charge” the impact of existing organizations
• Proactively identify gaps in the ecosystem and develop solutions that substantially advance the goals of entrepreneurship and innovation
• Raise the national and international profile of Greater New Orleans as a preferred location for high-growth startups
• Support the Director of Business Development in leveraging regional strengths in transformative technologies to augment prototyping capabilities and new venture creation
• Identify opportunities to attract public and private funding to advance the regional entrepreneurship ecosystem
• Explore trends and new concepts in technology, venture capital, and private equity and evaluate their applicability to the Greater New Orleans ecosystem

SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE 

Greater New Orleans is, by reputation and reality, the best place to start and grow a company in America. A diverse and inclusive group of entrepreneurs helps grow and diversify the economy of Greater New Orleans, creating jobs, wealth, and world-class companies.

KEY RESPONSIBILITIES

The E&I Manager's key responsibilities are to:

• Assist the Director of Business Development in the execution of GNOpivot 2.0 – a project aimed at addressing ongoing, post-pandemic risks through entrepreneurship and innovation
• Identify new startup ventures in the Greater New Orleans region and develop bespoke growth journeys, taking advantage of enabling resources across the entrepreneurship ecosystem
• Maintain a current and comprehensive database of the Greater New Orleans entrepreneurship ecosystem for internal reference and external uses
• Respond to inquiries from regional and out-of-region startups by providing guidance and resources for their success in the Greater New Orleans market
• Initiate partnerships across the entrepreneurship ecosystem to facilitate seamless growth trajectories for current and prospective startups
• Work with the Director of Business Development on attracting out-of-market startups to complement the regional ecosystem in targeted transformative technologies
• Support GNO, Inc.’s Marketing Team in communicating and promoting regional startup success at large
• Conduct research and develop a deep knowledge base on issues relating to entrepreneurship and innovation, including but not limited to funding, operations, marketing, and talent attraction
• Work directly with the Vice President of Advancement and Director of Business Development on grant management and reporting on work that is associated with specific program funding, including technology commercialization, entrepreneurship, and innovation
• Work collaboratively with the Human Capital Manager on identifying employment opportunities across the entrepreneurship ecosystem and attracting prospective talent
• Act as a resource to the Program Manager for GNO, Inc.’s workforce initiatives for purposes of supporting new training certification, programs, and degrees
• Work with the GNO, Inc. Public Policy team to identify economic development pain points and needs with respect to entrepreneurship and innovation
• Serve as the subject matter lead on matters of entrepreneurship and innovation across GNO, Inc.’s activities and initiatives, including communications with the GNO, Inc. Board and NextGen Council
• Identify opportunities for educational events and strengthening stakeholder relationships through management of GNO, Inc. events, including briefings, roundtable discussions, and GNOthinc speaker series
• Assist with other duties as assigned

QUALIFICATIONS

Education: Bachelor’s degree is required; the School of Hard Knocks is preferred

Experience: At least four years of full-time working experience is required. Time within a startup is highly preferred.

Skills, Background, and Capabilities: The ideal candidate will possess many of these professional and personal abilities and attributes:

• Demonstrated success in stakeholder management
• Familiarity with the Greater New Orleans tech, entrepreneurship and innovation ecosystem including accelerators, incubators, and innovation programs, universities, co-working spaces and prototyping resources
• Experience, confidence, independence, and self-starting with a strong sense of urgency
• Strong experience in running meetings, giving presentations, collating research, and understanding perspectives of varied, sometimes divergent stakeholder interests
• Ability to work independently and make intelligent decisions based on the information provided
• Ability to produce accurate work while meeting deadlines, with extraordinary attention to detail
• Ability to manage complex relationships, i.e. governmental, community, and business
• Proclivity for a team-oriented, goals-driven organization that emphasizes a friendly culture and takes ownership of work responsibilities

Allowable Substitutions: A combination of education, experience, and/or training that provides the required knowledge and skills for the position may be considered in lieu of education and/or experience at GNO, Inc.’s discretion.

COMPENSATION

Compensation commensurate with experience; generous benefits package standard.

Interested candidates are asked to apply via WorkNOLA.com by Monday, JUNE 14, 2021.

Greater New Orleans, Inc. believes that each employee makes a significant contribution to the success of the company; that contribution should not be limited by the work identified assigned tasks, and overall responsibilities. Each employee is expected to offer his/her talents, expertise, and services whenever necessary to ensure the achievement of organization goals.